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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
365064	2005-06-19 22:29:00	The main condenser unit on my Daikin is very quite in normal mode and doubt whether it could be heard inside by next door neigbours. Anyway my Daikin has a quite mode built into it which you can turn on at night time, thats if you leave your heat pump going all night, which I don't. Trevor :)	Trev (427)
365065	2005-06-20 00:02:00	We have a heat pump and a log burner (in different rooms), and a nitestor in the hall. The power bill seems to take its biggest hike from the nitestor. Just a comment that no-one else has made - I think we made a mistake in the placement of our unit. When it is on and we are sitting watching the goggle box, there is a distinct draft from the heat pump. No matter which way we set the vane, the heated air going past us sets up a draft. If I am at the family computer on the other side of the room (directly opposite the heat pump which is high up on the wall) I am toasty warm, but if I am in my tv goggling chair it is drafty. Same or worse for SWMBO. I suggest you bear this in mind when you talk to the installers - we just worked out where would be best to have the pipes enter the house, and where we could get power to run the thing. The placement of the pump followed those factors. We should have paid more attention to where the draft from the pump was going to go in relation to our room use.	John H (8)
365066	2005-06-29 01:23:00	... I think we made a mistake in the placement of our unit. When it is on and we are sitting watching the goggle box, there is a distinct draft from the heat pump.I have heard the same so is a definite thing to consider. We are building a house and plan to install a heat pump in the Living/Dining area. Adjacent will be a seperate lounge. We are wondering about a heat transfer unit to help move warm air into the lounge, and perhaps to the hallway/bedrooms. Does anyone have experience of Heat transfer unit? Thanks	AaronM (4647)
365067	2005-06-29 02:14:00	Does anyone have experience of Heat transfer unit? Thanks Yes. Definitely a good idea. Needs to be left on more or less constantly. Slow and steady equalisation of heat. Takes a while. Essentially you need to allow the air to circulate, otherwise the pump can't push the warm air into the next room.	Winston001 (3612)
365068	2005-06-29 06:51:00	Yes. Definitely a good idea. Needs to be left on more or less constantly. Slow and steady equalisation of heat. Takes a while. Essentially you need to allow the air to circulate, otherwise the pump can't push the warm air into the next room. Yes. I think we can safely say that follows. :)	Cicero (40)
365069	2005-06-29 07:06:00	Last week, Woolworths in Wgtn were selling a 2500w Heat Pump for $400.00. A friend who allready had an expensive one in his lounge, bought and installed one, and is rapt - all the bells and whistles ie remote control etc. and very quiet. Bye	Peter H (220)
365070	2005-07-08 11:04:00	we have a 95 year old villa in Nelson, built the wrong way round so the living areas are on the south side . 3m stud and batts in the ceiling but nothing else . Went down the heat pump road last winter with three companies - first guy sucked a bit of air and said yep, yep $3K, next guy oohed and ahhed a bit, had a different solution and said $5k, last guy said Nope - won't sell you one, you won't like it, it will be noisy and draughty . His advice was to invest in a new log fire, and come and see him in a couple of years (once the fires paid for) and he will sell us a small heat pump for the hall way and take the chill off the bedrooms, but a heat pump is not any good as the main source for anything but a newish house . Needless to say we don't have a heat pump, drag fire wood in and ash out . also could make up our minds on which fire to get and now the council changed the rules so all the `nice' ones are banned and you have to go with the clear air things . Was nice to deal with an honest salesman though!!!	bestie (6891)
365071	2005-07-08 11:37:00	we have a 95 year old villa in Nelson, built the wrong way round so the living areas are on the south side . 3m stud and batts in the ceiling but nothing else . Went down the heat pump road last winter with three companies - first guy sucked a bit of air and said yep, yep $3K, next guy oohed and ahhed a bit, had a different solution and said $5k, last guy said Nope - won't sell you one, you won't like it, it will be noisy and draughty . His advice was to invest in a new log fire, and come and see him in a couple of years (once the fires paid for) and he will sell us a small heat pump for the hall way and take the chill off the bedrooms, but a heat pump is not any good as the main source for anything but a newish house . Needless to say we don't have a heat pump, drag fire wood in and ash out . also could make up our minds on which fire to get and now the council changed the rules so all the `nice' ones are banned and you have to go with the clear air things . Was nice to deal with an honest salesman though!!! The clean air things seem to be the same as the older ones,apart from the fact that you can't turn it down as far .	Cicero (40)
