[Karen and Rich Matthews]

Hi Guys,

Hope everyone is doing well out there where ever they may be :)

We're soon to be moving into our little homestead in Johnsonville and were wondering about installing either a DVS system or a Heat Pump system...being very lay in this area I was wondering if anyone has any opinions or advice.

Our rental at the moment suffers awfully with condensation...and we don't want the same problem in our new home...good thing is it has central heating installed unusual for out here!

Cheers

Rich

[clg]

If you have centeral heat in the new place you will not need a heatpump, they are both just for heating. As to DVS, with central heat you probably will not need it. I would live there first and see how it goes. We have central heat and have a portable dehumidifyer we run maybe once a week. No problems with dampnes really, our old house in LA was much worse than our new one with damp and mold.

[Avalon]

I agree with Clg - if you have central heating (lucky sod) - heatpumps are just doubling up. You would only really get any use out of them for aircon. If you were over in the Wairararpa - then you would probably want Aircon - but you should be ok in Johnsonville.

Ive just recently been given some advise in this area (we need to install heatpums because we need aircon + heating) - which was to hold off for a full year till you KNOW whether you need any of these systems. DVS will prevent "Crying houses" - but our house for example doesnt suffer with this too much - so it would be a waste of money. Its better to go though 1 whole cycle of seasons and work out whether you will actually benefit fully from the cost.

Just my 2p.

[clg]

Wrote that last post quickly as I was running out the door. Forgot to add Congratulations on the new house!!!

[sarahw]

I'm a bit confused if you have central heating that means you need no heating (or did you mean that you have central heating in the rental you're in at the moment?)

If you're suffering condensation in the rental then I'd recommend a dehumidifier. Was discussing the other day with our energy specialist at work & if you're heating a house with condensation, water mixed with air takes longer & costs more to heat, whereas if you remove the water from the air it heats up quicker, thus being cheaper!

If you're buying a new system for your new home a DVS I believe is the system you need to go for - this takes all the moisture out of the air & redistributes the heat around the house (I think its about $3K to install).

Good luck!

[jdbob]

I give up, what's a DVS?

[Smiler]

Domestic Ventilation System. :D

[Avalon]

If you're buying a new system for your new home a DVS I believe is the system you need to go for - this takes all the moisture out of the air & redistributes the heat around the house (I think its about $3K to install).

Good luck!

Another point in its favour - its likely to cost about 20k to fit heatpumps throughout our house. Admittedly it is 5 bedrooms - and it has confused them because its on 2 floors :D I mean - the cheek of it!

[sarahw]

That's why we only have heating in the lounge!! We're on 4 floors!! Higgledy piggledy house - DVS may work out being the best system - unless you're in a bungalow!

[jdbob]

I would never have guessed :)

The most common abbreviation in these parts is HVAC - Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning

Does a DVS just move air around the house, heated by some other source?

[Diny]

We have DVS and it's great !!! Our main source of heating is a (blooming massive) log burner in the lounge. The intake grill is just above the wood burner and the outlet grills are in the hallway. It is very effective, delivers a good amount of warmth to the far end of the house and almost totally eliminates any damp.

By all accounts they're not too expensive and if you're into DIY not too tricky to install, although you'll need a sparky to do the wiring.

A DVS is also very cheap to run, we don't see any difference in our power bill when we're using it.

Also remember, the key to a warm house in NZ is INSULATION !!!!!! If you don't have it you won't have warmth, no matter how many heating sources you plug in.

Diny

[Karen and Rich Matthews]

Thanks for all the advice guys :D

The rental we're in at the moment has no heating at all, so we bought a rather sad 5 fin heater from the Warehouse (where everyone gets a bargain, hehe) and to be fair, we get more heat from our tea lights...:(

I think we'll go with the advice about staying in our new house for a couple of seasons before we chuck that much money at a DVS.

Yes we are very lucky for having a central heating system....the current owners became hooked after they travelled to Europe and had the whole villa decked out...

Not long now....21 days and counting :)

Rich :)

[Karen and Rich Matthews]

As a follow up, any of you guys know of or have used Pink Batts insulation over here...had a look on their website which looks pretty inpressive.

For 5.7 m2 they're working out at $54 for the basic and $74 for the supa dooper version.

Rich

[kiwidebs]

Hi guys

Just caught up on this post (stopped using internet for a while when we were on dial up - it was so slow it did my head in!). Congrats on getting your own place - I felt so much more at home once we moved into ours. We recently installed an HRV system, which is just another company doing a similar thing to DVS. I'd rave about it. Our house has gone from wet windows even on mild days - mold growing around all the windows, to nice and dry even on the coldest days. My parents had the wettest house I'd ever been in, they had HRV installed after we got ours and it worked immediately (I keep telling Dad that it will shrink to a 2 bed house once all the moisture dries out!!:laugh ). But it's not a heating system, it just dries out the house. If the loft gets above the temp of the inside of the house then the system pumps that warm air around the house, but the times you most need it (ie evenings and cold winter days) the loft doesn't get warm enough to make a difference. You still need another form of heating.

Anyway, just wanted to add my tuppence worth.

Debs

[Glo & Gil]

Hi all

I have followed the above posts with great interest coz we don't need any heat equipment here in Mtius. So we will need a lot of help in this field when the time comes and we hope very soon

Glo , Gil & Topher

[Singel]

We went through winter and summer in our rental, realised...............

Winter time, poorly insulated house is cold and have crying windows.

Summer time, too warm and humid to sleep at night.

Our new build is well insulated so we do not have problem with crying windows.
To put out the chill during winter time and the warm/humid during summer time, we opted to install inverter heat pump in our new build (heating in the winter time and aircon in the summer). 3 blowers and a compressor cost $10k. The heat pump also filter dusts and circulate fresh air back to the house (helps with clearing the smell after my curry cooking :D ) The big saving on our energy bills over time, will pay off the heat pump.