Tiawamutu

Out of all those who have air con, could you say which you have from the list (or something different if I have missed anything out) and also what you feel the advantages/disadvantages are i.e efficiency/cost effectiveness, how good it does the job etc.

We will be moving into our new house around September time, and all it will have is batt insulation, which I know for a fact will not be much good for cooling/keeping the place warm.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as at the moment we have an idea of what we may go for, but need to look at other options,

TIA

Centurion

From your list there is only one system that will keep the whole house, or rooms that you want, cold or warm thats reverse cycle ducted.

You'd be mad not to get reverse cycle for the winter and although all mounted are awesome to cool a particular room if you want to cool multiple rooms then you've got to have multiple units.

So no contest really!

Tiawamutu

Is that the most expensive one to go for?

I've looked at air con websites but can't seem to find any prices. The only way would be to ask for a quote, but that's a bit difficult, as the house isn't built yet

Do you think they could do one from the floor plan?

Amazulu

We went for individual inverter R/C units because:
Easier to fit into an existing house. Ducted would be better in a new build,
For our situation it was cheaper,
Great deals (including cashback) on Fujitsu Inverters when we bought. Winter is a good time to get A/C installed as there are some swwet deals to be had.

Ransi

Ive wall mounted reverse units,they are better than nothing but I'd go for ducted reverse cycling.

TraceyW

We've had reverse cycle ducted installed into this house and it's fab. It cost almost $10k but worth every cent.

Two snags though:

1) It's damned expensive to run

2) Can't fathom out how to use the timer for the heating in the winter!! Will have to get the man out and play thick!

Tiawamutu

Aye, I read somewhere that a good time to buy was between August and November, as it was a relatively quiet time, compared to middle of summer, when everybody wanted it installing.

Is the inverter technology the thing where it matches the motor power to whatever mode the air conditioner is in, to save energy?

Tiawamutu

I think there's a new one available (in WA anyway) that has been shown to save up to 38% in energy costs. It's probably the most expensive to install though

Can yours be turned off, and the temp controlled in different rooms?

Tiawamutu

I'm starting to think ducted would be our best option.

I'll start saving now

Amazulu

That's it. I think there is a newer type of Inverter that has just come on the market that saves a little bit more energy than the straight Inverter.
Winter is the time to buy as the manufacturers do some good deals to be able to shift their machines and the installers are not too busy.

TraceyW

Ours is less than a year old and it's the inverter type. Still expensive to run though.

It can't be controlled in seperate rooms, just the main one. And if we could just understand the pesky instructions we might have a warm house to get up to in the winter!!

Tiawamutu

Tiawamutu

Who was it that voted for Evaporative?

What is that like, any good?

TrickyTree

We currently have ducted in our place and one thing to think about is with ours it is either on in all rooms or off in all rooms. This to me seems a huge waste as your usually only in one place at a time and I think our leccy bill will show this. I dont know if ours is an old system and the new ones can control independent rooms or not but I prefered the wall mounted units in our previous place if we were in the living room that one and that one only went on if we were off to bed the one in the bedroom went on? it seemed alot more practical and money wise to us?

Tiawamutu

I know what you mean. Sounds like you may have an older system, as nowadays you can control the temperatures in different rooms, and I think you can switch some rooms off completely, but I'm not entirely sure.

I have seen somewhere where you can use an economy setting (whatever that entails I don't know) but it's supposed to save you money on your bills.

Do you rent your house, as if you don't, it may be possible to update the air con unit and keep the ducts, if you know what I mean. Although again, I'm not entirely sure.