E107. Types of heating for your home

Heating your home isn’t just about turning on a switch, it’s about comfort, efficiency, and making choices that suit your lifestyle and budget. In this episode of the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast, Frank and Amelia dive deep into the world of home heating, exploring the wide variety of options available to homeowners in Tasmania and beyond. From traditional wood heaters and pellet systems to reverse cycle, hydronic, and geothermal solutions, they break down how each system works, the costs involved, maintenance requirements, and long-term efficiency.

Frank and Amelia discuss practical considerations like retrofitting older homes, the importance of insulation and thermal performance, and how your choice of heating can impact both your energy bills and the environment. They also highlight the often-overlooked benefits of passive solar design, showing how smart placement of living areas and windows can harness the sun’s energy to naturally warm your home, free of cost and emissions.

Listeners will gain insights into choosing the right heating system for their needs, understanding the balance between upfront investment and long-term returns, and how to optimise comfort for every season of life. Whether you’re building a new home, renovating, or simply curious about making your current space warmer and more sustainable, this episode is packed with expert advice, real-life examples, and tips you won’t want to miss. And be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode, there's a new topic each week!

About us
Prime Design is a building design company locally owned and operated in Tasmania since 2004.  Our goal is to share as much valuable information as possible about the process of building design, extensions, and more. We will talk about a different topic each week. To suggest a topic you would like us to talk about contact us at info@primedesigntas.com.au

Disclaimer
The information provided on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, individual circumstances, or remedy. We strongly suggest you consult a qualified professional before taking any action based on the information provided in this podcast. The views, opinions, and information provided in this podcast are those of the hosts do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer, or company. All content provided on this podcast is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this podcast and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, or damages arising from its use. We reserve the right to change content or delete any information provided on this podcast at any time without prior notice.

Transcript

E107. Types of heating for your home 

[INTRO] (0:08 - 0:43)

Hello and welcome to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast, focused on providing valuable information for anyone looking to undertake a new build or extension project. We'll share our tips, tricks and stories from a building designer's perspective. 

[Amelia]

Hello and welcome to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast. I'm your host Amelia and once again we're joined by Frank Geskus.

[Frank] (0:43 - 0:44)

Afternoon Amelia.

[Amelia] (0:44 - 0:45)

Afternoon.

[Frank] (0:45 - 0:51)

We're back at it again on a miserable winter's day here in Launceston. It is filthy out there.

[Amelia] (0:51 - 0:56)

It's pretty gross outside but we're in a lovely heated room.

[Frank] (0:56 - 0:57)

Yes.

[Amelia] (0:57 - 1:00)

Sipping on our glass of Tasmanian wine.

[Frank] (1:00 - 1:08)

Yes, from our friend Russell and Suitor Vineyard. Thank you very much for the Pinot Noir.

[Amelia] (1:09 - 1:13)

Yes, so we might have a rotten day outside but inside it's looking pretty chummy really.

[Frank] (1:14 - 1:15)

Yep, it's pretty good.

[Amelia] (1:15 - 1:16)

Pretty good.

[Frank] (1:16 - 1:21)

So, interesting that you spoke about it's nice and warm and toasty. We're going to talk about heating options.

[Amelia] (1:21 - 1:25)

Yes, and we've got a lovely reverse cycle air conditioner in the room here.

[Frank] (1:25 - 1:34)

Yes, which is as Tasmanians affectionately call heat pumps. 

[Amelia]

Yes. 

[Frank]

Because it gets used for heating a lot more than cooling.

[Amelia] (1:34 - 1:35)

That's right.

[Frank] (1:35 - 2:03)

Let's be fair, these things are amazing. But look, we'll get into that a little bit further. But we're basing a lot of our discussions in Tasmania because we focus a lot more on the heating because of our climate zone here.

And it's good to review what's actually available because some people don't realise some of the newer options out there, even some of the older options that have come back in vogue again because it comes down to the type of heating you like. Some are a lot nicer than others. Some will dry your eyeballs out when you walk past them.

[Amelia] (2:03 - 2:03)

Yes.

[Frank] (2:03 - 2:06)

And others just feel really cosy.

[Amelia] (2:07 - 2:07)

They do.

[Frank] (2:07 - 2:08)

They just feel amazing.

[Amelia] (2:09 - 2:09)

Yes.

