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| Thread ID: 59003 | 2005-06-18 22:36:00 | Heat Pumps | rny (6943) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 365054 | 2005-06-19 07:32:00 | Just make sure you get the Inverter type. | Cicero (40) | ||
| 365055 | 2005-06-19 07:41:00 | The Boss works in a very warm and toasty environment and sometimes complains that the house is cold on the cooler nights but the rest of us are fine. I would most definitely get one again and have heard that the latest models are even better than the one we have in terms of size (smaller) and efficiency. Interesting, you're referring to yourself in both the first person and the third person :p |
Jeremy (1197) | ||
| 365056 | 2005-06-19 09:24:00 | Here I am in Firefox and mightly puzzled as to what all the fuss is about. Be that as it may, I too live in Southland and have pondered the heat pump possibilities. I suspect there is a great more to learn than the installers tell us. Eg. a properly efficent heat pump has pipes buried below frost levels in the ground. It exchanges the latent heat in the soil for the cold air in the house. It is not a box stuck on the side of a house. The devices we see for sale are refrigerators in reverse. They take heat from the outside air (which is much more variable in temp than soil) and push it inside. Quite how this happens in a frost is beyond me. Presumably something to do with the energy release between distillation and evaporation. But so what? This thread is good evidence that people who have them are happy and don't mind the increased power bills. Certainly I know quite a lot of people who are very pleased with their heat pumps. There is one reality to face - cost. Despite adverts for $1995 (in fact $399) for a machine, people seem to have to spend approx $6000 on two pumps for effective home heating. Doubtless a new double-glazed home would require less. So the question is - spend $6000, plus power bills, maintenance etc. Or alternatively $400 on, say, four 2kw fan heaters, plus their power bills. Suprisingly most people plump for the $6000 option. :D |
Winston001 (3612) | ||
| 365057 | 2005-06-19 11:22:00 | If your house is quite damp, I'd strongly recommend you buy a DVS type system in addition to any heating you get. It dries out your homemaking it a lot easier to heat. My home was very cold and damp (1940's house, no insulation in walls, wooden floors, mouldy ceilings), but putting one in (Weiss HVS system, $1100 from Mitre 10 if I remember correctly) has made a huge difference - Now when I turn on the fan heater, it actually feels warm. | somebody (208) | ||
| 365058 | 2005-06-19 11:30:00 | Just be mindful of your neighbours. Lots of complaints in Dunedin, with close houses and the noise heat pumps can make. | gibler (49) | ||
| 365059 | 2005-06-19 11:51:00 | Just be mindful of your neighbours. Lots of complaints in Dunedin, with close houses and the noise heat pumps can make. Good point. These will be a future source of "ear pollution" in densely populated areas. The noise from the condenser unit outside is quite significant in many cases. |
godfather (25) | ||
| 365060 | 2005-06-19 12:27:00 | Those that have put them in to replace other electric heating "to save money on the power" seldom seem to have saved much but have always increased their comfort level, and never complained at the cost of doing so.That is certainly our position. When we built our house 3 years ago we put in a Daikin inverter system with four units, of which we generally only use the one in the main living area. We have no other source of heating/cooling. In our previous house we had a Yunca coal/wood burner, and it is difficult to say whether our overall power cost has increased. The electricity bill is certainly much higher during the winter, but the comfort level is also much better (better heat distribution) and we don't have to buy wood or coal and lug it up a steep path and worry about the smoke emissions and the soot on the roof that might be getting into the water supply. The one mistake we made was not paying the extra for double-glazing when we built the house. Noise? I was working outside yesterday next to the main condenser unit when it was going, and it didn't seem noisy to me at all. |
Tony (4941) | ||
| 365061 | 2005-06-19 14:09:00 | Good point. These will be a future source of "ear pollution" in densely populated areas. The noise from the condenser unit outside is quite significant in many cases. No points for repetition. |
Cicero (40) | ||
| 365062 | 2005-06-19 15:52:00 | We have an old house, this year we have chosen not to use the aging wood burner, we use electric. We heat with a 2000w oil and 1000w bar heaters just for the living area, and one 1000w oil in one of the kids rooms. We have now had two $300 power bills, about $100 or more than we would normally have using the wood fire. We are getting a heat pump. I know they are expensive, but once paid for our heating bill should be about 1/3 to 1/2 if we are to believe what everyone and the advertising says. 3kw - 4kw per hour at the moment, means we pay for 3kw - 4kw per hour. We will most likley get a 6kw heat pump, so 6kw running at full power means we pay for 2kw. I am hopeing for about $30 - $50 off the power bill. |
Rob99 (151) | ||
| 365063 | 2005-06-19 21:03:00 | Be that as it may, I too live in Southland and have pondered the heat pump possibilities. I suspect there is a great more to learn than the installers tell us. Eg. a properly efficent heat pump has pipes buried below frost levels in the ground. It exchanges the latent heat in the soil for the cold air in the house. It is not a box stuck on the side of a house. The devices we see for sale are refrigerators in reverse. They take heat from the outside air (which is much more variable in temp than soil) and push it inside. Quite how this happens in a frost is beyond me. Presumably something to do with the energy release between distillation and evaporation. Winston has a good point in relation to heat pump efficiency. Colleagues of mine were involved with heat pump research and development back in 1961/62 at Joseph Lucas (Hydraulics & Combustion). The conclusion then was that they would only be really effective if the heat transfer could be from a conveniently situated nearby stream or river, rather than from the ambient air. Now, no doubt there have been significant advances in heat exchanger design, pump and motor design, and control systems since those days, but the fact remains that when you want the most heat, heat pumps are least efficient. Same situation with solar heating. If our houses were built to the same heat insulation standards as my Canadian sons house then we would need far less heating. Even double glazing is a comparitively new phenomenon in NZ as compared to other northern hemisphere countries. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
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