Mgee

A good info site on heat pumps and how to choose the correct one for your needs: http://www.consumer.org.nz/reports/heat-pumps

alanmacc

Hmmmmm this old chestnut again.
Heating is pure and simple a matter of preferance to the individual, we had our housse built a year ago and was fitted with one heat pump in the main living area, we found our pretty fast that this is not enough to heat a whole house.
We looked about and finally chose a second heat pump albeit a smaller one to be fitted in the second living room and to be hoest this had did the trick for us, are they noisy .... you are aware of a light noise of air moving about but is it enough to stop you watching TV, having dinner, having company over,.......... not atall, are heat pumps efficient IMO yes they are, they can quickly move air about and you have full control over how warm or how cool you want it to be.

Do i miss GCH ....... yes i do, i liked the fully central heated house, but this is not the UK, it does not get as cold as the UK, but it does get a lot hotter, we have been here 2 years next month and I have wore short sleeved shirts every day outside (unless it raining )
We generally set the pumps to 18 - 20 degrees in the morning before we go to work and the house is pretty cozy when we come home.

BUT if your cold blooded then you are likely to feel the cold more, i still hear people at work complainig of how cold it is and heres me sitting im my shirt.

So to sum up im pretty happy with the two heat pumps to heat a 4 bed house

lapsed kiwi

So are we (with 3, one for each living area). We have electric radiators in the bedrooms but they haven't been used this year. There is a heat pump in the living room adjacent to the kids' bedrooms and I turn this on when I get up early to warm the rooms through.
The thing about heat pumps is that NZ has over 75% renewable electricity and heat pumps are a very efficient way of using it. This is probably why they are so popular here

Justcol

I tend to ignore any and all KIWI based info on heating and heatpumps.
they havent got a clue when it comes to keeping warm.
Even the engineer who installed our system told us we would probably never
need to set it any higher than 16 degrees

Mgee

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/publications/...mp/booklet.pdf A fairly good booklet published by the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency. Gives basic information about heat pumps and how they work and what things need to be considered before purchasing one.

lapsed kiwi

Quite right, what on earth would johhny foreigner know about anything anyway? One thing to remember when emigrating to the colonies is that the British way is best; it's just a shame some of the locals are so slow to realise this.

lardyl

karma for that post...........

chocolate cake

Yes, and 16C is the av winter temperature of the typical Kiwi home, against WHO recommendation of 18C, or 21C if there are children or elderly in the home.

Charismatic

Last time I looked coal was the cheapest energy source followed closely by oil. All the others looked silly by comparison.

Insulating New Zealand houses is like trying to carry water in a colander, possible but usually futile.

Justcol

16 is fine if you enjoy wearing winter woolies inside your home, me , i like to be comfortable.
there is no strict norm, its a variable betwen 15 and 25 degrees depending on internal design,
insulation levels, number of occupants, ages of occupants, origin of occupants and of course the
biggest variable of all personal preferences.

16 degrees is recomended for a bedroom during the night as the most suitable temp for a restful nights sleep.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly jonny foreigner gets upset when some one
dares to comment that they might have a different point of view to the "kiwi way".
A willingness to agree with anything a kiwi says and thinks wasnt one of the stipulations of my visa.
Pull your head in mate and get over it. we obviously have different points of view so lets leave there.

lapsed kiwi

So, I guess you just disproved the myth that Kiwis have no sense of humour but Brits have an abundance of it

alanmacc

From my experience the Kiwis have a better sense of humour than most UK people, well unless you actually get sarcasm that is.

The one thing that really bursts my nut is people who emigrate and then bleat on about "British this and British that, we don't do it that way ..... blah blah blah" The whole point is to integrate into the the country and embrace it, not to move to another country and then try to have a little Britain, I mean if we want a little Britain go back there.

Sorry rant over

Im sure I will get pelter for this one

lardyl

If the Krankies and Dai H are your benchmarks then fair point........

Seems to me that Bill English is the best of the NZ comedians at the moment as he can take the piss out of us all and get away with it..........whilst laughing all the way to the bank.

Wooly_Cow

I think there is a difference between wanting things to be the same as the UK or elsewhere, and things to be as good as the UK (or elsewhere).

There is nothing wrong in trying to improve things. As customers, and workers aiming for improvement is a good thing, even if the standards are set overseas!

"but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the Romans done for us? "

lardyl

Well said, Mr Woolly......

Continuing on the self-depricating humour theme.....and lets see if the Kiwis and adopted Kiwis can live with it.....


.....it must be said mind that our "sweaty" friends probably find the standards of driving, heating, humour, etc a real step up in NZ compared to the old country........

so fair play to them.........