Add on air con to ducted gas heating

[peekaboo_jones]

Hey gang,

My family and I are looking to upgrade our heating and cooling to an "Add on air con to ducted gas heating system".
New ducts via the floor and decent size to take bigger requirement for cooling.

Does anyone have this type of cooling system?
If so, what's it like?

House is in Melbourne, 2 story house all bedrooms are downstairs, no roof insulation (weird roof exposed beams with strammt lining or something like that)

The house currently has evaporative cooling but it is useless, can't route ducts to the bedrooms. Apparently the evap is commercial and blows more airflow but warmer than residential units. Yay.

Was originally thinking split systems in each room but it's easier said than done.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Evaporative cooling only works on dry climates, ie inland. They do work well but you need to open windows for them to work as the idea is to push cool air ( drawn from the outside unit ) thru the house, which is the opposite the split system which just cool the existing air thru heat pumping and transfer, which is why you need a closed room for them to work

I lived and grew up inland and the evap aircons where the go, nice and cheap to run and effective, and also more comfortable as the air wasnt dry like a split system

But as far as what you want to do... I have NFI

 

[Curly79]

Gday peekaboo, as a mechanical plumber I've been asked about add on cooling a few times over the years. I've installed plenty of wall hung split systems but never installed an add on unit. From what I can gather they work no worries but just aren't that common. 2 decent size wall hung split systems will normally cool most of the house down enough to be comfortable. Maybe get a quote for 2 wall hung units and see what the price difference is. If you do go for the add on option find out exactly which unit they are gunna supply and do your research on it, power consumption, reliability etc

 

[Dave70]

I'd personally go with electric R/C. The cost of energy seems to be rising at roughly the same rate, but in the case of gas, you're kind of stuck with it. At least you can do a solar install at some stage to offset electricity prices.

 

[Blind Dog]

We looked at an add-on to the ducted heating, but ended up going for ducted reverse a/c because there wasn't a lot in it price wise once we factored in having to replace all the ducting, cutting bigger outlets in the floor, adding a return system in the ceiling to pull out warm air etc.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

House insulation is what you also need to look at. Otherwise your just pissing in the wind

 

[Bribie G]

I lived in a house with ducted air con with the big sausage tubes running in the ceiling and circular vent things in the ceilings of each room that the heated or cooled air was blown through.
The problem was that in the winter you could sit there freezing watching the TV whilst the air up towards the ceiling was tropical, so I had to fit up a fan system to stir the air in the room, which sort of defeated the purpose of having the high tech arrangement.

Currently have a single wall mounted reverse cycle, works a treat and you can direct it to blow slow or fast, or swing. House is well insulated and doesn't need night time cooling in the bedrooms, never gets hot enough hereabouts, ceiling fans are fine.

 

[peekaboo_jones]

Yeah insulation is needed everywhere. I've started installing it in some walls in rooms that I've renod and also parts of the roof. In time I'll get there.

I'd like to get splits but where the bedrooms are there isn't place to install where it would make it into all bedrooms. Otherwise yep, one large split for the end of the house where lounge/kitchen is and one where the bedrooms are... It's a real awkward situation actually.

Friday arvo I had a good discussion with one particular company and with the new add on cooler you can zone this place very well and he's super confident it will cool efficiently.
Pricey as though... Fark.
Really need to do more research.

Fyi the heating and cooling ducts will be via the floor. Ceiling is a no go zone.

Cheers for your thoughts and advice fellas

 

[peteru]

I'd question the sense in cooling through floor vents. Unless you setup some form of ventilation, such as ceiling fans or pedestal fans, to mix the air in the room, you will end up with cold toes and still feeling hot.