[Frank] (2:09 - 2:20)

And it comes down to what your house, how it's built, how old is it, how do you like to live in the house, do you like walking around in your shorts and T-shirt all year, you know?

[Amelia] (2:20 - 2:22)

Are you happy to put a jumper on?

[Frank] (2:23 - 2:26)

Yeah, to reduce the amount of energy that's being used.

[Amelia] (2:27 - 2:27)

Yes.

[Frank] (2:27 - 2:46)

Because it's a big part of it and you've got your energy bills and everyone talks about it's gone up considerably over the last four or five years. Now, we're not going to discuss that because we've got our own opinion on a lot of that. Sorry, a fly just jumped into Amelia's wine glass.

[Amelia] (2:46 - 2:54)

For the second time, I thought I got rid of that damn fly. It's loving the taste of that nice pinot.

[Frank] (2:54 - 2:55)

Oh, man.

[Amelia] (2:58 - 2:58)

Rude.

[Frank] (2:58 - 3:02)

Yeah, it was a bit rude. Now you're throwing my train of thought out.

[Amelia] (3:04 - 3:06)

Right, that's it. That fly's going down.

[Frank] (3:07 - 3:12)

It's gone. What's it doing? It's winter. Get out of here.

[Amelia]

Where were we?

[Frank] (3:13 - 3:39)

Yeah, heating. So, talking about what is most comfortable. Interestingly, we're going to do it from a colder climate perspective, so it is going to look at what's most efficient and useful and what resources are available to run it, which might sound like a weird thing to say because you could be running it either electrically, gas, wood, pellets, ground heat.

You know, there's all these different ways of heating your home.

[Amelia] (3:39 - 3:41)

Yeah, some of those I've never even heard of before.

[Frank] (3:41 - 3:55)

Yeah, so we'll get to those. We've been fortunate to do a couple of these. So, I'll start with the standard, and it's all over the world, reverse cycle systems.

I mean, the level of efficiency out of these are amazing.

[Amelia] (3:55 - 3:57)

They're pretty good, yeah.

[Frank] (3:57 - 3:59)

But the heat isn't the nicest.

[Amelia] (3:59 - 4:05)

I'd have to agree with you there. It's not the same as, you know, sitting in front of a nice wood fire or something like that.

[Frank] (4:05 - 4:41)

No, and we'll talk about that one, that option, because that's still pretty popular, or it's become more popular. Bang for your buck, reverse cycle heat pumps, they are amazing. I cannot believe the efficiencies out of them.

Where I find the efficiencies fall over is around a lot of places in Australia. They go for ducted systems. They lose a fair bit of efficiency, as I understand, where all the ducts run above the insulation, and you've got penetration through the insulation, generally on a single-storey home.

Other places with timber floors, you can run them under the floor, but you lose heat through the ducts because they're generally not insulated. They're just flexi-ducts.

[Amelia] (4:41 - 4:41)

Yeah.

[Frank] (4:42 - 4:53)

So you always want to try and keep your unit inside the insulated box to get the best efficiency out of it. But there's one problem I have with reverse cycle, whether in the ceiling or on the wall.

[Amelia] (4:53 - 4:54)

What's that?

[Frank] (4:54 - 4:57)

They're ugly. Oh, they're so ugly, plastic.

[Amelia] (4:57 - 4:59)

Yeah, I agree. They're not pretty to look at.

[Frank] (5:00 - 5:08)

Why can't they design them to be stylish? I think Fujitsu did some really nice ones, but most of them, they look horrible, and after 10 years, the plastic fades and all that. Yuck.

[Amelia] (5:09 - 5:10)

Yeah, yeah.

[Frank] (5:10 - 5:17)

So I like the ceiling ones. They're a bit better, but they can look a bit grotty once all the air and grease sticks to the fins.

[Amelia] (5:18 - 5:19)

Yes.

[Frank] (5:19 - 5:21)

We've got one of those, and you've got to clean it pretty regularly.

[Amelia] (5:22 - 5:22)

Yes.

[Frank] (5:22 - 5:35)

The floor-mounted ones, our kids like chucking Hot Wheels cars down there and breaking the fins off. Oh, no. You may laugh, but they, look, bang for your buck, they're awesome, easy to install, and you get great results straight away.

[Amelia] (5:35 - 5:37)

Very common here in Tassie.

