moonie2011

In November we bought a large 1970's house that needs complete renovation. In May we had gas central heating with radiators fitted and we are amazed, already the dehumidifier doesn't come on as there's no moisture in the air, the single glazed old aluminium framed windows don't weep and we are toasty warm whenever we come home. Happy happy happy

Hebe

Marvellous. Can you give me an indication on price and how many rads and whether boiler runs hot water too or just heating?

I'm asking as we settle next week on a property and we are going to fully renovate before we move in. This includes, among everything else new windows and heating. We are looking at thermal break double glazed windows and rads if we can

Persephone

Excellent

I too would be interested in an estimate of how much it cost.
Living with central heating for the last two years [not in NZ!] has shown MrS [a Kiwi] the advantages of it. He might be quite keen to consider it...

moonie2011

For a gas boiler, with 10 radiators throughout the house was 15k, the same price as a ducted heat pump upstairs and a single heat pump downstairs, we would then need to add another form of heat to the spare bedroom, bathroom & toilet
Hebe for an extra few k you can get a boiler that does hot water as well
The best money I have ever spent!!

Snap Shot

Nice one ! We didn't install radiator central heating in our house which was built in 1970.

That was because we have infinity hot water i.e. the water is heated on demand. There's no boiler. I didn't see the point of installing a second hot water system inclusive of boiler just to get radiator central heating.

So, that's why we've got heat pumps. They do the job i.e. keep the house warm and they are on timers too. The machinery for the upstairs heat pumps is in the loft void. The fans for the air intake is on the ground outside the house.

Upstairs warm air is ducted to all the bedrooms and the linen cupboard, making it an airing cupboard. Clever, eh ?

Downstairs the heatpump is on the internal wall of the dining room in the normal manner. It warms the lounge/diner. We installed kitchen doors so the void cold air in the kitchen and unheated rumpus room (original integral garage) does not 'steal' the warmed air. (Don't worry if you don't 'get' the layout of our house, it might not make a lot of sense just reading it.) IIRC the upstairs heatpump supply and install cost around NZ$25,000 and the downstairs heatpump supply and install was NZ$8,000. So, Moonie, sounds like you got a good deal on something that you wanted and something that works. I think New Zealanders relate better to heat pumps, so, hopefully it should be a selling point one day.

We also have a gas fire which burns fake logs which is lovely and warm in the evening when we switch the downstairs heatpump off. There's no 'void' of cool air creating a draft from the 'diner' part of the lounge diner.

Then we go to bed in a lovely warm bedroom. We wake up to a lovely warm house because the timer is set to four events per day i.e. on/off morning and on/off evening.

We installed double glazing a couple of years ago. UPVc for the record. It cost thirty three thousand nz dollars. Not least that there's five doors in the house. A front door, a back door and three french doors. Then there's the windows....which are all colonial style as that was what was there when we purchased the house in September 2011, albeit individual panes, single glazed and the crossbars were wood. They looked nice, suited the house and that's what I wanted. The crossbars of the colonial windows are internal to the double glazing making window cleaning easier. Again, clever eh ? (FWIW I sold the old french doors to a reclamation yard for a few hundred dollars.)

Kiwi's and controlable heating - it's like watching man discover fire all over again !

(All this talk of double glazing........which decade are we in again ?)

I've also got a gas hob and and electric oven. Cooking with gas, it's almost like being at home.

Mark Smith

Just talking to a colleague at work today (chch) tells me his last electricity bill (mainly running heat pumps)was $985 for the month. Most of the staff in the room did a double take.

Justcol

I have the gas powered ducted air central heating in my place, I love it, it was in when when we bought the place
but if i was putting it in myself I would defo go with radiators as they aare more cost efficient

Ooo and a combi boiler, my neighbours would think it was alien technology if I had a combi boiler

Stormer999

I fitted a complete gas/combi system into a house of ours in the UK and was pleased with the finished article, performance and ease of installation. That was a UK Victorian Terrace running on Natural piped gas. I had a quick look at our NZ house room sizes and the relative rad capacities and Combi boiler size and was left wondering about LPG running costs.

Hebe

thank you - Was this a local company or a national?

moonie2011

WT. haven't had a bill yet but will let you know what it is compared to last month when we used oild filled electric heaters

moonie2011

It was a local company, UK guy, but he may be able to recommend someone in your area?

MrsFychan

have you had a bill yet?

Snap Shot

$344.98 dual fuel bill for us from Contact Energy for 15 May 2014 to 16 Jun 2014

$293.23 if paid by 2 Jul (which we did)

Electricity charges $212.14
Natural Gas charges $87.84
GST $45.00

Snap Shot

Daily charge 33 days @ 1.099 dollars per day $36.27
All day economy 658 kWh@ 26.582 cents per kWh $ 174.91
Electricity Authority Levy 658@ 0.146 cent per kWh $0.96
Total electricity charges 212.14

Electricity charges $212.14

Living Smart Daily Charge 6-12 scmh 32 days @ 1.477 dollars per day $47.26
Living Smart 6-12 scmh 587 kWh @ 6.759 cents per kWh $39.68
Gas Industry Company Fees 32 days@ 2.820 cents per day $0.90

Natural Gas charges $87.84

moonie2011

Not yet, but will post when I do