underfloor heating

Hi Maggie,

Glad you sorted that out. ?It seems heat pumps are the preferred method of heating - I am surprised how they consider just one or two able to heat the whole (if modest) living area of a house. ?I was also reading a woodburning stove brochure today and they also seem confident their little stove would 'heat a three/four bedroom home'. ?Perhaps they don't have a 'Trade Descriptions Act' here or anything with as much punch! ? ;D

P.S. Can I ask what panel heaters you are considering for the bedrooms?
:)

P.S.  Can I ask what panel heaters you are considering for the bedrooms?
:)

Yes, I'd also be interested to hear about them as we are exploring ways of heating our place, apart from the woodburner in the lounge (which is sited away from the rest of the house - house being a T shape), therefore, not capable of heating the bedroom areas.  In autumn and spring it might not be cold enough to go to the trouble of lighting the fire just for evenings and early mornings.  Heat pumps are favourite at the moment, but open to hearing about other methods as being warm in NZ is one of our main concerns.  

Hi Glenda and MotherBear - not sure exactly what brand or type the panel heaters are, but I'm meeting up with the electrical suppliers over the next few days to finalise all the plans so will let you know - I do know that they were dead cheap (well compared to the heat pumps anyway!!  The electrical firm did think we were overdoing it by having heat pump in the family room/kitchen and in the lounge as they are next to each other (separated by double doors) - but we stood our ground!!  ;D

Hope this helps - I still can't get over the faces of the builders when we said we wanted heating, double glazing, insulation up here in the Bay of Plenty, but I can tell you in July in an unheated, uninsulated house its not funny trying to keep 2 children warm and I am not even going to go into why NZ has one of the highest rates of childhood asthma (sp?) in the world - my soapbox comes out rather too much recently!

Maggie x

We're hoping to build a place once we find the right spot, so I've been intrigued by all the talk of 'heat pumps'. ? You don't really come across them in the UK as most homes seem to have the traditional boiler and radiators set up. ?I found this article online if anyone wants to know more about the various pros and cons of the heat pump! ?http://www.consumer.org.nz/topic.asp...c=Heat%20pumps.

Having owned one, ?I totally agree with Glenda's doubts that woodburners can heat the whole house. ?They kick out a lot of heat, but there's just no way to direct the heat output and if you put them in a small room they can be unbearable. ?

Having said that, my best friend runs a woodburner business if anyone wants a good price direct from the manufacturer!

ps, I can't get the hyperlink to work, so you might have to search on 'heat pump' at www.consumer.org.nz


I added a missing 'h' to the beginning of the link and it works now, Kokopeli. ;)
MB

I just tried to get into the link and ended up by going into the Home page and typing in Heat pumps in the Search box at the top. ?Then choose the top link. ?Worked fine then.

Here's another link about heat pumps and how they work.

Daikin and Mitsubishi are reckoned to be two of the better ones to go for as far as output and efficiency are concerned. ?I had a link for Daikin heat pumps but it doesn't work any more and, looking at their site, they only talk about air conditioning now, not heat pumps. ?Will have to delve further.

Here's the link for Mitsubishi .

Edited to add Daikin's site, which I have to say, is not very clear. They talk about air conditioning, which doesn't necessarily involve heat, so you have to pick through the blurb to discover they are indeed talking about cooling AND heating.

Oh, and MOST important, don't forget about insulation!!

OK dokey - just found the quote from the electrical contractors, and the panel heaters that we are having are Creda ones - a 200watt one in our room and the rumpus room, and 1250watt ones in the kids bedrooms - the 2000 watt one is priced at $390 and the 1250 one is $370. ?Now all I need is for someone on here to tell me I've been really ripped off with the costs and the electric cost will be sky high ?;D ?Ah well, its only money isn't it???? ?;)

Maggie

Thanks, Maggie for checking into this for us. Those heaters do certainly sound expensive. :-/

I've got the quote for our heat pump and heat transfer system (which takes heat from the area of the heat pump to the kids three bedrooms). The whole is $4,500 which does not sound bad at all. I'm a bit sceptical that the heat pump will easily heat the dining area, kitchen, hall and then the lounge, but the engineer says they really do throw out some heat. Then, of course, it can be used as aircon.

Also having one of the smallest woodburning stoves you can get ($1,700 with all fittings and hearth tiles) in the lounge. Probably won't need it much but I feel it is a must, especially if there is an emergency.
:)

Wonder how efficient these panel heaters are. Was thinking of maybe putting them in the 2 smaller bedrooms as these will probably only be used by guests and probably wouldn't involve much in the way of installation. Not sure if I think they're expensive or not as I haven't needed to be up to speed with heating related appliances for quite a long time.

We already have a woodburner in the big lounge/diner area, so would fill in the remaining gaps with a heat pump or two. Thought this would give us some flexibility and keep down running costs as there should only be the two of us living there.

Will have to do more research on these panels re cost, to see if they are worth the money. Thanks for the info Maggie. Will watch your progress with great interest.