[Frank] (5:37 - 5:45)

Yep, so is the ducted ones. For an average, say, 200-square-meter home, you're going to be dropping about $15,000 for a fully ducted.

[Amelia] (5:46 - 5:46)

Ooh.

[Frank] (5:47 - 5:48)

But they are pretty cool.

[Amelia] (5:49 - 5:49)

Yeah.

[Frank] (5:49 - 5:58)

Excuse the pun. They work very well, but they do lose the level of efficiency compared to split systems because they're inside the insulated box.

[Amelia] (5:59 - 5:59)

Yes.

[Frank] (6:00 - 6:03)

The other one I want to talk about is under-floor heating.

[Amelia] (6:03 - 6:06)

Oh, this is nice.

[Frank] (6:06 - 6:10)

Oh, yeah. Walking on a warm floor, is there anything better?

[Amelia] (6:11 - 6:13)

Yep. There's nothing much better than that.

[Frank] (6:14 - 6:16)

It's like having a permanent set of Ugg boots on.

[Amelia] (6:16 - 6:17)

Yes.

[Frank] (6:18 - 6:45)

But there's many types, and during the 70s and 80s, they brought electric, and they were put into the slab, and they were stupidly expensive because you had to spend time heating the slab up, and there was no insulation. Highly inefficient. But now there's a lot of other options, hydronic heating systems.

So there are many versions of hydronic, but running hydronic, which is the, I'll just use the term, water running through pipes in your slab.

[Amelia] (6:45 - 6:46)

That warms it up.

[Frank] (6:46 - 6:52)

Then you put a heap of insulation in the slab to keep the heat in the concrete. This is a beautiful heat.

[Amelia] (6:53 - 6:57)

I'd be keen to walk on a slab that's got that underneath.

[Frank] (6:57 - 7:07)

Yeah. I suppose it wouldn't be any different. It's quite common in bathrooms, ensuites to put under tile heating.

[Amelia]

Yeah, exactly. 

[Frank]

Keep your tootsies nice and warm.

[Amelia] (7:07 - 7:07)

Yeah.

[Frank] (7:07 - 7:36)

When you go for a shower. 

[Amelia]

Yes. 

[Frank]

The embedded pipes in concrete slabs, there is a technique how to do this, and you've got to be careful what shovels they use when they pull the concrete and how they pull the concrete so it doesn't shift, or they pierce the pipes.

So I've seen them keep water pressure on the pipes while they're pouring concrete. So if someone nicks it, you'll blow water out or the coolant out, and then they can fix it straight away. It just sucks trying to fix it when it's set.

[Amelia] (7:36 - 7:40)

Oh, it would. That would be expensive to try and rectify.

[Frank] (7:40 - 7:49)

Yeah, we did a house up in Trevallyn, and they put a fully suspended, hydronic, burnished concrete floor over the whole floor.

[Amelia] (7:49 - 7:50)

Oh, wow.

[Frank] (7:50 - 8:15)

It was a thing of beauty, and it worked very well. The only problem was the actual hydronic systems that were let down by a supplier or an installer, and they had to get it all redone again, so it cost them a lot of money. So you've got to find reputable companies with lots and lots of experience to do this hydronic heating.

And there's a couple of ways of running the hot water. Heat pump is one. 

[Amelia]

Yes.

[Frank] 

Heat pump and geothermal.

[Amelia] (8:16 - 8:16)

Mm-hmm.

[Frank] (8:17 - 8:24)

So we'll talk about geothermal a bit later. And wood boiler. So you're running a wood fire, boiling the water.

[Amelia] (8:24 - 8:26)

So it burns all the time? 

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Amelia] (8:27 - 8:35)

Oh. 

[Frank]

It's like a furnace. I've also seen it with the old-school wood ovens. You know those cast-iron ovens they have in the kitchen?

[Amelia] (8:36 - 8:36)

Yes.

[Frank] (8:37 - 8:41)

So they have a water back. They also do the hot water, plus they do hydronic as well.

[Amelia] (8:42 - 8:43)

Yeah, right.

[Frank] (8:43 - 9:11)

Yep, and you can also have backup versions with using a reverse cycle as well. So that is a beautiful heat. Also, hydronic is not just under the slab, even though we've just mentioned the slab.

I've just mentioned it can go into radiators. You would have seen it probably in old-school buildings. You can still get that, and it's beautiful.

