Ducted Gas Heating in Canberra

Wonderful Service received from Mick @ Capital Gas Works….our heater failed during the cold Canberra winter, I emailed over 8 companies, Mick was the only one who bothered to reply, he came straight away and quoted on a new Brivis 6 star, ordered it without even a deposit, promptly installed within 5 days.. and a great job .. Mick is genuine and would highly recommend his services.

Hi Pandy,

We had got our gas heating installed by http://capitalgasworks.com.au/

The bills do reflect a good sign and trust me it brings a smile on our face during these cold winter canberra season.

Good mob and did not leave any mess when they finished the job.

My 2 cents.

shorey said :

As a worker in the industry it is a real issue with who services your heating,most have no idea.I have used a couple of blokes ,little known but very good.Their aim is to fix units if they can not to condemn.one has worked for Brivis and braemar for many years,if he is available he will be there within 48 hours most times sooner,weekends are anexception,works every 2nd saturday.
I have installed Braemar for many years and use R1 rated ductwork as per australian standards .A lot of people use underrated ductwork.
Th is is just a bit of winge ,had a frustrating week.

The next inevitable question is, How do I contact these excellent people?

As a worker in the industry it is a real issue with who services your heating,most have no idea.I have used a couple of blokes ,little known but very good.Their aim is to fix units if they can not to condemn.one has worked for Brivis and braemar for many years,if he is available he will be there within 48 hours most times sooner,weekends are anexception,works every 2nd saturday.
I have installed Braemar for many years and use R1 rated ductwork as per australian standards .A lot of people use underrated ductwork.
Th is is just a bit of winge ,had a frustrating week.

Brivis – running for 15 years without malfunction and/or service. Have even had extensions and added extra vents and the heating is more awesome than before. Original house had seven vents and the capacity of the Brivis was ten so added the extra three (the builder just added the piping and connection). The house was bought with the heating included so can’t speak of an installer. Don’t zone the one at our place but can shut three off by closing ducts.
It also depends how cold you are. Some friends have both ducted at amazingly high temperatures and a fire place, when you walk in its like 35 degrees! We are happy 19-21 degrees and add clothes or a lap blanket while sitting on a particularly cold night.

Seconding Brivis – ours has run without a hitch since 2002. The brief hitch that year was fixed gratis by Brivis, even though it probably wasn’t even under warranty. They seemed genuinely horrified that the unit had malfunctioned. The other pro is that we can use the same controller for our ducted evap cooling. If you don’t have evap cooling, make sure any ducts you get installed are up to spec to tack on a cooling unit later. Our house is small (~110 m2), so didn’t bother with zoning – we just close the vents in certain rooms.

Return air vents usually go into some low part of the hallway, ie hall cupboards or cupboards in another room, backing onto the hallway, ie some low central-ish place, so as to pick up the coldest air in the house. This may mean that you will have to lose some of your cupboard space. However, check for larger cavities behind walls that might be usable.

The effectiveness of zoning depends on the design of the house: more open plan = less effective. Modern furnaces are reasonably flexible, ie they will throttle down to about two thirds of full load. This means that you can close off vents in the rooms you don’t want to heat (at least with floor vents; ceiling vents may be less suitable for routine opening and closing. Check what heater capacity is recommended for your house- if your house is close to the maximum size recommended for a particular model, it may be better to get the next larger model- this has the advantage of faster heat-up when you need it.

As far as brands go, our Brivis MPS has run for nine years without incident.

sepi said :

Avoid Capital Gas.

Why?

Totally agree with deezagood – keep doing your homework. Ask them questions about volume of airflow etc. and if need be pretend you understand if need be. Take your time to find the right installer. We have a doct at one end of the house that is squashed by the pitch of the roof, and its the farthest point from the heater which doesnt help either (we inherited this with the house)
Cheers

It is very easy to be ripped off and overcharged; they can use cheap dodgy ducting, inappropriately sized heaters etc… and charge through the roof. I highly recommend Touie Smith and sons from Yass (yes, all the way from Yass); they are excellent, trustworthy etc… They are always very busy though, so be prepared to wait. This is one time when going for the cheapest quote might come back and bite you later – you get what you pay for.