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Ducted AC

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
We are currently building a house and we are planning on installing a ducted AC system.
I have had quotes from a few different companies and they have suggested very different things between them.
The house is two story with 4 bedrooms upstairs.
Downstairs is an open plan kitchen, living room and dining area with a seperate study. By Australian standards it is fairly modest house in size on a block of about 330m.
We have had some companies suggest to zone downstairs together in a zone and then the bedrooms to be zoned together in another. Whilst others have suggested we zone each room individually. I’m not sure if the latter is a little over kill or not as the price hike is pretty considerable.
But if it is going to make the system much more efficient to run then perhaps the initial layout is worth it. I have never lived in a house with ducted AC so I’m just looking for other users advice and experiences please.
 

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
150,753
Depends on how you use your bedrooms and if they are equal to the floor area of your ground floor. Let's say you have 12 squares on each level, the the day night zone will work fine, mostly its more like 14 and 10 or similar so your bed rooms are much smaller which makes the night zone too small or the AC too big, so it can depend on how they zone it.Best bet is a common zone that is conditioned all the time and you only zone the other say 8 squares from ground floor to first floor bedrooms.

Further consideration needs to be given to how you use your bedrooms, if your kids are teenagers or the like and will use the bedrooms to study or spend time with their friends, then you need to be able to conditioning the bedrooms of a day time.

When considering brands make sure you get one with a 5 year warranty.
 
Messages
15,545
Mine is split into three zones and the maximum you can use is two at a time.

Zones are

1. Master bedroom
2. Other bedrooms
3. Living areas excluding the lounge room.

I find I use 3 during the day and a combination of 1 & 2 at night in summer.

In winter, we barely use it. On really cold mornings I might fire it up to warm area 3 or sometimes 1 and 3

We have a separate split system just for the lounge room. We use that all the time.
 

veggiepatch1959

First Grade
Messages
9,841
We are currently building a house and we are planning on installing a ducted AC system.
I have had quotes from a few different companies and they have suggested very different things between them.
The house is two story with 4 bedrooms upstairs.
Downstairs is an open plan kitchen, living room and dining area with a seperate study. By Australian standards it is fairly modest house in size on a block of about 330m.
We have had some companies suggest to zone downstairs together in a zone and then the bedrooms to be zoned together in another. Whilst others have suggested we zone each room individually. I’m not sure if the latter is a little over kill or not as the price hike is pretty considerable.
But if it is going to make the system much more efficient to run then perhaps the initial layout is worth it. I have never lived in a house with ducted AC so I’m just looking for other users advice and experiences please.
Wow! 330 sq metres. Do blocks of land that small exist?

The last house we built was on 1816 sq metres.

I suppose there's one advantage. You and your neighbour don't have to leave the house to shake hands.

Just lean out the window....
 

___

Juniors
Messages
860
I have it and have upstairs (4 bedrooms) and downstairs (living area) zoned. 2 switches and very easy to manage.

If the rooms are all occupied and used heavily, then one switch and upstairs zone is good, however if it's sporadic and not all rooms are occupied fulltime, then have different switches for upstairs, but keep downstairs as 1 zone so the whole open plan area gets the air.
 

___

Juniors
Messages
860
Wow! 330 sq metres. Do blocks of land that small exist?

The last house we built was on 1816 sq metres.

I suppose there's one advantage. You and your neighbour don't have to leave the house to shake hands.

Just lean out the window....
City dwellings mate not country.
 

Lambretta

First Grade
Messages
8,679
Zoning upstairs isn't really worth the up-kick in price mate

We have fully ducted upstairs and a couple of split systems downstairs
The upstairs gets hottest in summer and you just turn on that area. No point cooling one room and leaving the other roasting. You're not saving much money tbh.

you're better off spending a bit more on making sure the insulation upstairs is as good as you can get and your windows have thick tinted glass or are double glazed

Prevention is better than cure
 

___

Juniors
Messages
860
Zoning upstairs isn't really worth the up-kick in price mate

We have fully ducted upstairs and a couple of split systems downstairs
The upstairs gets hottest in summer and you just turn on that area. No point cooling one room and leaving the other roasting. You're not saving much money tbh.

you're better off spending a bit more on making sure the insulation upstairs is as good as you can get and your windows have thick tinted glass or are double glazed

Prevention is better than cure
Zoning upstairs is useful if not all bedrooms are in use. We have upstairs all as one zone and at least 2 of those bedrooms are constantly empty.
 

Eion

First Grade
Messages
7,601
Depending on where you live, I’d really think about if you need ducted at all.

I live in Sydney in a 2 story, 4 bedroom upstairs. It’s an older style cape cod joint and I just have one good unit upstairs that ‘takes the edge off’ the hottest and coldest days. It’s powerful enough to reach all rooms. The bottom floor is double brick and well insulated.

Put in ceiling fans and I’d really question if you need ducted at all. That is assuming you are near the coast in Sydney though where the weather is a bit less extreme.
 

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
Depends on how you use your bedrooms and if they are equal to the floor area of your ground floor. Let's say you have 12 squares on each level, the the day night zone will work fine, mostly its more like 14 and 10 or similar so your bed rooms are much smaller which makes the night zone too small or the AC too big, so it can depend on how they zone it.Best bet is a common zone that is conditioned all the time and you only zone the other say 8 squares from ground floor to first floor bedrooms.

