Ducted Air-Conditioners: Refridgerated vs. Evaporative.

[TroyGFC]

What I dont like about evap a/cond is the look of those things on the roof. (check with your body corp if allowed if live in one)

[Wedgie]

What I dont like about evap a/cond is the look of those things on the roof. (check with your body corp if allowed if live in one)

Pfft, I dont care what any part of my house looks like let alone the roof.

[MW]

more often than not they can place it in a spot where u cant see it. like wedgie said its a roof...meh

[Wedgie]

more often than not they can place it in a spot where u cant see it. like wedgie said its a roof...meh

True, I reckon a Foxtel antenna is more unsightly, only difference being they can place an air con in a more discreet place where you don't have much choice where a Foxtel antenna goes.
There could be a helipad on the top of my roof for all I'd care though.

PS Another benefit I find with an evaporative is we can water our entire backyard from the run off, just connect a 10 metre hose to unit on the roof and VOILA, move it every couple of days and you have a nice green yard.

[Mythical Creature]

I had the choice 18 months ago Refrigerated vs Evaporative

Refrig: $10,000 supplied/installed - 0.60c/hour running costs
Evap: $3,500 supplied/installed - 0.10c/hour running costs

I went Evap...if its that bad during the humidity I will jump in my pool.

I just put aircon through my house at Christmas. Pretty similar story to this. Except to go refrig I would've also needed a power upgrade, so there was extra money on top of the system. Made my mind up to go evaporative.

Pity I can't jump in the pool though

[Stumps]

Sorry to jump in, I'm getting pretty confused with 4 reverse cycle air conditioner quotes iv had. All have agreed on 6 zones and 8 outlets, 4 in frontr rooms and 4 in kitchen and open plan, and all say I need the max output possible for a machine on single phase power. Iv been recommended toshiba inverter 16 kw, daikin fixed speed 15.3 kw, daikin inverter 15.5 kw, and lg inverter 17.1 kw. Specific question I know but any advice on these brands\ types would be super. Cheers

[hearts on fire]

Not sure on size of units and that, but one thing i do know Daikin are the best units for sure.

[Psyber]

My first quote was for an almost 20Kw Daikin system at nearly $20K.
For just over $8K, I put in a 3kw LG ducted system that can run any 3 of my 6 zones at any time, and it works fine.
Since I ran up a $1400 electricity bill in the winter quarter using it for all my heating after my operation last year, I hate to think what a bigger unit would have cost me to run.

Hans, who runs Affordable Air Conditioning, explained to me in why it was the way to go in terms that it made sense to me, and it has worked.
He was prepared to talk about the technical details as much as I wanted to go into them, which was fairly deep as I'm the technical type.
There was a comment on this forum that implied his firm may not be good about following up issues that arise, but I've no had any issues in the 18 months since it was put in.
I'd probably hire a local independent technician with no vested interest once outside the warranty, anyway.


He says most companies over-quote the capacity needed, because they assume you want to cool the entire house to 16C when it is 40C outside and heat to 25C when it is 10C outside, and they fear complaints if it can't do that..

I wouldn't consider evaporative air conditioning anywhere their is humidity or extreme heat..

[Felch]

I have 2 x 11kw Daikin invertor units - 1 for upstairs, 1 for downstairs. The whole system cost me a bit under $20k.
Upstairs has 4 zones and 7 outlets - basically the main bedroom and family room are on constantly, and i can zone off the kids bedrooms as required. The lower level has 3 zones and 7 outlets, with the living/kitchen/meals on all the time and the ability to condition the study or loungeroom at the front of the house.

Obviously the upstairs unit gets a fair bit more use than downstairs - the tempertaure is set at 22deg in summer, 20-21 in winter, on both units. The electricity bill at the end of summer is usually $1000 for the quarter, the other 3 quarters are normally around the $500-$700 mark.

Concept Air designed and installed the system, but they got bought out by Hasties about 2 years ago. Had a couple of small issues with the electrical side of things, but this was the electrician's fault (incorrect size circuit breaker installed and failure to connect a couple the zone motors), not anything to do with the quality of the Daikin units.

I'm extremely happy with the way the system works, even if it is a bit costly.

