Need Advice on Heating System for My House

ppp13 on 25/03/2019 - 09:16
Last edited 25/03/2019 - 09:28 by 1 other user

Hi Guys,

I live in a 4 bedroom house which has gas ducted heating system.
Mostly my wife and 6 month baby use only main bed room and hall. The heating system does not have any controls to zone it ( I mean either I have to use in throughout the house or switch it off completely). So it is waste of energy in all other bedrooms.

My question is : Whether buying a separate heater ( like Oil heater from bunnings) is economical or using ducted heating system on entire house ?
If it is separate heater, can you please tell me which model is best and less energy consumption ? I have tried lot of models from Kmart in the past but no luck at all.

Winter is coming in Melbourne so need to save ourselves :)

• 

  Trung on 25/03/2019 - 09:24

  +3

  Check to see if you can close the vents in the rooms you don't need heated.
  Then just keep the doors to these rooms closed.

  • 

    altomic on 25/03/2019 - 09:48

    just block the vents.

    if the vent doesnt have the closing thing then put a folded towell on top and some thing heavy to weigh it down to seal it.

    and some rolled up towells for the gap at the bottom of the doors to stop cold air from the sealed rooms seeping in.

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  Some Human on 25/03/2019 - 09:28

  I usually just put on more clothes. Can’t justify heating the whole house when I pretty much stay in one room sitting down under a blanket. But when I do use the heater, I do as Trung said and close the vents to a few of the rooms I’m not using and shut the doors.

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  Bid Sniper on 25/03/2019 - 09:40

  +3

  Brand name oil heater is best, bunnings ones stank of VOCs, bad for baby.

  Delongi ones were ok for us (bing lee) . I ended up using a Bitcoin mining PC for heating I built, worked really well in heating the room and made money, until the crash in 18 lol

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  rooster on 25/03/2019 - 10:25

  +2

  A reverse cycle is 3 x more efficient than a bar heater or an oil heater - those things will suck you dry…..You are better off purchasing a portable RC unit that you can place in your living area.

  Even after blocking off the extra vents, you will still have significant costs. Here in Canberra the cost of gas per unit of energy generated is still more that as generated with electricity (about 25% more)

• 

  HardlyCharly on 25/03/2019 - 12:53

  This is Australia, I've never used heating in my life it just doesn't get cold enough. I also think reverse cycle aircon is the best way to go if you really need it.

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  Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 25/03/2019 - 13:28

  +1

  Get a heated throw rug https://www.amazon.com.au/Washable-Heated-Electric-Snuggle-B…

  Oil heaters will cost you more than your gas ducted system to run!

• 

  boomramada on 25/03/2019 - 13:34

  Ducted heating system on entire house still cheaper than few oil heaters. Even your are heating your entire house, sensor is probably in your living room, so it will heat up till your main room reach the set temperature.

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  JimB on 25/03/2019 - 14:53

  See if you can physically close off the vents in the bedrooms you don't use.

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  BertieBrown on 25/03/2019 - 19:03

  It’s really just a matter of figuring out the input and output of each heating method.

  Oil heaters will run at a certain amount of KW/h in terms of input, and will likewise output a certain amount of energy in heat, some will be lost, and generally small portable heaters are fairly inefficient.

  On the whole, gas heaters are relatively efficient, but again it’s probably worth figuring out what the input, and output of the unit is, which you can calculate back to KW/h from Mj’s, and also the output capacity.

  So, whilst electricity for a small portable heater might range at around 2 KW/h @ around 35c/KW, the output compared with a freestanding natural gas heater which may use say 25 Mj’s @ 3c/Mj will be much lower.

  Basically, the output of the gas heater will proportionately be much greater than a small freestanding electric heater, however, if a large proportion of that energy output is wasted, it’s sort of pointless.

  This is different from split system inverters that output a lot more energy than they consume.