Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Aug 31, 2008 8:27 pm Building in remote, regional Vic We have roof, frame, walls, plumbing, electrical....but no bricks! Re: The great debate over the best heating options 3Sep 01, 2008 9:51 pm Over this last winter, our house has only had a coonara wood heater in the family room and no heating in the bedrooms. It has been AWFUL. The novelty of a wood fire passed very quickly.
Remember that wood is expensive - it's pretty much the most expensive form of heating you can get. If you don't buy it precut, you'll have to get a chainsaw, spend the time cutting it, hauling it to your house and storing it out of the wet. As for actually lighting it and keeping it going, it's okay on weekends, but in the mornings before work we found it was just too much effort so just put up with the cold. Even though it meant my daughter and I sitting at the breakfast table with steam coming out of our mouths!! We've also used column heaters in the bedrooms overnight but you have to have it on for a while before you go bed to get it warmed up. I don't know how much they've cost us in electricity. So we've decided to get ducted heating and we're getting it installed this Wednesday - woo hoo!! Our fire will become a feature for when we have guests over, rather than our main source of heat. Re: The great debate over the best heating options 4Sep 02, 2008 7:16 pm Thanks for the advice guys.
I spent half of today researching Sun Lizard and it seems like a good thing. Might ask if anyone on here has one in use, or knows of someone using it. You can't beat personal recommendations! Building in remote, regional Vic We have roof, frame, walls, plumbing, electrical....but no bricks! Re: The great debate over the best heating options 5Sep 02, 2008 9:09 pm If nobody comes up with an opinion, try requesting references from the producer/distributor. They should be able to put you in touch with existing clients. Have you seen http://renovate.realestate.com.au/home- ... olar-power ?
Chris My father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son flies in a jetliner, his son will ride a camel.Saudi saying Re: The great debate over the best heating options 6Sep 02, 2008 10:05 pm Theissue is not just effectiveness and cost, but also zoning. If you can clsoe doors, or zone off parts of the house that dont need to be heated / cooled, you will save a heap of money on fuels / gas / wood.
Friends of mine hae a neatly hidden cavity door which cuts the house in 2. The gas log fire they have heats the living / kitchen areas well, and at a lower cost, and their ducted heating is turned off in these areas. The D/H is mainly used for the bedrooms. By using a circulation function on the heater, the warm air is taken from the inlet in the entertainment room, and distributed to the bedrooms, ie no heating, just air circulation. Adrian B Re: The great debate over the best heating options 7Sep 03, 2008 1:07 pm Have you considered electric panel heating as an option? We have it in our bedrooms and my office and it is great and not too expensive to run. The brands we have are a mix of Noirot and Nobo. I works on the same theory as hydronic heating (convection and some radiation of heat) but is way cheaper to install
Allison Re: The great debate over the best heating options 8Sep 03, 2008 4:03 pm I just got seven Noirot panels installed.
I studied all the heating options in detail before going with panels. We get them on a cheaper power tariff here (about half the normal power cost - no idea why!). They are much cheaper to buy & install, but the main deciders for me were: - They don't dry out the air like air conditioners seem to do - Totally silent (i hate the on/off hum of aircons) - They are 'zoned' by default since each room has its own panel - We didn't need any cooling (Tasmania!) Gas isn't available where I am, so that option was out. Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves. - Dale Carnegie Re: The great debate over the best heating options 9Sep 03, 2008 6:53 pm Cabinfever I just got seven Noirot panels installed. I studied all the heating options in detail before going with panels. We get them on a cheaper power tariff here (about half the normal power cost - no idea why!). They are much cheaper to buy & install, but the main deciders for me were: - They don't dry out the air like air conditioners seem to do - Totally silent (i hate the on/off hum of aircons) - They are 'zoned' by default since each room has its own panel - We didn't need any cooling (Tasmania!) Gas isn't available where I am, so that option was out. Thanks Albi and Cabinfever. A work colleague actually mentioned the Noirot panel heater to me yesterday. Can you tell me how much they retail for? Building in remote, regional Vic We have roof, frame, walls, plumbing, electrical....but no bricks! Re: The great debate over the best heating options 10Sep 03, 2008 7:16 pm Since we're in the bush we will be getting a wood heater (well we already have it), central one in the middle of the house. We will see how we go the first year and then if need be we will get some ceramic panel heaters for the kids bedrooms and maybe something for the bathroom. It depends how well the heat travels as the wood heater we chose is both radiant & convection. Installing reverse fans is an option too.
Here where I live I know that most people have wood heaters (well it's a timber town after all) and most people just keep them going all the time throughout winter so that they don't have to light up every morning etc. Yes it can be costly if you have to buy the wood all the time, but not any more than it would trying to heat a large house with a gas heater (you know from those big bottles of gas). So wood heating is our cheapest option since we can source our own free timber (yes cutting / splitting / carrying is a requirement). Given any other option we probably would have left the gas plumbing if it came standard from the builder - after all we will be using bottles for the stove & hot water booster, that way the option is still there to use an electric system. I reckon it would be a mixture - gas in the living and probably the ceramic panels in the bedrooms. Re: The great debate over the best heating options 11Sep 03, 2008 8:34 pm Our Noirot was $365.00 for the 2000W. It is programmable and has a thermostat. It easily heats my office which is 4m x 4m with 3.4m ceilings (I think that is the conversion for 13 feet). I can't remember how much the Nobos were but they were more expensive and I much prefer the Noirot as it doesn't tick when heating up or cooling down like the Nobos do.
