$10000? For heated ducting? Ouch.

[friendly_prawn]

Got first quote for heated ducting system and was real surprised at the price. Its a fujitsu central heating aircon unit that goes in the ceiling and ducts out to 3 bedrooms and the sitting room. House floor area is only 110sm. Any one know are there better options?

[Damap]

If in Auckland just install a dvs style system. Around 2 grand. OR a large heat pump in living and duct it into the bedrooms. Shouldn't be more than 4K.

[friendly_prawn]

not fan of DVS.. I want good heating and cooling on tap.. DVS don't supply that.. As for heat pump.. That's what I thought I was getting.. A heat pump that ducts out to the bedrooms. Apparently they are different.. The ducting systems sit in your roof.

The heat pump option is a heat pump in the sitting room, with a transfer style ducting, to transfer air from sitting room in to hallway near bedrooms. In my experience they don't work very well.

Only real way in my experience is a true ducted system.. Or has some one else had a better experience with the transfer system than I have?

[Damap]

We've ducted open fires and pumps in houses we have lived in. Work perfectly for us.

[vice]

Perhaps you could just install a heat pump in the lounge and another HP in the master bedroom for approx half the cost. That way you get better temp control for those two rooms, and would be much easier on the power bill. For a 110 sqm house the other two bedrooms must be pretty small so I would think an electric eco panel heater would suffice.

A heat transfer kit works great with a very high output heat source like an open fire, but even an oversized heatpump will struggle to put enough temperature through a transfer kit due to the losses in the ducting.

[friendly_prawn]

yeah we had heat transfer with an awesome fireplace.. Still didn't cut it..

Main reason for heated ducting is a sick young one needs an even temp in her room.. A heater would be pointless for that.. Need to be controlled temp in one of the smaller rooms.. I was advised to stick 3 different heat pumps in as that would be the cheaper way to go, but not sure I like the idea of a heat pump at every corner of the house.. Cheers for the advice guys..

[Wayne]

yeah we had heat transfer with an awesome fireplace.. Still didn't cut it..

Main reason for heated ducting is a sick young one needs an even temp in her room.. A heater would be pointless for that.. Need to be controlled temp in one of the smaller rooms.. I was advised to stick 3 different heat pumps in as that would be the cheaper way to go, but not sure I like the idea of a heat pump at every corner of the house.. Cheers for the advice guys..

I'd suggest that is the way to go.
You then have the best control of the 3 rooms.

[ivanp]

Ducted heat pump installations are quite labour-expensive from what I heard.
There's To***ba ducted heat pump on TradeMe right now, in Auckland, with asking price $3,500.
Not sure if you can get anyone to fit it for less than $1500 though.
I would buy it myself and could probably install myself over weekend, just don't have right place for it - not keen to install such expensive heat pumps for my rentals, and it's not suitable for my PPOR...

My friend had Panasonic 7.1kw ducted heat pump installed a week or two ago for about $6,500 or $7,000, including everything.

P.S. Forget about DVS or similar systems suggested above - they are not for heating, so not comparable to heat pumps.

[friendly_prawn]

if I could buy for $3500 and get some one to install for $1500 I would be a very happy man indeed..
That's tempting buying but unfortunately I don't know enough about them yet.. I would hate to buy and find it was too small for the job I need it for..
Definitely another avenue to look at - trademe.. Hadnt thought of a second hand one..
Also nice to know there are other products that are cheaper than the one I have looked at.. After reading your post ivanp, I think I need to take my time and look around before jumping in and grabbing anything.. Yeah DVR, I have no interest in them..
Appreciate your comments.. thanks invanp

[FatPanda]

Are you on Gas? We put in Gas Central heating for around 9k. It's piped into each room, and heats the whole house in about 10 mins. Our house is quite long and narrow, so if we went the heat pump route, we also would have needed 3 or 4 . .

[Wayne]

You must be in a colder part of the country.
The problem with Central Heating is that is all it can do - heat.
In milder parts of the country that means 2-3 months use max.
With air con at least you can use it for cooling when needed.

[Janshouse]

For some reason central heating/cooling never took off in New Zealand - possibly why these systems are so expensive. Blame our great climate

[FatPanda]

In AKL, but I use a few $30 warehouse pedal stool fans for about 8 weeks over summer. The breeze sorts things out during other times

[FatPanda]

For some reason central heating/cooling never took off in New Zealand - possibly why these systems are so expensive. Blame our great climate

The system I have (Brivas) does have a cooling option, but it's not available in NZ, due to demand. Its standard in OZ, of course

[SAYR]

One of the main disadvantages of a centralised aircon system is that the lower spec'ed models offer no individual room control - so you're heat / cooling rooms regardless of whether someone is in there or not. Plus its often one temp for all. With individual hi wall or floor units, at least the control is in your hands. Plus most ducted systems are around 7-12 kw and are often undersized for the actual size of the house.