Air conditioning vs Evaporative cooling
 

We knew we would buy a house with a cooling system when we moved here, who in their right mind wouldn't? But we didn't realise there were two different types, and always referred to our system as "air conditioning". We have been corrected so many times by tradesmen (and others who like to point out how little us Poms know about such things) so just thought I'd mention it to you lot heading out here. There are two different systems here: Air Conditioning (as found in America) and Evaporative Cooling. As to what the differences are, well I'll leave that to someone here who is good with techie speak and knows about such things!!

Now does anyone know of a company in WA who can install "radiators" - those white metal things that you attach to walls and they heat up in winter! Well that is how I have to describe them to Ozzies who don't know what they are!! Any plumbers out there, ever thought of introducing "central heating" here, we really missed that in the winter, we were so cold in the house!

High Jacqui i think the reason they dont have the bulky white things attached to there walls is that there is a third type of airconditioner its called reverse cycle / fan and coil units that also heat the air in winter and dry it if required and do the obvious cooling in the summer.

Enquire about heat pumps and core heating long tubes a driven into the earth and water is heatded via the earths core exp to install cheep to run though and very very green:)

Re: Air conditioning vs Evaporative cooling
 

I think you want hydronic gas heating:

http://www.actewagl.com.au/productSe...l.cfm#hydronic

I think this is a bit specialist and would no doubt cost a fortune to install

Bed of Roses is right, if you get air conditioning (evaporative cooling is about as similar to real air con as a pushbike is to a car LOL) you should get reverse cycle air con, which cools the house in summer & warms it in winter.

Mrs Dagboy is dead right about the comparison.

Evaporative is "cheap" in that it costs 2-3K to install an 8 outlet system and has running costs of about 50c an hour. It works by dripping water through corrugated cardboard pads. The water evaporates leaving "cool" air to be blown into the house. You need to leave some windows/doors open to allow stale air out. Be warned it doesn't work well in humid areas but is OK in Perth.

Reverse cycle is more like you'd expect in shops etc. It costs about 1K per outlet and is more expensive to run. Having said that the cost of other methods of heating (wood, gas, electric)are pretty expensive and generally are not throughout the house. You cannot have windows open with this one if you want it to work efficiently. When we build this is the one we'll get.

The third type are split systems which are wall mounted. I've been told they are a good compromise but they strike me as being quite noisy.

All the best

Nibbs, if you are building, get ducted reverse cycle a/c put in while its being built. Its a split system & they run the pipes through the roof/walls while they are building the house. So you have an outlet in every room, with one main fan & air con unit in one location on the outside of the house. Also consider good insulation which will help with heat loss etc. A good ducted split system is far far more efficient than individual a/c units for each room & overall a lot less noisy than having 3 or 4 units going at the same time. However a/c units are one of the most common causes of noise complaints to councils/police, so get someone in who can help you best decide where to place it for minimum impact on your neighbours :). Costs quite a bit to install, but having a house that feels like a shopping centre to walk into in the height of summer makes it a very tempting proposition ;).

BTW, I have never heard of evaporative coolers as built in with outlets, must be a Perth thing! The only thing I have ever seen are free standing units that are wheeled from room to room.

Thanks for the advice Mrs Dagboy.

That's exactly what I intend to do. I've got a coupleof contacts in the trade and they've recommended Daikin as the quietest and reliable.

The muppet we rented from had the house built but would only put theair con in if we'd pay another $30 per week. So in they come, rip a hole in the roof, struggle with the ducting and stick a dodgy overflow pipe in. Still it does the job and doesn't look to bad.

I'm not surprised evap doesn't exist in QLD. The humidity would mean it just wouldn't work.

Cheers

Nick

Re: Air conditioning vs Evaporative cooling
 

If you've gone to the expense of having "proper"a/c installed, why even think of putting a wet radiator heating system in?

OK, it will probably cost a little less to run, but the installation and more importantly maintenance cost would be much greater.

We've got conventional a/c, with heating elements in the air handler for the cold weather. They work fine, and are not often on.

A good investment is a "heat recovery" unit - it grabs the waste heat from the compressor unit and pops it into the hot water tank. During the a/c season we don't have to have the water heater on at all!

Re: Air conditioning vs Evaporative cooling
 

No we didn't go to any expense, the cooling system was already in the house when we bought it. What I was really trying to say was how much we miss central heating, in particular with radiators, somewhere warm to hang your towels. We had warm air central heating many years ago, and had it replaced with radiators. I guess if we self-build we'll go for the reverse cycle ducted air-conditioning, that way we'll get heating and cooling which is controllable from a small panel. At the moment we have two rooms that don't have cooling vents and no heating whatsoever, not even a fire. We're reluctant to spend $000's when there's a chance we could move next year.

Reverse cycle aircon is excellent, we have it......

Only issues with it are that you have to close windows when you put it on as it takes air from within the house, also it's noisy if the place it sucks the air from is near your bedroom.

Otherwise can't complaim, in winter I put clothes airer under it and it dried like a dream.

The other sort of aircon draws air fromoutside, so you open windows when it is on to release the air out and you get a big box thing on your roof. It only cools.

I like aircon as radiators got dusty and cluttered up wall space. Saw a house here with underfloor heating. It was a wonderful feeling too.

Mash ;)

Peeing it down here in Adelaide at the mo but still in the 30's, one extreme to another today...

Re: Air conditioning vs Evaporative cooling
 

A good investment is a "heat recovery" unit - it grabs the waste heat from the compressor unit and pops it into the hot water tank. During the a/c season we don't have to have the water heater on at all! [/QUOTE]

Rog Never herd of this before you learn somthing new every day
:cool: idea, I have herd of the hot tank on the roof with electric booster but that is a much beter idea and an attempt at being green.