Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 24, 2009 10:05 am Lets say the plans of your house looked like this, what Hot Water System would you use? and why?
http://edenbraehomes.com.au/images/1214891624_42.jpg Troy Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 2Feb 24, 2009 10:12 am All houses being built seem to be 5 star, and most of those have solar + gas boost water heating.
Solar does all it can, but if thats not enough, gas takes up the slack. Seems like the best option to me. Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 3Feb 24, 2009 10:15 am I got a heat pump. That way you dont have to have solar panels etc. and they are very cost effective to run.
They use the natural air to heat your water. I know it sounds strange but they are great and will work even in temperateures -100 degrees c Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 4Feb 24, 2009 10:31 am My builder wants me to get this unit.
http://www.rheem.com.au/domestic_product.asp?model=531260&cat_id= They claim that because of the size of my house I wouldn't pass the BASIX test unless I get a solar/gas HWS. Any comments? Troy Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 5Feb 24, 2009 10:54 am That seems like the standard for most homes. Were looking at about half that size and single story and its still solar+gas...
What do you want to put in? Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 6Feb 24, 2009 11:23 am Have you asked about heat pump. They are better BASIX rating than solar and you dont have to have the large panel on your roof. what that an option for you?? or were you wanting the solar/gas Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 7Feb 24, 2009 11:27 am mellybuilding Have you asked about heat pump. They are better BASIX rating than solar and you dont have to have the large panel on your roof. what that an option for you?? or were you wanting the solar/gas A heat pump hasn't been proposed as an option. I will ask though. Are heat pumps suited to one particular climate? What heat pump do you have? Troy Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 8Feb 24, 2009 11:58 am Hi,
Mine is a rheem http://www.rheem.com.au/domestic_produc ... 10&cat_id= It suits all australian climates. It will work even when in very cold climates eg below negetive 100 degrees c. it is usually cheaper than solar too. our builder didnt offer it either they only said solar or gas. but when i asked they were happy to accommodate Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 9Feb 24, 2009 12:00 pm mellybuilding Hi, Mine is a rheem http://www.rheem.com.au/domestic_produc ... 10&cat_id= It suits all australian climates. It will work even when in very cold climates eg below negetive 100 degrees c. it is usually cheaper than solar too. our builder didnt offer it either they only said solar or gas. but when i asked they were happy to accommodate So what made you decide on a heat pump rather than the solar/gas system? Troy Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 10Feb 24, 2009 12:07 pm For starters it was cheaper to install and the upkeep also. it cost us 2100 as an upgrade on the normal gas HWS they have as standard
Its cheaper to run than the solar, and for the same size tank the heat pump was much cheaper. We live in queensland and have plenty on sunshine for the solar. But price and size won. I didnt want a large solar panel on my roof. For me i wanted to hide the pump as much as possible and not have it on my roof for the world to see. It had better energy efficiency than the solar so it was an easy desicion for me., Cheaper bills Also the heat pump can never run out of energy cos it uses AIR. There is also a back up for gas on it aswell if it just so happens to get so so so cold that the air wont work. Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 11Feb 24, 2009 12:08 pm do you have natural gas to your house or would you have to run bottles?
bottled gas will cost you a fortune if your solar doesnt keep up, this is why i went with a heat pump as an example, a 3 person family living next door to us, only running gas mind you, use a full sized gas bottle every 6 weeks, thats going to cost you a fortune! ps: ive opted for a heat pump as well Blog - http://snakedr.blogspot.com/ Build Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=12084&p=307406#p307406 Status - PCI 15/10. Things nearly done. Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 13Feb 24, 2009 12:50 pm digga123 mellybuilding It had better energy efficiency than the solar so it was an easy desicion for me., Cheaper bills Where did you get that info? According to this, solar gas is better than heat pump http://www.sedo.energy.wa.gov.au/pages/emissions.asp Stevep79 & Principessa Finished building Wisdom Homes Impression 33mkII in The Ponds, Sydney http://lilypadintheponds.blogspot.com Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 14Feb 24, 2009 12:54 pm stevep79 According to this, solar gas is better than heat pump http://www.sedo.energy.wa.gov.au/pages/emissions.asp That's what I have seen as well. I guess if you ran a heat pump using off-peak electricity it could possibly be cheaper. Hard to say. Troy Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 15Feb 24, 2009 1:17 pm I wasn't aware that the layout of the house make an effect on what sort of hot water system should be used?
Only thing that we found out (a bit late now) is not to put your bathrooms on the first floor and HW cylinder on the ground floor. Bloody stupid! We have to wait 45-60 seconds before the water gets hot. I don't see "you don't have to have solar panels" as a benefit. No-one puts solar panels in because they think the panels look nice. They do it, mainly for environmental reasons, secondary for cost reasons (although the payoff time varies massively) They do it so "you don't have to pay for coal-generated* power" *Of course I'm in Tas so it's mostly hydro power anyway :) Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 16Feb 24, 2009 1:18 pm I just had a talk to Energy Australia after playing around with their Hot Water Calculator tool at http://www.energy.com.au/energy/ea.nsf/ ... Calculator
They told me a lot of their customers opt for a Solar/Electric system with Off Peak 1 Electricity. This solution would be cheaper than Solar/Gas (Natural) both in up front costs as well as on-going costs. The only downfall is that it is less environmentally friendly. Troy Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 17Feb 24, 2009 1:24 pm Chuq I wasn't aware that the layout of the house make an effect on what sort of hot water system should be used? Only thing that we found out (a bit late now) is not to put your bathrooms on the first floor and HW cylinder on the ground floor. Bloody stupid! We have to wait 45-60 seconds before the water gets hot. You can always get a couple of buttons installed when building which, when pressed, circulate the hot water through the pipes ready for you to turn on the tap. That way you're not wasting water. Obviously this is a cost-benefit situation as using the recirculating system uses more power / less water but turning on the tap and waiting uses less power / more water. Of course, the buttons are good for instant services because you use power in both cases. I think it must be a southern state thing to have the big hot water storage systems, like I had back home in Vic. Here in NSW, I haven't seen anything but the instantaneous hot water services (at least until the big "M" opened their first display homes here). Stevep79 & Principessa Finished building Wisdom Homes Impression 33mkII in The Ponds, Sydney http://lilypadintheponds.blogspot.com Re: What Hot Water System would you use? 18Feb 24, 2009 11:11 pm It's worth checking the noise rating of the particular heat pump that you intend purchasing. You might not want to place the unit near your bedrooms or where the neighbours will object to the noise of the compressor during the night. the sun master is the solar heating to "warm" the water in the tank the S26 is your hot water system which will heat the water (25 degrees?) so with both turned on you… 2 14059 Thanks good to know. How big is your tank? So you can set when your heat pump runs? How do you do that? How's the speed to heat? Is there such thing as instantaneous… 4 923 I want to build a decking to the drawn shape outlined in black. The problem is how close can I build to the gas hot water unit? Will I be able to build around it and be… 0 20232 |