So you have radiators everywhere with the water going through. So that is in the slab ones. Then you've got other types of heaters.

So I'm going to go to wood heaters.

[Amelia] (9:12 - 9:14)

Yes, another common one in Tassie.

[Frank] (9:14 - 9:30)

Yeah, and to be fair, if you're familiar with Tasmania, we're in Launceston. About 10 years, 15 years ago, we had a major smog problem, and it was derived from wood heaters, and they had a massive buyback, and it wasn't allowed to put wood heaters in.

[Amelia] (9:30 - 9:30)

Yes.

[Frank] (9:31 - 9:41)

Because you just have wood heaters that used to burn overnight to smoulder and heaps and heaps of smoke. Now the new wood heaters, they don't burn overnight. They burn a lot hotter, and the smoke is greatly reduced.

[Amelia] (9:42 - 9:42)

Yes.

[Frank] (9:43 - 9:52)

So very traditional, and I think all through Australia they're pretty popular, but in a lot of rural areas because there's easy access to timber, you know?

[Amelia] (9:52 - 9:53)

Yeah.

[Frank] (9:53 - 9:59)

And we've got a couple of guys in our office where their husbands love wood cutting.

[Amelia] (10:00 - 10:01)

Oh, yes.

[Frank] (10:01 - 10:12)

You know, and it's just what they like doing. And with the new wood heaters nowadays, they're very efficient. They work well.

You've got an old house, open fireplace. Is there anything better than an open fireplace?

[Amelia] (10:12 - 10:13)

And marshmallows.

[Frank] (10:14 - 10:16)

Fair point. And hot chocolate. 

[Amelia]

Yes.

[Frank]

Or whiskey.

[Amelia] (10:16 - 10:17)

S'mores.

[Frank] (10:17 - 10:23)

Yeah. But I remember growing up with that, and it was just awesome.

[Amelia] (10:23 - 10:23)

Oh, yeah.

[Frank] (10:24 - 10:49)

And as a kid, you always threw stuff in there and some of the dumb stuff you can do with fire. But it's still a great way of doing it. Open fireplaces are pretty low efficiency.

The new ones, much higher efficiencies because of the technology that goes into these wood heaters. Beautiful radiant heat, beautiful ambience. Maintenance is chimney cleaning.

And keeping up your wood supply.

[Amelia] (10:49 - 10:54)

Yeah, exactly. And making sure the birds don't get in.

[Frank] (10:54 - 10:55)

Yeah, it's a winner.

[Amelia] (10:55 - 10:55)

Yeah.

[Frank] (10:55 - 11:20)

Yeah, that is so true. But the flues, the way they're designed now, are much, much better. The other one I'll talk about burning is pellet heaters.

A lot of people may not know about this, but you can buy compressed wood pellets, which is recycled sawdust or biomass, and it's then fed into the fire. These are really efficient. They're talking about 80% to 90% efficient.

[Amelia] (11:20 - 11:22)

Wow, that's pretty high.

[Frank] (11:22 - 11:27)

Where you look at the old, the normal wood heaters.

[Amelia] (11:27 - 11:27)

Yes.

[Frank] (11:28 - 11:48)

And the variability of the timber, how green it is or how dry it is, because that has a big effect on its efficiency. They're about 60%, 70% apparently. But the pellet heaters are really, really efficient and they have automatic feed systems, thermostatic controls, set and forget.

And you just buy a bag of wood pellets and fill it up. It's like filling up your coffee machine.

[Amelia] (11:49 - 11:49)

Easy peasy.

[Frank] (11:50 - 11:53)

Yeah, literally. But you're using recycled sawdust. How good is that?

[Amelia] (11:53 - 11:54)

Yeah, that's really good.

[Frank] (11:55 - 12:10)

Very popular in Europe. I don't know why it's so slow in Tassie in Australia. Why hasn't it been picked up?

Because I think it's a great way of using it, recycling a product. We won't go into portable heaters, because that's a whole range of stuff.

[Amelia] (12:11 - 12:12)

There's a lot to choose from there.

[Frank] (12:13 - 12:28)

Certainly. Another one is radiate heaters. So you've got these ones that look like mirrors.

So they're a mirror in your bathroom. It could be a radiant heater. I've seen artwork put on them in the family room and they heat up parts of the room.

[Amelia] (12:28 - 12:28)

Yeah, right.