Further consideration needs to be given to how you use your bedrooms, if your kids are teenagers or the like and will use the bedrooms to study or spend time with their friends, then you need to be able to conditioning the bedrooms of a day time.

When considering brands make sure you get one with a 5 year warranty.

At the moment it’s just the two of us although we’re hoping that won’t be for too much longer.
We’re more than likely going to go with Daikin I think as everyone I’ve spoke to hasn’t had a bad word to say about them.

Wow! 330 sq metres. Do blocks of land that small exist?

The last house we built was on 1816 sq metres.

I suppose there's one advantage. You and your neighbour don't have to leave the house to shake hands.

Just lean out the window....

Yeah have you seen the price of land? It was an old fibro that was in the mrs family that we knocked down and had the landed sub divided in to three. It’s still massive compared to the terrace I had in cumbria.

Depending on where you live, I’d really think about if you need ducted at all.

I live in Sydney in a 2 story, 4 bedroom upstairs. It’s an older style cape cod joint and I just have one good unit upstairs that ‘takes the edge off’ the hottest and coldest days. It’s powerful enough to reach all rooms. The bottom floor is double brick and well insulated.

Put in ceiling fans and I’d really question if you need ducted at all. That is assuming you are near the coast in Sydney though where the weather is a bit less extreme.

Have you seems my username? Lol I need it summers kill me here. The house is near Canley Vale no nice ocean breeze for me.
 

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
150,753
At the moment it’s just the two of us although we’re hoping that won’t be for too much longer.
We’re more than likely going to go with Daikin I think as everyone I’ve spoke to hasn’t had a bad word to say about them.

When you speak to the reps from the contractors you speak with you need to tell them you want some flexibility. If you will be expecting a bub soon then he will be sleeping of a day time, so very hot at level one of a 2 story house, so you need to be able to use an area upstairs of a day time.

Also dont have the blinkers son when you look at brands, Daikin are good but not the best. Every Daikin dealer is on incentives like O/S trips and the like so they do they best to make a sale, there are plenty of other options out there that have 5 year warranties.
 

Lambretta

First Grade
Messages
8,679
Depending on where you live, I’d really think about if you need ducted at all.

I live in Sydney in a 2 story, 4 bedroom upstairs. It’s an older style cape cod joint and I just have one good unit upstairs that ‘takes the edge off’ the hottest and coldest days. It’s powerful enough to reach all rooms. The bottom floor is double brick and well insulated.

Put in ceiling fans and I’d really question if you need ducted at all. That is assuming you are near the coast in Sydney though where the weather is a bit less extreme.

He is English - anything over 27 degrees is unbearable
As he's from oop Norf, make that 22 degrees

Air con is a must
 

Lambretta

First Grade
Messages
8,679
At the moment it’s just the two of us although we’re hoping that won’t be for too much longer.
We’re more than likely going to go with Daikin I think as everyone I’ve spoke to hasn’t had a bad word to say about them.

We have ducted upstairs (where the kids rooms are) - it's too noisy for my tastes to have it running when I'm trying to sleep. But the kids aren't bothered by it

I have a split system in my bedroom downstairs - and it has a night time feature which is whisper quiet
It dribbles out the tiniest amount of air, but it's just enough on those godawful nights when it's steaming to take the edge off and you can sleep (I am hopeless with the heat and hate it)
It's an amazing system - I will check the model and let you know

We have a Daikin split system in the family room out back and that has been brilliant. It's probably 20 years old and just keeps on going no problems.

Yep - three air conditioning systems in one house. Bloody poms eh lol
 

Lambretta

First Grade
Messages
8,679
Have you seems my username? Lol I need it summers kill me here. The house is near Canley Vale no nice ocean breeze for me.

My dream is to retire to a beach side suburb so I get a sea breeze in summer
This 40 degrees and no air on hot days is just bullshit
 

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
We have ducted upstairs (where the kids rooms are) - it's too noisy for my tastes to have it running when I'm trying to sleep. But the kids aren't bothered by it

I have a split system in my bedroom downstairs - and it has a night time feature which is whisper quiet
It dribbles out the tiniest amount of air, but it's just enough on those godawful nights when it's steaming to take the edge off and you can sleep (I am hopeless with the heat and hate it)
It's an amazing system - I will check the model and let you know

We have a Daikin split system in the family room out back and that has been brilliant. It's probably 20 years old and just keeps on going no problems.

Yep - three air conditioning systems in one house. Bloody poms eh lol

The noise will probably take me back to my days sleeping on ships/submarines so it shoudldn't be an issue. We could have a gunfight outside (and being Fairfield its not that unlikely) and it wouldn't wake the mrs so the noise isn't a huge concern for me.

3 AC systems is impressive :)
 

Lambretta

First Grade
Messages
8,679
The noise will probably take me back to my days sleeping on ships/submarines so it shoudldn't be an issue. We could have a gunfight outside (and being Fairfield its not that unlikely) and it wouldn't wake the mrs so the noise isn't a huge concern for me.

3 AC systems is impressive :)

lol - I wake up if a mosquito farts 3 suburbs away
Absolutely hopeless sleeper - 4 or 5 hours of utterly broken sleep is not unusual

With the air con units, its rare that we have them on at the same time - more depends what part of the house we use. In that way, it's kinda like zoning fully-ducted.
 
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