New Build - Home Renovations - Gardens - Garages & Sheds.

[Puffwagon]

We don't have ducted but we have a 6.5kw wall heater that gets used during the day while the solar is working. It goes off at night time so that part of the story has no significance lol.

 

We still use around 25kw per day due to cooking dinner when the sun is down.

 

I could see a larger 14kw ducted system easily using 60kw per day running full tilt.

 

Best thing we ever did was put insulation under the iron of the roof, while keeping the ceiling insulation.

 

In other news our electricity provider just hiked rates by 25%. Fark me right!?

[bossmang]

gas and electricity in vic just got effing expensive 

[Puffwagon]

Wife told me today a solar battery should be acquired. I'd prefer a new shed first but a battery would be pretty good.

[bossmang]

when I was doing solar the telsa batteries were like 17k installed.

[El Andrew]

Yeah the quote I got on solar and battery suggested a 17 year payback! But we have a weird thing in the ACT where the government invested in an SA wind farm and buys electricity at a fixed cost. We only use half of it so the rest gets sold to the national energy market and ACT gets the difference back. So the higher electricity prices go nationwide, the lower ACT prices go.

My solar quotes suggest estimated gross electricity usage of 25 kWh per day in Canberra with a modern ducted reverse cycle in a 3 bedroom house so something ain't right.

[Puffwagon]

Climb in the roof for a squiz? Sealing stuff up should be pretty straight forward, depending on what's leaking.

[El Andrew]

Yeah that's a good plan. I shine the torch into the evap vents too and can see insulation wedged into all of them.

[biddie_fiddler]

 We have a 3 bed 2 bath, single story rental with fully ducted reverse cycle A/C. House doesn't have solar.

 

Reverse cycle A/C is expensive to run, just the nature of the system. It uses a lot of power (electricity) to do its job. Much the same as the A/C system in your car. They are power hungry systems but are by far the most efficient systems. 

We try to use it as little as possible, usually on for 2 hours max on the days we use it.

 

Here is a link to some info on power usage of A/C's if it helps.

 

I wish I had more info for you, but sadly I don't have any power logging systems (like solar systems) to give any detailed info. I know for sure that they use way more power than conventional evap A/C units, and conventional gas heaters.

[Mrs Jeturbo]

We have a new style inverter reverse cycle system. Large 4 bed house... it’s going almost 24/7 ..3/4 of the year for the most part.

It’s well oversized for the house due to aaron being a Pom and hating the heat... but it never works hard as we put so much investment into insulation. even on multiple days over 40 it’s ticking along like it’s not even working. 

Insulation has a huge amount to do with the output and usage of the aircon both in summer and winter. Your aircon output, regardless of size or style, will consume heaps of power if you have inadequate insulation due to temp losses.

new reverse cycle inverter AC units are by far the most efficient of all refrigerated AC units, and evap isn’t even an option as we detest the humidity and they’re just crap on Adelaide hot hot days.  

Our power bill is pretty good for what we have... about half the amount of our old house which was smaller with asmaller ducted (Non inverter) aircon system.

Edited 07/07/22 08:42 AM by Mrs Jeturbo

[El Andrew]

Thanks heaps guys.

Yeah ours is a brand new inverter system which was meant to be very efficient. Our ceilings are insulated, as are all of the new ducts. I'm gradually replacing the windows with double glazed, but I imagine that might make a 30% difference, not 300%!

Found some research online comparing household energy use for electric only households. We have gas cooktop and hot water so should be less. Suggested average consumption of 25 kWh during winter in Canberra.

I'll look up in the roof for any leaks and waiting to hear back from the installer.

Our meter reports remotely on an hourly basis so I can see pretty detailed usage data. Usage is almost zero overnight or when we are out so definitely not some other appliance suddenly using excessive electricity.

And no, I don't have any power outlets in my roof space!