[Frank] (12:29 - 12:36)

There was a run for a while where they ran radiant heaters up in your ceiling and it went through the plaster. Yeah, not real efficient.

[Amelia] (12:36 - 12:37)

Yeah, I can't imagine it would be.

[Frank] (12:37 - 12:39)

Yeah, it was a good try.

[Amelia] (12:39 - 12:42)

What about the old heaters that had bricks in them?

[Frank] (12:43 - 12:45)

Oh, because they built up the mass.

[Amelia] (12:45 - 12:46)

Yeah.

[Frank] (12:46 - 12:51)

And they used to run off peak. They used to only run it off peak heating when they had those discounts.

[Amelia] (12:51 - 12:52)

Yes.

[Frank] (12:52 - 12:53)

I remember those. Yeah.

[Amelia] (12:53 - 12:54)

Very old.

[Frank] (12:54 - 12:56)

A lot of schools had them and stuff like that.

[Amelia] (12:56 - 12:56)

Yeah, yeah.

[Frank] (12:56 - 13:00)

And they held the heat in these bricks and they just released like a thermal mass.

[Amelia] (13:00 - 13:02)

Yes, and obviously weighed a ton.

[Frank] (13:02 - 13:03)

Yeah, really.

[Amelia] (13:04 - 13:04)

Yeah.

[Frank] (13:04 - 13:07)

I'm not sure if they're even available anymore.

[Amelia] (13:07 - 13:13)

I don't know. I've been into a couple of older houses that have had them or had them removed. Yeah.

[Frank] (13:13 - 13:15)

All the old oil heaters, like you've still got one.

[Amelia] (13:15 - 13:20)

Yeah, I've still got an old oil heater and I've got to say it's actually quite efficient.

[Frank] (13:20 - 13:21)

Yeah.

[Amelia] (13:21 - 13:22)

Yeah, it's good.

[Frank] (13:22 - 13:24)

It's a bit of a dirty because it's oil.

[Amelia] (13:24 - 13:27)

True. It does have a certain smell when it ignites.

[Frank] (13:27 - 13:29)

Yeah, it's like the old Keros ones.

[Amelia] (13:29 - 13:29)

Yes.

[Frank] (13:30 - 13:38)

So that's an interesting style of heating because a lot of workshops, sorry I'm digressing here, but a lot of workshops run diesel heaters.

[Amelia] (13:38 - 13:38)

Yeah, right.

[Frank] (13:38 - 13:43)

And recycle oil heaters, which they use the oil out of engines.

[Amelia] (13:43 - 13:44)

Oh, okay.

[Frank] (13:44 - 13:48)

So there's a couple of different ones there because you've got caravans that run diesel heaters.

[Amelia] (13:48 - 13:48)

Yes.

[Frank] (13:49 - 13:52)

So I don't know how efficient they are but I don't know if you put them in your house.

[Amelia] (13:53 - 14:03)

I can vouch for them being very efficient. I've stayed in my in-law's caravan a few times and they have a diesel heater and you have to turn it off after a bit. It actually gets a bit too hot.

[Frank] (14:03 - 14:05)

Yeah, there you go. It's not a big space, is it?

[Amelia] (14:05 - 14:09)

No, theirs is probably only 13-foot caravan, so only very small.

[Frank] (14:09 - 14:12)

You could do a few laps and you'd be warm.

[Amelia] (14:12 - 14:13)

That's right, yep.

[Frank] (14:13 - 14:19)

There's also panel heaters on the walls, electric panel heaters. They were a rage for a while but they're not overly efficient.

[Amelia] (14:20 - 14:22)

They're not cheap to run either, I don't think.

[Frank] (14:22 - 14:33)

Yeah, yeah, that's right. And they're not pleasant on the walls either. Doesn't give you nice smooth lines.

I mentioned the radiant panels. The geothermal.

[Amelia] (14:34 - 14:36)

Oh, yes, this is an interesting one.

[Frank] (14:36 - 14:37)

Yeah, it is.

[Amelia] (14:37 - 14:38)

Underground.

[Frank] (14:38 - 15:23)

Yeah, and there's different types of underground too. So there could be geothermal or geo-exchange, ground and water source heat pumps. So it's a heat pump that uses buried ground loops or water bodies, aquifers, as the heat source or heat sink.

