The ducted heating is set at 20 deg. I turn it on when the temp drops to 15 deg. When it reaches 20 I turn it off as the house is good for maybe 3-4 hours before it drops to the 15 deg threshold again. This is sufficient for an evening, and the house is cooler and it’s easier to sleep once the temperature drops down. In the morning I turn it on for an hour or so as this heats the bathroom to about 22 deg which is ideal for showering etc. and I always have a nice warm fluffy towel. I turn it off after that, as the sunshine (when there is any) keeps the house warm through the daylight hours. This does me for winter, and the bills aren’t too outrageous so far. Also, running the ducted heating on this schedule means that in rainy weather I can put any wet washing on a rack over a vent in the morning and it’s dry and ready to put away by the time I come home. Heating is so damn subjective and personal - what suits one person might not suit another.
I do wonder if it’s efficient turning it off. I don’t know much about ducted heating but for split a/c it’s actually more cost effective in modern systems to keep the heat running at a low level to maintain temperature, rather than using more energy to bring it up five degrees.
Ducted heating isn’t as efficient or as cost effective as a split system. But I like having a bit of contrast in the temperature. Two hours or so each day is doable cost wise for me. I can’t imagine having it on 24/7 though.
We used to keep ours on either 19.5 or 20 with a fan speed of 2. It was warm enough to keep things warm but never hot. But none of our rooms really have decent insulation, so we were all sort of adapted to it being 12-18 in our rooms.
Yeah, it sucked while I was getting used to it. We do have ducted in all the bedrooms, but we very seldom used it because it heats different rooms at extremely different rates. Like it might go up 13° in one room but just 3° in another. But I’d rather keep my room generally chilly and just use an electric blanket or do layers, as much as I complain about the cold and love the heat
Oh: and also it’s an old system that’s never been dusted before, so it blows out wild amounts of dust. No filters on it, either
Eeek. If possible get it cleaned. An old ducted system that isn’t cleaned is a major fire hazard. I believe the recommendation is for the system to be vacuumed out professionally at least once a year. More if it’s running a lot. The build up of dust in the pipes is a serious fire hazard. Dust is extremely flammable, so one spark and the whole house goes up in flames and a duct fire is extremely hard to put out. I get mine cleaned once in autumn, so it’s OK for the heavy usage season of winter. There are often deals through professional cleaning companies at about that time. This year I think I paid about $60 for my 5 vent system and it took them about 30 mins to do it. They do charge more for a large system of more than 7 vents. Well worth it imo.
Actually, getting the ducts cleaned might solve some of the uneven heating problems too.
Not my place, unfortunately, that has to go through their maintenance department. But there’s currently 37 outstanding maintenance tasks that I’m aware of, so it might be a while. In the meantime I’ll just hope there are no sparks, because just besides the difficulty of controlling a duct fire, the whole house is wood. And I like my house, so I have a personal preference that it doesn’t burn down
Urk. Maybe mention it to your co-ordinator - maybe get it escalated a bit in importance. I know that maintenance is low on the budget totem pole, but this situation could be nasty if the house burns down.
For those that use reverse a/c for heating, what do you set the temperature to? For me it’s 21 degrees right now.
Have gas ducted heating, is set at 22. I get cold. I can happily not need ac in summer, but winter without heating is intolerable.
About 21-22. Insulation isn’t great here and will drop back slowly to 18, the skylights open vents aren’t helping either.
Trying to save on energy so I’ve gone for the oodie instead of keeping the heating on after seeing my last power bill skyrocket.
The ducted heating is set at 20 deg. I turn it on when the temp drops to 15 deg. When it reaches 20 I turn it off as the house is good for maybe 3-4 hours before it drops to the 15 deg threshold again. This is sufficient for an evening, and the house is cooler and it’s easier to sleep once the temperature drops down. In the morning I turn it on for an hour or so as this heats the bathroom to about 22 deg which is ideal for showering etc. and I always have a nice warm fluffy towel. I turn it off after that, as the sunshine (when there is any) keeps the house warm through the daylight hours. This does me for winter, and the bills aren’t too outrageous so far. Also, running the ducted heating on this schedule means that in rainy weather I can put any wet washing on a rack over a vent in the morning and it’s dry and ready to put away by the time I come home. Heating is so damn subjective and personal - what suits one person might not suit another.
I do wonder if it’s efficient turning it off. I don’t know much about ducted heating but for split a/c it’s actually more cost effective in modern systems to keep the heat running at a low level to maintain temperature, rather than using more energy to bring it up five degrees.
Ducted heating isn’t as efficient or as cost effective as a split system. But I like having a bit of contrast in the temperature. Two hours or so each day is doable cost wise for me. I can’t imagine having it on 24/7 though.
We used to keep ours on either 19.5 or 20 with a fan speed of 2. It was warm enough to keep things warm but never hot. But none of our rooms really have decent insulation, so we were all sort of adapted to it being 12-18 in our rooms.
Hmm that’s a little on the cool side for me. I guess things differ for different a/c units.
Yeah, it sucked while I was getting used to it. We do have ducted in all the bedrooms, but we very seldom used it because it heats different rooms at extremely different rates. Like it might go up 13° in one room but just 3° in another. But I’d rather keep my room generally chilly and just use an electric blanket or do layers, as much as I complain about the cold and love the heat
Oh: and also it’s an old system that’s never been dusted before, so it blows out wild amounts of dust. No filters on it, either
Eeek. If possible get it cleaned. An old ducted system that isn’t cleaned is a major fire hazard. I believe the recommendation is for the system to be vacuumed out professionally at least once a year. More if it’s running a lot. The build up of dust in the pipes is a serious fire hazard. Dust is extremely flammable, so one spark and the whole house goes up in flames and a duct fire is extremely hard to put out. I get mine cleaned once in autumn, so it’s OK for the heavy usage season of winter. There are often deals through professional cleaning companies at about that time. This year I think I paid about $60 for my 5 vent system and it took them about 30 mins to do it. They do charge more for a large system of more than 7 vents. Well worth it imo. Actually, getting the ducts cleaned might solve some of the uneven heating problems too.
Not my place, unfortunately, that has to go through their maintenance department. But there’s currently 37 outstanding maintenance tasks that I’m aware of, so it might be a while. In the meantime I’ll just hope there are no sparks, because just besides the difficulty of controlling a duct fire, the whole house is wood. And I like my house, so I have a personal preference that it doesn’t burn down
Urk. Maybe mention it to your co-ordinator - maybe get it escalated a bit in importance. I know that maintenance is low on the budget totem pole, but this situation could be nasty if the house burns down.
Right now I have a split in the main living area and basically heat that and close off the doors to the other areas.
20 during day, 18 for sleeps, 17 if his lordship is out tomcatting (i run hot)