You could always try one and see what you think and then get more if you like them. They can be mounted onto the wall or on wheels if you want them more portable. Re: The great debate over the best heating options 12Sep 03, 2008 8:45 pm Cabinfever We get them on a cheaper power tariff here (about half the normal power cost - no idea why That sounds like Hydroheat, CF (where you get your electric heating at your hotwater tariff). Can I ask if the panel heaters are your only or main form of heating? When we last looked into it, Hydroheat was only available if the electric heaters were your main source of heating and the total had to come to a certain kW value (which I can't remember). We are planning to do something similar to Pebbles (woodheater, as we have our own source of wood and are planning to replant what we take so hopefully we will be carbon neutral) But we may need additional heating in the kids' rooms (will decide on that after our first winter) and we are hoping we can get panel heaters on Hydroheat. 'chelle We have a hand-over date...15/10...but I won't hold my breath! http://people-in-glass-houses.blogspot.com/ Re: The great debate over the best heating options 13Sep 05, 2008 8:45 am Hi 'chelle. Aurora have a PDF on their site somewhere detailing Hydroheat.
It's somewhere around here: http://www.auroraenergy.com.au/resident ... harges.asp But I can't find the exact page atm. But here's the vital part though... To get the Hydroheat rate (about 12c/kwh rather than the usual 19c/pkh) you need to satisfy just ONE of the three listed conditions. Here's the extract: (f) Permanently installed wired-in electric heater(s) may be eligible with this tariff on condition that the wiring of any electric heater is installed by a registered electrician in accordance with AS 3000 wiring rules and associated regulations and acts, and one of the following conditions are met: (i) If a residence has a permanently installed wired-in electric heater with an output of 3.5kW in a living area, on a single functional switch then this, and any additional permanently wired space heaters throughout the residence, may be installed on this tariff. (ii) A total rating of at least 5kW of the same heating system installed throughout the residence. This heating system must be the priority heating system of the main living area and must have a single functional switch in each heated area throughout the residence. However where a ducted heating system is installed, the control switch must be located near the heating unit in order to qualify for this tariff. (iii) Heating in secondary areas such as bedrooms and hallways if the residence has OffPeak storage heating in the living area(s) as its priority source of heating. The secondary heating system should be a permanently connected single propriety heating system with a total of 5 kW or more heating capacity. ------------------- We qualified under condition (ii) as most of our panels were 1.5Kw panels in the bedrooms which easily totalled more than 5Kw. We had just replaced the fireplace in the main living area, but said this was just 'for aesthetics' (which is true). If it's a bit less clear cut in your case, just get the electric system installed first. Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves. - Dale Carnegie Re: The great debate over the best heating options 14Sep 05, 2008 3:45 pm Thanks Cabinfever,
Hmmm not sure if we will qualify, and we were hoping not to install electric heaters until we live there and see what it is like with the passive solar and a wood heater. We might have to rethink this. Thanks again. 'chelle We have a hand-over date...15/10...but I won't hold my breath! http://people-in-glass-houses.blogspot.com/ Re: The great debate over the best heating options 15Nov 01, 2008 3:54 pm overthebuildingprocess Hi all we're still debating what the better heating option is. Here's our choices: * Put in a refrig ducted split system - quoted at around $13k (not really in budget) * Put the Brivis 5 star back on the plan and live with the high lpg cost * Put in a kenara or a gas log fire heater in the living area and do nothing in the bedrooms, other than maybe a heat transfer system to pump some air into other rooms. LPG = very expensive 3x natural gas Wood = cheap for unit of energy produced, need some kind of ducting system if you want to distribute hot air, nice ambience, hassle to run and slow to get going, radiant heat is cosy, pollutes locally (rather than electricity which pollute remotely), modern combustion stoves quite efficient, fireplaces very inefficient Electricity = currently twice the cost of natural gas to produce the same unit of energy, most efficient to run AC, not very efficient when running radiant type system including slab floor, polluting in OZ because most if it is generated from coal, inherent line losses from power station (i.e. wasted energy) Natural gas = cheaper than electricity to get same heating benefit, burns more cleanly with less emissions, fossil fuel (will run out but not in our generation) See Sustainability Victoria for cost comparison: http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/re ... system.pdf 1 9522 After some ideas on making our patio kid friendly . Currently we have exposed aggregate. The patio faces west and is always in sun even though it has a shade directly… 0 6581 Hello! We have a very large open plan living room and wanted to get layout options, and furnishing ideas for this space. Currently there is only a… 0 12889 |