So it's extremely efficient, pairs perfectly with hydronic radiators or in-slab or in-screed underfloor heating. And it can also feed ducted fan coils. We did one out of Rosevears, which is in the Tamar Valley. And we remember that one.

That was a closed loop horizontal in slinky trenches. So they had trenches in the paddock and that's what they used for their heat sink.

[Amelia] (15:23 - 15:25)

That blows my mind. That's crazy.

[Frank] (15:25 - 15:25)

Yep.

[Frank] (15:26 - 15:28)

That you can get heating from under the ground.

[Frank] (15:28 - 15:37)

Yep. Well, for those who don't know, Launceston's got a beautiful regional museums here. It's called Inveresk, QVMAG Inveresk.

[Amelia] (15:37 - 15:37)

Yes.

[Frank] (15:38 - 15:39)

That is all geothermal.

[Amelia] (15:39 - 15:40)

Is it really?

[Frank] (15:41 - 15:41)

Yeah, yeah.

[Amelia] (15:41 - 15:42)

Interesting.

[Frank] (15:42 - 15:46)

It was built a couple of decades ago. Yeah, because it's sitting on a swamp.

[Amelia] (15:46 - 15:47)

Yeah, yeah.

[Frank] (15:47 - 16:13)

But if you look for a house, yeah, it could be one to look at. But it comes down to your investment too. So here's the reality check.

It's got probably the highest efficiency, but the highest upfront cost due to drilling, trenching, everything you've got to put in. And there's a lot of works to make it silent as well. And it's available, but you need real specialists doing this stuff.

And are you going to get a return on your investment?

[Amelia] (16:14 - 16:14)

Yes.

[Frank] (16:14 - 16:24)

So I suppose that leads on to your actual investment because you need to make decisions on this because a lot of homes, it's part of the build. They put in a reverse cycle.

[Amelia] (16:24 - 16:33)

Yeah, and that's pretty, I guess, stock standard. If you go to get a project build done or something like that, most of them will have a reverse cycle.

[Frank] (16:33 - 16:39)

Either ducted or ceiling. 

[Amelia]

Yes. 

[Amelia]

Ceiling or wall sets. The ugly ones.

[Amelia] (16:39 - 16:40)

That's right.

[Frank] (16:40 - 17:25)

And there's nothing wrong with those. Bang for your buck. They're very, very good.

But you've got to choose the suitability. If you're doing a brand new house, that's where you look at hydronic, if you're keen on that. And we've done a number of those, and they were done by reverse cycle, providing the heating.

I mentioned before the geothermal. We did that one as well up in Rosevears. Another type of hydronic we did many years ago was out Hillwood Way, which is, again, still in the Tamar Valley, beautiful place in the world, 50-plus acres.

House had full hydronic heating and ran a big furnace in a separate room. 

[Amelia]

Really? 

[Frank]

And he had so much wood around him, it was easy, and it was very efficient.

I remember bumping into him many, many years ago. His biggest regret was selling that house because of the heating.

[Amelia] (17:25 - 17:30)

Really? 

[Frank]

Yeah. 

[Amelia]

That's interesting that that was his, you know, priority out of a lot of things.

[Frank] (17:30 - 17:51)

Well, it was a bit unique. When he came to us to get the house designed, it was nothing out of this world, but he said, oh, I want to have a go at this. Yep, did it, worked amazing, and his biggest regret was actually moving out and building something else was a piece of crap in comparison.

And then during summer, he ran it in reverse, so then not running the furnace, running the cold water through the slab.

[Amelia] (17:52 - 17:53)

Interesting. Yeah, right.

[Frank] (17:53 - 18:20)

Because the slab will absorb heat, even, you know, with... Because we did passive solar design on it as well. It absorbed heat into the slab.

A little bit more during the autumn and spring, and then you could just reverse the water through it. So that was interesting. So a wonderful heat, but there's a fair bit of expense.

So there's multiple ways of doing it. There are quite a few renewable systems out there as well. They are very complex, and the problem is you need people to look after and service them.

[Amelia] (18:21 - 18:22)

That's a good point.

[Frank] (18:22 - 18:54)

So if you can't have it serviceable, it doesn't mean it's going to work, but if you stick with something reliable, anyone can fix a reverse cycle. So if you're heating something with a reverse cycle, it could be even your hot water cylinder. 

[Amelia]

Yes.

