Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Jul 13, 2014 11:09 am Hi, The central heating in our home we purchased a few months ago doesn't seem to be working correctly. It blows a lot of cold air out before it blows warm. It does this every time it turns itself on again. The house is 4 years old. Are we due for a new unit? Re: Central heating 2Jul 13, 2014 11:25 am Sounds to me like the ducting is allowing cold air in to it, either by a break or simply the ambient air next to it chilling it down, and your heater needs to push that cold air out before the warm air gets there. I doubt that the unit itself is failing as you do say that it does warm up and blow warm air out of it. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Central heating 3Jul 13, 2014 11:51 am Might depend on where you are and the unit. Say you are in Canberra - temps might be 5. You turn the aircon on and it blows cold air. Yes - because the air in the ducts etc is cold. We found this happened to us. Does the air warm up in a short time ? We found in the mornings if the outside unit froze and had to defrost the air in the vents/ducts would go cold. It is one of the negatives for R/c aircon vis a vis natural gas. But - if you live in - say a warmer clime - say Noosa - you might not "feel" the cooler air as often - maybe just at the start. Re: Central heating 4Jul 13, 2014 12:12 pm We are in Melbourne. It takes ages to warm up and then we have to have it on 25. Hubby says it is because I have turned off half the ducts in house that we weren't using. The large vent thing is in that cold hallway. Our last house was a new build and we were always toasty.we have had lots of colds since being in this house. Where I sit there is a vent over my head and it is chilly. Our floors are timber off the ground with no insulation. I'm dreading getting the bill! Re: Central heating 5Jul 13, 2014 12:17 pm Maybe a service call ? how old is it. Have you cleaned the filters lately. Dirty filters can really affect an air/con. BUT - if you can get natural gas - its the best imo. Re: Central heating 7Jul 15, 2014 7:29 pm Oh sorry, I meant not 4 years old the unit is 14 years old! Should I get it serviced or get a new unit. There are no ducts in the hallway to the minor bedrooms only a return vent thing. I turned off the vents in the bedrooms we don't use. Was this the correct thing to do? I'm pretty sure the previous owners would't have got it serviced at all. It is natural gas. Re: Central heating 9Jul 16, 2014 10:15 am Ari I'd be opening those vents in the bedrooms to warm up the hallway and see if that fixes the problem like your husband suspects before I pay someone to come out One tip for air/con is to use heat or cool - not auto. But - dirty filter can be a real issue. 14 years is getting on. Especially if no-one's ever looked at it. Re: Central heating 10Jul 16, 2014 11:04 am The other thing to bear in mind is that you're not supposed to close off lots of vents. The units are designed to operate with a certain amount of airflow and closing off vents can cause back pressure on the fan unit and the heating unit and cause problems. The installer would have originally said how many could be closed. It's normally not many - one or two depending on the total number. Get someone out to service it and get some advice on correct operation of the unit. FWIW my last house had a gas central heating unit that was positively ancient (30-40 years) but it worked fine and we got it serviced regularly. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Central heating 12Jul 18, 2014 8:44 am Gertrudemyra Thanks everyone I'll try and book a service today. But - I'd check filters before a service. Just in case. It's VERY easy to clean them. Re: Central heating 13Jul 20, 2014 3:56 pm Do you know what model it is or brand? If it is a gas central heater and it is blowing cold air or cooler air out for a bit before it gets warm then depending on the brand there is a few things you can do to fix it. If it is reverse cycle then having the return air in the cold corridor will make the unit struggle to heat and end up costing a lot more to run. The reverse cycle systems work on a temperature difference between the return air and supply air this will normally be around 16 degrees. where the gas heaters work on a supply air temp of around 50+ degrees. With vents it depends on the size of the house and the size of the ducts and vents but generally you will have to at least have around 8 vents open at all time. To clean the return air filter just slide the filter out of the frame take it outside and give it a hose by holding the frame against the wall and you can use a strong hose on it. Using a vacuum will pull off the filter material. if you find out the brand and model number i can explain how your system runs a lot better. Re: Central heating 14Jul 20, 2014 6:35 pm It's a Brivis climate system. It is working better now I have all 8 vents open but still draughty where I sit, under vent. I might have to get the vent shifted. The filter is clean. Re: Central heating 15Jul 20, 2014 9:31 pm If you get a service done to the unit you can ask the service tech to turn the fan speed down so that you dont feel the air when you sit under the vent if you choose to move the vent to another location it will cost a bit as you would have to fix the hole in the roof where the vent was. If you have a longer rectangular controller like this one http://www.brivis.com.au/images/on_off_key.gif or one like this http://www.brivis.com.au/images/light_globe_key.gif i can tell you the buttons to push to adjust it your self if you want. 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