MrsFychan

Ok so I need layman information of the various options out there.

Used heat pumps so thats all good, can't have gas CH.

but I really have not got my head around the DVS thing and is there something else like that??

So house is brick clad, not raised, only secondary double glazed in bedrooms, only wall insulated in bedrooms. Large open plan family room/kitchen/dining area with large glass French doors out to garden, Kids games room off main family room area but separate room, smaller, large windows on two sides Bedrooms off corridor, main bedroom again has large glass French doors into garden.

DO have a floor layout that I might be able to post if that helps.

So confused...

Bo-Jangles

I think really you need a triple threat; heating, insulation and ventilation and will depend greatly on your budget as to what you choose.

Thoughts of another winter approaching have also led to me to think about ventilation systems and we have recently had quotes from both DVS and HRV both in similar ballpark of $4k to do our house. I really don't know if it's worth that much and it's so difficult to work your way around the sales BS and get a real honest opinion on these things.

We've had heat pumps for quite a few years and reasonably happy with the set-up in our main living and bedroom space but still far from adequate and leaves us with a really cold and damp spare bedrooms, bathroom and toilet where there is no heating. We have a dehumidifier on most nights through the winter months in spare room and through the hall way.

Over the years we have tried various tactics to make some improvements and we're still far from the level of comfort we desire. We've fully insulated roof and underfloor but not about to start with ripping down walls, we also have large swathes of single glazed ranch-sliders which we can't afford to replace or retro-fit.

Clappy

We had an HRV system put into our house (a 2003 single-glazed build) when we moved in two years ago. The main reason for doing that was to eliminate the condensation that used to plague us in our rented house on winter mornings. It achieves that well.

I can't see that it would help much with heating on its own. If there is warm air in the roof then it can be pushed down into the house to provide a bit of warmth but my observations so far have been that the temperature in the roof will be too cold on a winter's night and oppressively hot on a summer's day so cannot be relied upon for the purposes of distributing heat when it is wanted.

MrsFychan

so Clappy what heating do you have?

I think Bo is right you need all three to actually get a dry and warm house.

Clappy

The only heating that we use is one heat-pump. That is in the main living area (ground floor).

It is a two-story house, I think that the warm air from the heat-pump rises to warm the upper floor enough when it is in use.

There are electric panel-heaters in the upstairs rooms but we have never turned them on because we haven't felt the need to. There are also heat-lamps in the bathrooms but those don't get used either (not because of cost or environmental concerns but because the bathrooms don't need that extra warmth boost).