But just for your main heating, virtually anyone can fix it, and you can just replace the unit, put another one in. The problem is the gas and all that. And also you've got to consider how it's installed.

If you're retrofitting, I know of a house that we did, and they retrofitted hydronic radiators all the way through, a lot of work, timber floors, but they ended up putting a lot more insulation in it and made it a lot more efficient.

[Amelia] (18:54 - 18:55)

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Frank] (18:55 - 19:09)

So it was a big renovation. So you've got to consider the suitability, the sustainability. I mean, how long would this system run without a problem?

On average, what are you going to get between 15, maybe 20 years at a reverse cycle?

[Amelia] (19:09 - 19:10)

You would hope so.

[Frank] (19:11 - 19:36)

Yeah. So you've got to take that into account. Wood heaters, I don't know about the fireboxes nowadays, but they should be able to get 15 years out of 10 to 15.

The pellet heaters, I'm not sure how long they last, but I would have thought 15, 20 years as well. So it's looking at these things and how easy it is to run. What type of heat do you like?

If you had your way, I'd have floor heating every day of the week.

[Amelia] (19:36 - 19:38)

Yeah, yeah, that is a nice heat.

[Frank] (19:38 - 19:47)

Yep, and then you've got to look at the efficiency of how many dolls it costs to run, but that may also be dictated by the thermal performance of your house.

[Amelia] (19:47 - 19:48)

Yes.

[Frank] (19:48 - 19:56)

You know, the windows, the walls, floors, ceiling, if it's leaky, loosey-goosey, you're going to spend a lot more money heating it.

[Amelia] (19:57 - 19:58)

Yeah, that's very true.

[Frank] (19:58 - 20:14)

Yeah, so then you've got to think of your environmental impact as well, of how much power you're going to use, how much wood you're going to use, how much pellets you're going to use, or you go geothermal, which is even crazier. What is your position on the impact you want to make on the earth?

[Amelia] (20:14 - 20:15)

Exactly.

[Frank] (20:15 - 20:22)

And you've also got to consider healthy options. The beauty with the underfloor with hydronic, it's just heating through the slab, there's no emissions, there's no nothing.

[Amelia] (20:23 - 20:23)

Yes.

[Frank] (20:24 - 20:28)

Reverse cycle, you've got to clean out the filters all the time.

[Amelia] (20:28 - 20:28)

That's right.

[Frank] (20:29 - 20:32)

And if you didn't know that, please go check your filters.

[Amelia] (20:33 - 20:33)

Oh, yes.

[Frank] (20:33 - 20:34)

It's disgusting.

[Amelia] (20:34 - 20:36)

Yes. Go vacuum them.

[Frank] (20:36 - 20:39)

Yeah, clean them out, pull them out, or get a professional in, that will do it.

[Amelia] (20:39 - 20:40)

Yep.

[Frank] (20:41 - 20:59)

But that's part of your home maintenance. So when you're considering heating, you may want to consider, do I want to invest in more insulation or have put insulation in, depending on the age of the home? Do I want to replace my windows to get more thermal efficiency, to reduce the energy it's going to take to heat my house?

[Amelia] (21:00 - 21:09)

Yeah, there's lots of approaches to heating, isn't there? It's not just putting in a new system, it's all the things in and around your house that affect it.

[Frank] (21:09 - 21:22)

Well, exactly. So for Agatha's sake, you've always had a wood heater and now want to put in a reverse cycle or whatever it may be. You might find you may not have enough power, enough juice coming into the house and you have to do upgrades of your main, upgrades of your switchboard.

[Amelia] (21:23 - 21:24)

That's not cheap.

[Frank] (21:24 - 21:28)

Ouch. But it may offset the cost.

[Amelia] (21:28 - 21:30)

Yes, that's right. You've got to weigh it all up.

[Frank] (21:31 - 21:40)

Yeah, and that's like, don't take all this for granted. The other thing that will help if you're going electric, that you go put solar panels on.

[Amelia] (21:40 - 21:41)

Yeah, that's another good option.

[Frank] (21:42 - 21:47)

That can help offset the cost of running it and your hot water service.

[Amelia] (21:47 - 21:48)

Yes.

[Frank] (21:48 - 22:03)

Because that's one of your other big areas where a lot of energy goes into. So solar panels are going to help, but they only have a finite life between, as I understand it, 20 to 25 years. 