365072	2005-07-08 18:01:00	In Southern California and also Arizona, we use swamp coolers to cool the air during the summer . They are just a matrix of Aspin wood shavings that are wetted with water and then air is pulled thru the matrix and evaporative cooling is the result . We get discharge temperatures of 58F/14 . 5C on a 106F/41 . 1C day and have to usually run the unit at 1/3 speed to keep from cooling too much . The cost? For a 1/3 hp electric motor and about 40 gallons of water a day? Less than US$2 . 00 . As to heating, we use a central heater that is natural gas fired and has a 1/2 HP motor with 6 speeds . I never open the discharge vents in the master bedroom, as the computer will keep the room at over 72F/22C all winter long even with the outside temps at 25F/-4C . We can get to 75F/24C from a stone cold house in about 7 minutes, and once there, the unit will not usually cycle on again until about 1 hour after sunup the next day . Typically our heating bill runs about US$30-35 . 00 a month . I like to leave the fan operating at the lowest speed all the time to spread the heat or cool all thru the house via the internal intake and ducting to the inividual rooms . We live in a 5 year old mobile home; no wheels, it is actually set on piers and a semi permanant stemwall that acts as a foundation . We have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen, formal and informal dining areas, living room and inside laundry . There is a dead air space under the home and the roof is solid injected foam over 3 feet thick at the peak, and about 1 foot thick at the eves . The R-Factor of the roof is R56+, the walls are R30+, the floor is R22 . The windows are triple-paned, the walls are foam-injected too . The roof is snow-load bearing, although we have no snow (less than 1/2 inch here in Hemet, California), but the home was built in Arizona and was spec'd for 6,000 feet altitude and snow load to the roof . We have about 1500 sq/feet of living space inside the walls . I don't know if the mobile home thing has caught on in NZ, so I am including a link to our home manufacturer: you can see them here . (http://www . fleetwoodhomes . com/) . What comes to mind here is that the US has been forced to really econimize/econimise on energy, and the efficiency ratings of homes newer than about 10 years really show it . Our gas and electricity rates are the highest in the world it seems, and the btu ratings of natural gas are quite low too and that exascerbates the issue . We liked it when we used propane in the mountains, as the btu's in it are higher . We don't see too many oil-fired furnaces any more, although the therms are a considerable lot higher with that as a fuel source . Solar heating and heat exchange has not caught on here as there were a lot of charlatans selling poorly engineered and assembled stuff that really soured the industry in the eyes of the consumers . Wood fireplaces in heavily populated areas are officially frowned upon, but allowed if they are not the primary source of heat for the home . In the Chihuahua Valley where we lived last, the most popular source for heating and cooking is the old wood stove, that once heated could melt the paint in the rear of the house . We had an auxillary propane heater that was hardly ever used, even with the winter temps below 16F/-9C . At 5,000 feet altitude, there was snow there and I feel it has a stabilizing/stabilising effect on the temps on the house as the roof covered will not get below 32F/0C, the temp of frozen water anyway . We used a flu/heat extractor too on that wood stove, and it could really pump out the heat . We had our own "forest" to use the culled trees and windfall boughs, so we never really had to fell a whole tree in all the time we lived there . The family that is currently there is in the same conservative mode too . . . just burning the limbs and small stuff in the wood stove . One last point: Arizona has a thing called (uh huh!) ARIZONA rooms . They are heat absorbing dedicated rooms that have large rocks and man-made rock formations in them that are allowed to absorb heat all day long (the south side of the house is usually dedicated to this duty), and in the evening doors are opened or closed as needed to let the heat from the rocks and stuff flow into the home . The reverse is used in the summer to cool the house in the daytime . A very old version of a heat pump methinks! I know this is long, and I am sorry for going on so much . . but you see . . I don't have the chance to go fishing today as I have a medical appointment for a treadmill and heart stress test today and need to be calm and quiet for those tests . With all this time on my hands, I become verbose (verboze for NZ?), and like to write what seems forever . If you find the time, please can someone offer more detailed insights to life in NZ? I especially like the localized/localised input I get to glean from all of you when you are talking to each other . I get a little lost on the terminology and local phrases you use, but I am enjoying it a lot . Maybe my acts of humor/humour are lost in the translation too . Sorry! :dogeye: It seems it was either YOU or the fish that had to have me in attendance today and I think the fish won .	SurferJoe46 (51)
365073	2005-07-08 21:36:00	As to heating, we use a central heater that is natural gas fired and has a 1/2 HP motor with 6 speeds. I never open the discharge vents in the master bedroom, as the computer will keep the room at over 72F/22C all winter long even with the outside temps at 25F/-4C. We can get to 75F/24C from a stone cold house in about 7 minutes, and once there, the unit will not usually cycle on again until about 1 hour after sunup the next day. Typically our heating bill runs about US$30-35.00 a month. If only we could heat our homes here in NZ for such a small amount. Joe, I have lived in 4 countries and have travelled the world and from my experience NZ is a COLD and DAMP place. Our home, like so many in NZ, is wood and the walls are not insulated. Kiwis only caught on to insulating walls around 15 years ago, and now will do the floors as well. Modern homes are well insulated and air tight but older homes are just plain cold and drafty. The cheapest form of heating for most Kiwis is to use wood fire. However, firewood prices are quite high in the big cities. I live in a rural town of 20k population. Wood for the 'winter' [May to November] costs around $300 - $400. I have stayed in American homes with the central gas heating that you mention and it is a dream. But Kiwis are tough - you can see barefoot kids outside in the winter, even adults, and school boys in shorts on freezing cold days. My son had a holiday in Phoenix and walked barefoot into a 7-11 store and the manager said he had to come back with shoes the next time! Joe, what is the cost of natural gas where you are? Is it delivered by propane tank or via piped distribution?	Strommer (42)
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