We are eligible for a brand new unit as part of the government heating grants
I’m tempted to get one and put it on trademe for a quick buck.
shelleigh,
Jun 3, 1:59pm
Tweake we had the exterior weatherboards replaced and Pink Batts put in at the same time the heat pump was installed. Several years before that we had Terra Lana wool insulation rolled over the settled down Pink Batts in the ceiling. Unfortunately we can't put insulation under our house as it's only a few inches off the ground. Although we have single glazed windows. we do have curtains with block out lining which make a big difference compared to the previous ones at retaining heat. Your last comment is interesting - we have a half brick wall behind the Yunca :)
tweake,
Jun 3, 2:13pm
heat that brick wall up with a fireplace, thats really good heat storage and release over night. excellent.
a shame the rest of the house performance sucks, but thats fairly common with older houses (and most nz homes). even with all your added insulation your still below half of a good house for your climate and thats not counting the floor issue. a lot of that heat will be going to drying out the moisture coming up. in contrast mines not much better insulation wise, but i'm in a far warmer climate, but its still crap.
brouser3,
Jun 3, 2:16pm
Today most places have 'swap a bottle' - even those few that still have LPG at the pump, so as long as the station is 'manned' and (hopefully) you have some cash in your pocket there should be nothing to worry about.
shelleigh,
Jun 3, 2:33pm
Our home was build in the 1890's. Both the heat pump and fire do a great job of heating our home as it's only 90sqm so easy to heat and keep warm. Have 3M insulation film on most of the windows and doors so very little condensation - i'ts impressive how much difference that film makes for such a low cost.
tweake,
Jun 3, 2:34pm
no power, lpg station doesn't work tho setup can vary. no power to run tills so even swap a bottle is doubtful. mind you unflued gas heaters are pretty much history. most gas fireplaces i've seen all have the big bottles.
the issue hit the headlines big time many many years ago. i think it was taupo that had around -10, big snow storm. massive complaints about not being able to get lpg refilled. chch had a cold winter a few years back and they where running short of firewood. big queues, high prices and wet wood. you need to be prepared.
tweake,
Jun 3, 2:37pm
good to hear the film helps. bit of a shame they plonked houses on the ground back then, despite them knowing about rising damp. but having said that, plenty of modern homes are not a whole lot better than what you have.
shelleigh,
Jun 3, 2:51pm
So true Tweake. I'm seriously considering selling once I'm an empty nester and buying either a tiny house or a decent motorhome. Am not into gardening, long over mowing lawns and would be great to travel around for a while here in NZ picking up part time work.
tweake,
Jun 3, 3:05pm
don't start me on tiny homes. arghhhh. kiwi's make fake tiny homes so they can build substandard housing. motorhomes fair enough. at least you will use it for what it intended.
i've known a few people with house buses. a few who have downsized to a small home and use that as a base to tour the country side.
gpg58,
Jun 3, 3:08pm
Just thought i would mention, re a decent motorhome, if its large enough to live in 24/7, its either real expensive, or older. If older you really want to know if it was stripped back, and fully insulated when built, or was originally if a factory model. My 1989 7m hino bus, has the factory bus insulation all over, but its not what you would accept as anywhere near enough, if wanting cheap to heat. Ie - interior temp in a frost, drops at almost the same rate as outside(monitor both). Too much single layer glass doesn't help either. But keeping at 8-10 degs and dry with a dehumidifier is costing around 11 units of power a day currently(unoccupied), during frosts, with fridge and a freezer and battery charger included. Obviously that would be a lot higher, if occupied, and wanting my usual 22 deg, plus cooking and entertainment stuff.
shelleigh,
Jun 3, 3:12pm
Tweake check out some of the builds on the YouTube channel/FB page I mentioned as Bryce visits some high spec ones here and also Aussie.
shelleigh,
Jun 3, 3:16pm
I'm definitely looking at a newer one so double glazing,.decent insulation and heating. I HATE the cold so definitely want one that is quick and easy to heat and keep warm.
gpg58,
Jun 3, 3:20pm
Good choice. I like my diesel heater, gets the air temp up in 5 - 10 minutes, obviously it takes a lot longer to warm the fabric of bus up, but usually a good balance within 30 minutes or so, using 4kw chinese heater-claims 8kw though, bollocks tested 2 of them ;-) (0.5 liters of fuel per hour, if running flat out)
Ps another item, frost protection. As you can guess, frozen or burst hot water or cold water pipework and system components, along with fresh and grey waste plus black toilet tanks, is something to consider also. I drain all mine down for frost season, top end models likely have warm water circulation circuits thru common insulation etc, to stop them ever freezing, if turned its on.
