Printable View
Not some crazy Russian spambot.
Just finished building, looking at quotes for ducted air installation.
Anyone know anything?
We've had quotes ranging from
$8K for 2 zones, 12kW cooling/13kW heating to
$12k for 4 zones, 14kW cooling/16kW heating
We like the 4 zones as there's at least 1 room we'd like to separate in its own zone as we don't use it much.
Is the extra $4K gonna be worth it over 15-20years?
Haven't had the chance to use it yet as we are still waiting for the ****ing land to be registered and then to build, but we ended up going with the 4 zone ducted aircon (2 zones were free) as we could have the master as one zone, home theatre as one, living areasas one, and then the other 3 bedrooms on one.
the 4 zones made more sense to us by not having to heat/cool half the house when we are only using 1/2 rooms
That's what we're thinking.
Though the 2 zone spilt could simply be all bedrooms on one, all living on the other and leave the study/4th bed off the system.
4 zones means we can do master, living, kids beds, study.
We basically want to workout how long it will take for the extra 4K to start paying for itself by saving money not controlling the temp of rooms not being used.
I've got 5 zones (3 beds individually, media, living area). The more zones the better I reckon. My parents place only had 3 zones, which made for a heap of wasted air on imho.
Surely the supplier could give you comparative costs based on your assumptions.
We've got 4 zones too. One zone remains on always and the four zones gave us more flexibility.
Over the years it'll be worth it mate
Another vote for 4 zones.
You'd think.Quote:
Originally Posted by belchardo
But competitive quotes and information provision so we can make an informed decision doesn't seem high on the priority of some service providers in regional nsw.
mate once you get it in it has to work well or youll have wasted all ya $.Quote:
Originally Posted by GazFish35
Get the extra zones and if necessary take the next size up if you are not sure that the smaller one can cover the area. $ will mean jack in 3yrs.
Go the 4 zones if you can afford it, it'll cost you more if you decide to add it later.
The AC system should be an inverter system, most domestic scale are these days, so it's energy efficient.
What brand you been quoted ? Daikin and Mitsubishi are the best.
I can vouch for Tozer Air Conditioning doing good job, as well as Air Extreme.
Heard Coolrite are good.
Make sure your outdoor unit is located somewhere that a hum does not disturb, ie not outside a bedroom window or in narrow space between colorbnd fence & house where sound can reverberate
That's because domestic air-con like domestic refrigeration pays peanuts compared to what can be made via commercial / industrial installations.Quote:
Originally Posted by GazFish35
The majority of the blokes doing domestic stuff are cowboys at best.
Family were in the business for around 50 years until they retired.
That's a bit rough. Some of the guys I deal with are quite good IMO. I work with both domestic and commercialQuote:
Originally Posted by The Dunster
Cheers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Footyhead
One quote we've had is for a daikin, the other an Aussie made "Actron" (not sure of spelling)
We've set our build up so we have a "utilities" courtyard between the garage, kitchen and study, all bedrooms are on the otherwise of the house, and courtyard has good clearance 3-4metres from the fence..... And the neighbouring block is empty.
We are leaning towards the 4 zones.
I agree, some of the guys are good. Unfortunately a lot of them out there are electricians who did journeyman's courses and are essentially clueless.Quote:
Originally Posted by Footyhead
Daikin are the Rolls Royce of domestic brands. Whisper quiet and very reliable.Quote:
Originally Posted by GazFish35
We've been "home" out of the big smoke of Sydney for 18months, and have found almost every trade we've dealt with to be absolutely fantastic, trustworthy and reliable (one plumber wasn't, but he got fired) as word of mouth is so important in our smaller population.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dunster
My only gripe is getting info from people prior to committing to a contract seems to take a long time..... And I put that down to a far far far slower pace of life and less competition for our business.
That's cos it's Japanese. Anything Japanese is good stuff, just like our Subaru and Corolla :)Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dunster
Got a Daikin too and we're very happy with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dunster
Jeez are my multi or something?! I've got a Subaru and Corolla too!Quote:
Originally Posted by Footyhead
Slight tangent here..
I'm building this year and we've decided to save the $9k-10k they told us ducted would cost and i'm gonna fit a big 8-9kw split system in the main living space and a little system in the master bedroom after i've paid for the driveway/grass. Fan lights in the other rooms.
Does anyone else think that this is a reasonable idea? Or to reword that, can anyone tell me if it's going to be a stupid idea? (based on fact/past experience)
I did a bit of research to work out what to do but since this is my first house i'm open to any advice people have.
Not silly mate. What other insulation are you putting in the house? Where you are living, how cold does it get? Will you have other means of heating such as a gas heater or wood fire?Quote:
Originally Posted by Frodo
If you think the house can be "warmed" then great, and it depends on how long you're going to be there. We paid for it because it was already installed and we plan on being there for years and years. But being an old house we don't have wall insulation nor anything in the ceiling or underfloor at this stage.
We mix between the air con and the gas heater depending on the room we are in.
R2.0 insulation and gas heating, so heating isn't an issue the Air Con is just for cooling in summer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeterpool
I'm heading out to Gillieston Heights (AKA Gilligans Island when it rains), so it'll be a little frostier in winter and hotter in summer than my current place near the lake. However my current rental is made from paddle pop sticks and PVC glue so it's gonna be a massive step up without any heating or cooling.
Cheers.
Having ducted on the plans you submit for your DA will impact on your BASIX which could end up costing
Do you mean if it's on the plans they send to the DA it will increase my BASIX? Because we've taken it off our final quote, which we are going through on Sat, i've just told them i'll put it in once i'm in the house, then i can just use my own guy to install it.Quote:
Originally Posted by GazFish35
I have multiple split systems in my house - works well and is reasonably efficient.
However, it looks as ugly as a gypos wife / sister from the outside of the house.
If the cost of running and maintaining a ducted system isn't an issue then ducted is very hard to beat.
However, you often find that rather than repair an old ducted system a lot of people just install split systems these days and are more than happy with the results. [ Key word being OLD ducted systems].
The reason being is that the new split systems don't cost as much to run as the older ducted systems did.
Cheers.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dunster
Sorry for the Thread hijack Gaz.
Now to get SuperDylan to design my pool for me and i'll be set.:rof:
Not sure about increase, as I don't know if BASIX should be high or low.Quote:
Originally Posted by Frodo
All I know is we kept our "cooling" to ceiling fans as if we had ducted on submitted plans we'd have had to increase insulation and the like.
Can also vouch for Tozer & Dakin. We were deciding between Dakin & Actron and from memory the noise and energy efficiency was better on Dakin.
On the tangent comment, we looked at split systems and found that the price difference was negligible and air coverage was not as effective on a split system.
We found this too and was also a contributor to our decisionQuote:
Originally Posted by northern_swan