Ducted Gas costs in Canberra?

Gungahlin Al said :

miss molly said :

So we’ve done heaps of extra stuff to get ready for Winter, including putting bubble wrap on some of the glass windows which is meant to be as good as double glazing. It’s also a bit weird, so only on windows no one actually looks through:)

Good move. On the bubble wrap. It is cheap. A better alternative for windows you want to look through is Magnetite. This is a perspex window overlay that sticks on with magnetic stripping around the frame. Gives you real double glazing benefits (the air gap) for a lot cheaper than replacing everything. They are at Mitchell I think.

I second Magnetite. Better than double glazing and less than half the cost. Good people to deal with, too.

Don’t forget to make sure that your ceiling insulation’s good, too.

Slumlord said :

I just got a quote from these guys, fantastic service (so far) and 5 star Braemar system 8 ducts for $4500 goes in next week. I’d take your quote to them as they’re offering to beat quotes by 10%. Good luck!

http://canberra.gumtree.com.au/c-Business-Services-building-trades-airconditioning-heating-DUCTED-HEATING-DEAL-DIRECT-WITH-THE-INSTALLER-AND-SAVE-W0QQAdIdZ274669821

Anyone know who these guys are? The link won’t work anymore.

You can do MUCH better than that price. Companies that have dedicated sales reps and shop fronts will add about 25% to the price to cover overheads. You’re much better off finding a smaller operation where the installer and the salesman is the same person and they don’t have a costly shopfront. They will still use the same quality units and the installation is usually better because the business owner is the installer and they rely on their reputation.

We just had a 5 star top of the range Brivis ducted system (HX30) with 14 vents and 2 separate zones installed for around $5,500. Quotes from ACTEW and another supplier were both well over $8,000 for exactly the same system.

Just one thing, do you have gas appliances? Because you will still have to pay quartery to have the gas connected even if you are not using it.

One question, do you already use gas appliances? Because if you don’t you will be paying a fee even for the months you’re not operating the unit, which will very likely negate any savings you will make on heating.

Gungahlin Al said :

miss molly said :

So we’ve done heaps of extra stuff to get ready for Winter, including putting bubble wrap on some of the glass windows which is meant to be as good as double glazing. It’s also a bit weird, so only on windows no one actually looks through:)

Good move. On the bubble wrap. It is cheap. A better alternative for windows you want to look through is Magnetite. This is a perspex window overlay that sticks on with magnetic stripping around the frame. Gives you real double glazing benefits (the air gap) for a lot cheaper than replacing everything. They are at Mitchell I think.

I second the Magnetite, we have it in our home and it is unbelievable. The magnetite along with insulating under the floor halved our heating bill. The only drawback is that it is costly, however you can focus on doing the bedrooms or living areas first and then one by one buying the windows for the rest of the house.

RedDogInCan said :

I’d also recommend considering getting your system zoned if the living areas of your house can be closed off. We have three separate living areas in our house – bedrooms/bathroom, kitchen/family room, and lounge room – which can be closed off by internal doors. Our ducted gas heating system has three zones that correspond to the living areas and the control is programmed to only heat the living areas in use at any particular time. In our case, only the bedrooms are heated at night, the kitchen/family room zone turns on in the morning, every thing switches off when we leave for work, the lounge and kitchen zones switch on in the evening, and the bedrooms come on just before bedtime.

No point heating areas you aren’t using. The zoning cost us an extra $500 odd dollars and easily paid for itself over five years. Unfortunately all three damper units failed after 6 years and had to be replaced – newer mechanisms are more reliable though.

Good advice in principle, though in practice for a system that only needs 8 outlets it is probably not going to be very practical and may in fact be detrimental to the efficiency and longevity of the system. The reason being is all ducted system have a requirement for a minimum number of outlets open at any one time. As a general rule if an 8 outlet system has been quoted then the minimum number of outlets that must be open at any one time will be ~6. Close more than that or zone into zones smaller than that then you are not allowing enough air to pass through which puts a ‘back’ pressure on the furnace unit which means it doesn’t run as efficiently as it should and could also prematurely wear out the fan etc as it will struggle to push the air through.

Where zoning comes into it’s own is in larger houses, which sounds like yours where you can specify a smaller capacity furnace unit, but still have zones big enough to meet the minimum open outlet requirements.

I just got a quote from these guys, fantastic service (so far) and 5 star Braemar system 8 ducts for $4500 goes in next week. I’d take your quote to them as they’re offering to beat quotes by 10%. Good luck!

http://canberra.gumtree.com.au/c-Business-Services-building-trades-airconditioning-heating-DUCTED-HEATING-DEAL-DIRECT-WITH-THE-INSTALLER-AND-SAVE-W0QQAdIdZ274669821

Gungahlin Al said :

Then ensure it is well insulated in the ceiling, and under the floor if it is raised timber (or raised anything for that matter). Then look at your curtains or blinds. Would tight fitting roman blinds or Luxaflex Duettes do a better job?
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Adding wall insulation (the blown in rockwool type) our gas bill dropped by two thirds – paid for itself in two years.

Gungahlin Al said :

You can get an inexpensive “heat transfer kit” that is basically two ceiling vents, some insulated ducting, a thermostat and an inline exhaust fan.

We use our ducted gas system on ‘fan only’ setting to do this. Cools our hot family room and warms the rest of the house for almost free.

Gungahlin Al said :

Noise – you want the place warm when you get up so you set it to start at 5am, and that’s when you’ll be woken.

But at least it will be warm enough to get up – no more excuses for hiding under the doona. Honestly, noise isn’t an issue with a good installation.

Gungahlin Al said :

Dust/asthma: any respiratory issues in the family? Ducting will only exacerbate things blowing it all around.

Actually we found the opposite. The ducted system has a filter on the intake which removes a LOT of dust from the air. The problem we have is in the one room which doesn’t have a duct – the dust seems to settle in that room instead of anywhere else in the house.

Gungahlin Al said :

Dry skin: the dry heat will dry your face out, lots of nose bleeds, dry eyes etc.

A small indoor water feature solves that and looks good to. Uses about a cup of water per day. We also use this effect to our advantage – the air return is in our laundry and it very effective in drying clothes indoors on a damp winters day.

Gungahlin Al said :

Thermal mass: ducted heating does next to nothing for warming the mass of your building. So as soon as it goes off, you lose the heat quickly. On off on off…

Typical modern houses have very little thermal mass anyway. Thermal mass in buildings needs to be planned carefully as it can have to opposite effect than intended – slow to heat up or cool down.

Gungahlin Al said :

Poor heat profile: because only the air is warm it rises and at floor level everything is still very cold.

Yes, high ceilings are a killer. Air temp differs by more than 20 degrees from floor to ceiling in our house. This can be circumvented heaters that have a continuous circulation setting which just runs the fan between heating cycles but does cost power to run.

When we built our house went from a single heater (boiling loungeroom, freezing bedrooms) to a high efficiency ducted gas system. The difference was phenomenal. Add in a well insulated house with good sloar orientation, and heating costs are bugger all.

I’d like a fireplace for effect, but the ducted gas will always stay.