Bunnings heat transfer kits: Are they working?

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boland

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#2490089 23-May-2020 16:21

We don't have control issues. We keep the doors open if we need the room during the day for e.g. study or work. Especially in the morning when it's very cold it takes a lot of time before the heat from the living room (with the single heat pump ) has warmed the rooms. That's the time we are currently using portable heaters.

Adding a ducted solution or separate heat pumps is just not worth the money, takes too much time to pay back.

cyril7

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#2490097 23-May-2020 16:36

As mentioned by others we'll managed oil column heaters may achieve what you are after.

I recently invested in a couple of arlec smart plus, then a couple of deta touch smart wall sockets, with remote control and flexible scheduling it's quite easy to target heat times and save waste usage.

Cyril

Graymond

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#2490120 23-May-2020 16:57

We had a three bedroom house that we put an identical system to the 'Bunnings' pic., worked fantastic, was only fed to the two furthest away bedrooms.

Current house has a PVR system, brilliant, see here..https://dvs.co.nz/ (having a tin roof helps)

Graymond

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Handle9

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#2490123 23-May-2020 17:08

Froglotion:

If you need each bedroom at a different temperature, then I assume you'll also keep the doors shut?

I have my whole house sitting at 23 degrees if it's cold. I've never felt the need to have different rooms at different temperatures. I also never shut any bedroom doors as fresh air will prevent moisture becoming trapped. You'll also get weird temperature differences when walking from a room to the hall which will be a different temperature.

I'm not sure what the control issues you speak of are. I've had my unit 4 years and not experienced any. I can run the fan only mode for minimal cost which will circulate all air in the house. This eliminates having areas that are warmer than others by way of solar gain.

By the time you buy 3-4 seperate units, and have to control them all individually (since you are suggesting different temperatures in each room). You could get something like a Sleep ducted unit which will cover all bedrooms with a single round vent in the ceiling. No heatpump unit noise from the fan operating.

I've never seen a new build with a heatpump in every bedroom, but ducted systems have become super popular. They offer much better versatility. Fresh air intake if wanted, zoning, wifi control.

The issue of control is controlling each room to the same temperature. This is almost impossible with a single ducted unit for the whole house. You control using the central room sensor and hope that each room has the same load profile. You will have different rooms at different temperatures as most rooms are uncontrolled, they rely on a single sensor for control of the whole house.

If you have good air circulation, a reasonably consistent load profile across the whole house and a fairly well setup unit it can work very well. It can also be a total disaster. Domestic heat pump installers are fairly clueless about commissioning the airflows or placing the room sensors. They put them behind doors, at the wrong heights or in direct sunlight. Take a look on here, there are some horror stories about gibbons who don't know what they are doing.

Ducted units are used in new builds for two reasons - aesthetics and cost. It's cheaper to put a single unit in than multiple small units and it looks much nicer without units on each wall. If I was building new I would probably put a single ducted unit in myself but I would make sure that my design is suitable. You may require 2 or 3 units to get acceptable temperature control. It's not a one size fits all situation, you need to select a system that suits your building.

Most of the domestic zoning solutions aren't controlled, they just open or close the branch ducts. It's crude and fairly unpleasant solution unless the installers are very good at what they do and position the diffusers really well. Generally domestic installers use the same diffuser type in each room, which doesn't help.

I've worked in large scale HVAC control for around 15 years so I have some experience with this stuff.

Handle9

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#2490124 23-May-2020 17:10

boland:

We don't have control issues. We keep the doors open if we need the room during the day for e.g. study or work. Especially in the morning when it's very cold it takes a lot of time before the heat from the living room (with the single heat pump ) has warmed the rooms. That's the time we are currently using portable heaters.

Adding a ducted solution or separate heat pumps is just not worth the money, takes too much time to pay back.

If you can get thermostatically controlled electric heaters I think you'll get a very nice outcome for minimal money. It'll add a few hundred dollars onto your power bill each year but it's a whole lot cheaper than a 10-15k retrofit.

timmmay

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#2490152 23-May-2020 19:04

Ducted is generally the best solution, but we find a heat pump that heats the hallway the bedrooms are off is enough to pre-warm them. We need oil heaters in the rooms overnight, as doors are closed. I'd like to get a ducted heat pump at some point, cost is $10 - $15K I've heard, and it would add some value to the home when sold.

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