[Amelia]

Yes.

[Frank]

And then start again. A lot of this stuff doesn't last very long, does it?

[Amelia] (22:03 - 22:05)

No, that's right.

[Frank] (22:05 - 22:07)

Yes, which isn't really sustainable.

[Amelia] (22:08 - 22:09)

Not really, no.

[Frank] (22:09 - 22:18)

You know, because we all talk about sustainability and all that, but I really, it's stuff, like some of the stuff I'm saying here only lasts 15 years or 25 years.

[Amelia] (22:18 - 22:24)

Well, I guess anything that's sort of mechanical 

[Frank] (22:24 - 22:27)

or even heat, hot, cold, hot, cold. Look at a wood firebox. The amount of heat when they glow red.

[Amelia] (22:28 - 22:31)

Yeah, there's a lot of, yeah, a lot of heat that goes through that.

[Frank] (22:32 - 22:49)

And they're going to deteriorate over a period of time. So there's all these different ideas and it's just doing the research. The way I look at it, what is the comfort level you want thermally?

Because blokes and ladies and anyone else have all got different thermal comforts.

[Amelia] (22:49 - 22:50)

Yes.

[Frank] (22:51 - 23:07)

So how do you want to live in there? Do you put an extra jumper on? Or do I, hey, shorts and T-shirts?

Or if you've got young kids, you know, keep it a little bit warmer. You've got babies, you want to keep it warmer. All this type of stuff.

It depends on what part of your life. When you get older, you feel the cold a lot more.

[Amelia] (23:07 - 23:08)

Yes.

[Frank] (23:08 - 23:13)

So then you need to design that well. But I still believe one great source of heat.

[Amelia] (23:13 - 23:14)

Is the sun.

[Frank] (23:14 - 23:16)

It's the sun, it's free.

[Amelia] (23:16 - 23:25)

Yeah, especially if you're going through a new extension or a new build, you'd be silly not to take advantage of that.

[Frank] (23:25 - 23:35)

I'd be very, very surprised if there are any designers or architects out there that do not consider getting solar gain into their house. It's free.

[Amelia] (23:35 - 23:37)

It's free, it's a no brainer.

[Frank] (23:37 - 23:50)

You know, and you can go, even the most basic form, you're going to get free heat into the main living areas. You've got to get the living areas because it's where you live. Keep it nice and warm and toasty as a minimum and it doesn't take much to heat that up to the next level.

[Amelia] (23:50 - 23:50)

Yes.

[Frank] (23:51 - 23:54)

So, I'm sorry, sometimes we've got a view that faces south and west.

[Amelia] (23:54 - 23:55)

Yes.

[Frank] (23:55 - 24:08)

And in Tasmania, we've got beautiful central highlands and you've got certain towns out near there and you want to face south to look at the mountains. Yeah, that makes it really tough for a designer to try and get, you know...

[Amelia] (24:08 - 24:08)

Passive solar gains.

[Frank] (24:09 - 24:13)

Passive solar. Yeah, you know, it's really, really tough. But it's your freebie.

[Amelia] (24:13 - 24:14)

Yeah, yeah.

[Frank] (24:14 - 24:22)

And then I'm utterly amazed where, you know, because I've done so many houses where we've done that and we've had comments come back, I can't believe how warm this is.

[Amelia] (24:22 - 24:23)

That's great.

[Frank] (24:23 - 24:46)

You can barely turn the heater on, you know. The southern side of the house is always a challenge, you know, and that's always going to be the case, but that's where you want to put your utility rooms. So, we're getting into passive solar design principles here, and there's books and books and books and all this stuff.

And simple principles can make all the difference to your house and hopefully someone does a build next to you that overshadows and ruins it for you.

[Amelia] (24:47 - 24:47)

Yeah, exactly.

[Frank] (24:48 - 24:50)

So, that is the best heat you can get.

[Amelia] (24:51 - 24:52)

100%.

[Frank] (24:52 - 24:52)

Yeah.

[Amelia] (24:53 - 24:54)

Are they the take-homes?

[Frank] (24:54 - 24:55)

Yep.

[Amelia] (24:56 - 25:00)

Well, we might wrap it up there, folks. Thanks for listening to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast.

[Frank] (25:01 - 25:01)

Catch ya’s later.

[OUTRO] (25:11 - 25:14)

You're listening to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast.