Hello hello!
Thank you for your reply.
Cheers
Antonia
Hello Ijarratt,
Thank you for your detailed reply and Iāll pass on your suggestion.
Kind regards
Antonia
Hello Bod,
Thank you for our reply and fantastic to hear you like your Daikin.
Kind regards
Antonia
Hello Martin,
Thank you for your response. You house sounds lovely.
Kind regards
Antonia
Hello Sue,
Thank you for your responseā¦ and not a ramble at all!
Great insight.
Antonia
Hello Richard,
Thank you for your response and I think having a puppy to keep warm sounds perfect.
Kind regards
Antonia
Biggest mistake I made was getting a ducted system. Daikin system itself was fine, but it required at least 2 zones. So I put 2 bedrooms on one, 3rd bedroom on the other. Then the kids left home and unfortunately my bedroom was in the 2 bedroom zone. So the system was heating/cooling 2 bedrooms when I used it just for mine. Then when visitors came, everyone wanted different settings. You supposedly save money on energy with a ducted system. But I could have put in 3 separate split systems for about $6k vs $11k for ducted AND saved on energy because most of the time only mine would have been used.
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Hi, we had a reverse cycle, ducted Daikin system installed in the upstairs part of our house about 12 months ago after living here for 17 years. Love it so much we are having downstairs done as well in a few weeks.
Important features for us were:
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ability to switch rooms on and off and set temperature individually. For example, we can set just our bedroom to heat/cool if the kids arenāt home, so we arenāt running air con in rooms that arenāt occupied. Individual room temperature control was also important as otherwise the air con would shut off when whichever room the sensor is in reaches the set temperature - if itās in the hottest bedroom then the other rooms would get too cold and vice versa.
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noise. We are in a medium density area so didnāt want a noisy outdoor unit that would disturb all our neighbours.
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experienced tradespeople. We are in an old home with patterned ceilings and didnāt want them destroyed during the installation.
Cost isnāt such a concern for us, however we do use the system sensibly ā¦ eg we wear winter clothes inside during winter, not shorts!
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The house has a reverse cycle system in the living room.
I live in a rented house, so did not choose.
Running cost is a major concern. I have added a
removable reflective product to the east and west windows to reduce the need for cooling and heating.
When I lived in Canberra we installed a ducted evaporative cooling system and that was fantastic. The night in Canberra are quite cool, so if you can really cool the house down overnight, it stays quite cool during the day (and we had added insulation to floors and walls etc to reduce heat transfer). Often we would just use the fan function at night without needing to cool, and that was enough to last through the next day. That works best in places with large day/night temperature swings and the cooler is best in low humidity.
When you rent you get what youāre given, and usually is less than adequate and expensive. Subsidies for landlords (and home owners) to add insulation would be great.
Also, a penalty fee on new homes that are not built as well as they could be to reduce energy costs (e.g. poor orientation, west and east windows). Or perhaps incentives to do the opposite, including reducing drafts and air flow. New homes are regularly built with air-con installedāthere is an assumption they everyone with have it and use it, and it means that builders can be slack, and (rich) buyers can be blase about poor building.
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Hi Airwin
My house in Canberra was one year old when we bought it and the airconditioner was included as part of the construction.
The air conditioner is a Braemar gas heat and refrigeration cooling fully ducted system. The refrigerate unit is rated at 14.2kW cooling - 4.8kW electrical power input input (single phase). There are outlets in all major rooms excluding the wet spaces. The return air plenum is in a small hallway connecting three bedrooms, bathroom, toilet and laundry. There are no zone controls for the system so every area is heated or cooled. Turning off vents causes pressure to build up in the vents and leakage of air. There are no return air vents for any room with a door, so if the door is open the air from the ducts just goes straight out with just a draft; with the door closed the pressure builds up and there is no air flow - I chock the door slightly open to slow the air flow allowing the room to be either heated or cooled.
While I did not have any say over the choice of the system, I have concluded that it is poorly designed and installed. I also fear that what I have is fairly average for how air conditioners are installed in Australia. The following are issues I have identified
- I have a temperature sensor in the roof space which I remotely monitor - I noticed that the temperature in the roof space changed when the air conditioner was running. I discovered that the connection of the duct to the main unit was not tight so there was a large air loss into the roof cavity.
- The ducts have an insulation of R1 and are located in the roof cavity which is freezing in winter and superheated in summer. This means that every metre of duct is being heated in summer and cooled in winter by the air in the roof space. Something needs to be done to insulate the ducts from the effects of the air temperature in the roof space - I am gradually covering the ducts with insulation, but it is not easy as there are some very inaccessible spaces.
- The control of the system is very course; the fan has 10-speeds, but it only operates at the select speed, there is no ramping up or down of the speed.
- Before this house I had an all electric house and looked forward to being connected to gas. Now I have gas heating I would like to get rid of it as it is too expensive.
- A critical factor for efficient operation of the HVAC is the house to be properly insulated. Not just a few insulating batts in the ceiling, but the walls, floors and even the ceiling.
Hope these comments help.
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Hereās the 2017 update to our air con review (member content). Alternatively, use our buying guide to find the best air conditioner for your needs.
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Weāve updated our air conditioner review for 2018 (member content) with the latest test results.
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I was surprised to recently read choices recent reviews on wall split air conditioners. Where did choice find the pricing because the pricing is so uncompetitive to anything you can find online. One Daikin 2 kw had a price of nearly over $1800. Many of the LG and MHI units where similar the pricing was so high and in some cases inconsistent based on the size of the units.
How did Choice research the pricing for these units? It seems very slack of Choice to not have researched the pricing more throughly.
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As it shows in the report by clicking on the prices, one gets a pop-up as follows:
The recommended or typical retail price as of October 2018. You can often get a better price by shopping around.
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We have observed the same, most recently purchasing two MHI splits for our bedrooms.
There was much shopping around and consulting with the genuine MHI wholesale support staff. Mainly to resolve model differences and supplier availability. That was after looking at the Choice reviews.
For the same model ACs the prices varied by up to 20% across retailers.
All quoted prices were well below the RRP.
The RRP appears to be just an other marketing ploy!
The discounts up here in Qld also appear to improve at the end of summer to clear stock or be less at the peak of a long hot summer?
It would be difficult for Choice to choose from all the discounts. There will always be variations between states as well. You might expect Darwin has no off season for air conditioner sales?
We found the Choice RRP was a reliable comparison between the better known brands. Pricing on the cheap and cheerful brands appeared to be less variable. Lower margins?
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Choice, as with many/most other review sites cite the RRP from the manufacturer or from the distributor. The RRPs are there only as a general guide.
As you are no doubt aware, some stores sell at RRP, some sell above RRP, and some sell at a discount. So street prices vary, sometimes hugely, up and down. Where you live can affect the price, and of course specials may occur on products, etc.
With diligent research and/or haggling you can invariably find much cheaper prices, particularly on-line. The price you buy is left in your capable hands.
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Also asking for prices at a different time of the year can affect discounts. At the start of summer is the peak time for air con purchases and installs, so discounted pricing less likely.
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Thanks for the feedback @paul.bonniface. As @PhilT noted, we report on the RRP price but we encourage readers to check out for any specials or discounts that may be available when youāre looking to purchase.
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The latest test results are now available in our updated air conditioner review (member content). Check out our buying guide to find the right one for you.
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An amazing variation in efficiency between the best and worst performing models.
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