[amber_fluid]

Sorry to jump in, I'm getting pretty confused with 4 reverse cycle air conditioner quotes iv had. All have agreed on 6 zones and 8 outlets, 4 in frontr rooms and 4 in kitchen and open plan, and all say I need the max output possible for a machine on single phase power. Iv been recommended toshiba inverter 16 kw, daikin fixed speed 15.3 kw, daikin inverter 15.5 kw, and lg inverter 17.1 kw. Specific question I know but any advice on these brands\ types would be super. Cheers

I've just had an LG inverter 17kw(I think) ducted dystem installed.............as that is the biggest size I could get on single phase wiring................I wanted a Daikan but they didn't make one big enough on single phase wiring(15kw was their biggest).
Only had it 6 weeks but so far so good with it.

[dedja]

Hans, who runs Affordable Air Conditioning, explained to me in why it was the way to go in it made sense to me, and it has worked.

I had my R/C ducted installed by them 13 years ago ... their advice was spot on.

[Stumps]

Sounds like r/c certainly the way to go. We currently have it in the front of the house (4 bedrooms) looking at extending an open plan living room where we will be all the time apart from bedtime... Looking at evaporative for this back section as opposed to r/c due to keeping doors open to the deck etc...is this silly?

[Booney]

Sounds like r/c certainly the way to go. We currently have it in the front of the house (4 bedrooms) looking at extending an open plan living room where we will be all the time apart from bedtime... Looking at evaporative for this back section as opposed to r/c due to keeping doors open to the deck etc...is this silly?

So on hot days you'll be running the r/c in the front of the house ( to keep them cool for night time ) and evap in the rear of the house during the day ( and some of the night ), yes?

[Footy Chick]

This is something I now have to think about.

I'm leaning towards splits (although I'll never use the heating function as I have ducted gas)

[Hondo]

On the costs per hour that MW quoted (and seem right to me), having had both options over time, there is some compensation in that you don't use the Refrig as much as the Evap. The Evap you tend to leave on 24/7 whereas the Refrig starts to get too cold eventually. Also because you know it costs more you use it less, rightly or wrongly. Even in a heat wave we turn it off when we wake up and don't turn it back on until lunch or soon after. On the extreme, extreme days it's on 24/7.

If you are careful with using it over summer I found the electricity bills don't get out of hand. The Evap lets you not worry about the cost and leave it run always whereas Refrig you do have to tolerate the heat a little more in the mornings.

In winter the refrig can substitute for alternative heating systems so then you have to compare the running cost in winter to whatever else you are using for heating. Because it can do both it might save you installing a gas fire or combustion heater and they range from $3K to $10K installed as well.

Some people are happy to just rug up in winter. Gas fires are good for a single room and I don't know what the running costs are. If you have open plan then a wood fire is good to heat a bigger area. Refrig however heats the whole house.

We have a wood heater and the refrig air con and so we hardly ever run the Refrig for heating because of where our combustion heater is located in an open plan at the back it keeps us all warm at night.

[Hondo]

Sounds like r/c certainly the way to go. We currently have it in the front of the house (4 bedrooms) looking at extending an open plan living room where we will be all the time apart from bedtime... Looking at evaporative for this back section as opposed to r/c due to keeping doors open to the deck etc...is this silly?

I'd get an expert in to quote on extending your R/C system to the back section. That's what we did when we extended. Hopefully your unit is big enough to cope. They just run extra ducting out if your existing unit can cope. You need to tell your builder you want to do this because obviously its easier to run the ducting out before your new ceiling goes in.

The cost of extending the R/C system will be less than installing a whole new Evap system. Then they can set it up with zones so you only use the R/C where you need it.

[gadj1976]

This is something I now have to think about.

I'm leaning towards splits (although I'll never use the heating function as I have ducted gas)

Splits are expensive to run FC.

[Footy Chick]

really? I had one in my old place and I never had a bill over $250 a quarter in the summer...

[Brodlach]

This is something I now have to think about.

I'm leaning towards splits (although I'll never use the heating function as I have ducted gas)

Splits are expensive to run FC.

We got a couple of Splits last summer and we thought they were great

FC got ours from Air Conditioning Warehouse Sales, great prices

[Footy Chick]

do they install as well?