brightlights60,
Jun 3, 3:35pm
We don't live rural, we are in Christchurch and it gets nowhere near as cold as OP. We have a long, 1969/70 house we have added onto and it can be difficult to heat. We have insulated (it already was when we bought it, so we have renewed and increased) as we have renovated. Added 2 heatpumps, one down each end, and took out the open fire, replaced with a log burner and just replaced with a newer more efficient one. I don't go with the "leave heatpump on 24/7". I work at home hubby is a sparky. I have a weather station attached to my computer and the sensors are on the roof above my head. Makes interesting reading during the day, and at night. We get the four seasons in Christchurch and the nights are bitter, but not as bad as inland or further south. Hubby is a sparky, and he explained that when the heatpump is on, its drawing power, so why have it on 24/7 if you are heating an empty house or keeping rooms warm you are not in. He has also installed a DVs up in the roof to dry things out and I would say everything is working pretty good now. We only have the heatpump in the kitchen/lounge/living on for 3 hours just before he gets up until I get up. The sun shining into all the living areas and all bar one bedroom (that one is double glazed on the south side) warms the house the rest of the day. I either light the log burner at 5pm or p
tweake,
Jun 3, 3:35pm
got a link?
tweake,
Jun 3, 3:44pm
yes/no if the room is heated up enough they will turn off.
however in nz's low performance homes, even in northland, the house cools down so quickly that its not worth keeping them on all the time. however, the cavat to that is if your in a really cold area it can take so long to heat the place back up that it never really gets up to temp. in that case your better to leave it running, just set it at a lower temp when your not there. yes it will use extra power but you can actually heat the place back up easy enough when you get back.
its a bit of a catch22 because we have never built houses to really suit our climate.
gpg58,
Jun 3, 3:47pm
Ever noticed how the air temp reading on a thermometer, can say it's a nice cosy 22 deg's, yet you are shivering from constant cold drafts? Now go measure your wall and ceiling temperatures, and furniture etc. Air temp is only one factor if looking for comfort, it can take a week in an old home, to raise the fabric of your homes temperature(and store that thermal energy), up to your comfortable level.(this also helps carry you thru the coldest part of night, and helps stop temperture crash during defrost cycles) Turn your heat pumps etc off, if you are happy with that, i will stick with 24/7 running thanks, especially when you add in the fact that a heat pump running at idle, merely maintaining temperature, is running at a much higher COP, than one that is always at close to full power, if turned on and off, and getting its worst possible COP. In my experience, it cost's little if any more, to be comfortable, many times customers have agreed, it has actually cost them less, when used this way (assuming you do not have undersized systems which always struggle)
tweake,
Jun 3, 3:58pm
thats kinda what i was mentioning. the houses loose heat so fast that they take forever to heat up. heat drives out moisture so its always good to get the house warm. plus side is the warm house radiates heat back to you keeping you warm.
tho i don't quite agree with heat pump getting its worse COP when on/off. it depends on how much its on/off. short cycling will certainly reduce efficiency. but if its long cycling its not to bad. its running a lot in the high efficiency zone. i have heard of some being tested and even short cycling the COP was down to 2. what really makes it bad is when the heat pump is massively oversized and short cycles all the time. that can happen a lot with multi heatpump setups.
brightlights60,
Jun 3, 4:01pm
Point is, don't install a heatpump in a house or room that has inadequate ventilation and or inadequate curtains. Daugher moved into a freezing flat. First thing I did was take all the curtains down, wash them and reline them all with another layer of thermal. And judicious use of a dehumidifer. Now they only turn on the heatpump when they get home and its only on when they need it. Too many houses in NZ have "their heating problems solved with a heatpum" its not. Used properly they can be great. Not used properly and you can have a really nasty surprise when you get the next power bill.
gpg58,
Jun 3, 4:16pm
Thats what many fail to understand, they mistakenly think, lets just stick in one huge one, worst error ever.(also they sometimes have a far worse COP to start with). They (as you already know)have to be sized for the room they are in, i personally add 10-25% to that number maximum, which covers the worst of seasons, (assuming brand preformance data is honest).
tweake,
Jun 3, 4:33pm
yes sort of. its not just about heating (any form of heating). moisture, heating, insulation, ventilation all work together, and they need to work together correctly. the catch is people don't ventilate house well because its cold, its cold because they don't heat houses properly and they don't heat house properly because the insulation sucks. then moisture compounds everything. which is why in mild weather northland it can be absolutely freezing as we don't get the "cold but dry" weather.
if its properly insulated, heating is cheap and easy. you can ventilate a lot without a big cost. its a win win.
the problem is you can't buy well insulated houses because almost no one builds any in nz.
tweake,
Jun 3, 4:38pm
a point worth mentioning (not directly related to your post) is that many, if not most, kiwis under heat their homes by a long way. often not at all. so when they actually heat their house properly they get a shock at the cost. thats not because its necessarily expensive, its because they have never actually heated their house before.
tweake,
Jun 3, 4:42pm
i know some of the home testing thats been done has found nz houses vary a huge amount, even when they use the same construction methods/products. so even the calcs are hit and miss simply due to house variability. so its more a of a guess.
perfectimages,
Jun 3, 5:25pm
Are they like the supermarkets that run out of toilet paper at the slightest hint of an emergency (not the supermarkets fault but the stupid panic buyers) I do not think the service stations would ever have enough swap- a- bottles to cope with any sort of emergency. Do you?
gpg58,
Jun 3, 5:28pm
Yes, and some are good at that guess, based on experiance, others.
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