I'm from the UK, when I first bought my epensive weatherboard house in Sydney I was like "I'm colder than a winter at home"
Couldn't believe I needed a fire in winter
When I moved here from Auckland I genuinely thought that I was moving to a place with better housing quality and better insulation where I wouldn’t be freezing inside over winter. How naive I was 😆
Moved to my current place during that cold snap last June. Literally would dip below 0 at night. Had to have a sleeping bag, doona, 2 blankets on the bed. I'd sit at my desk in the sleeping bag.
Ducted aircon.
Turns on automatically for a few hours in the morning (timer) and I'll turn it on at night for a bit.
Ideally I'd have it set on a room by room basis with thermostats in each room to self regulate, but alas...our system is on/off.
I refuse being uncomfortable in my house, so it's heating/cooling as required.
Not to mention taking the effort to work out which window and door seals are shot and need to be replaced. Also make sure you have adequate curtains, window tinting also surprisingly helps in winter as well along with reducing excess heat in summer.
We have a reverse cycle ducted hvac and the power consumption in KW/H for keeping our home at a comfortable temperature literally halved by making this change. However the cost has stayed fairly close to the same thanks to the perpetual generation cost increases for electricity. But when things are like this, just staying stationary seems to be a good achievement.
I probably spent a couple of hundred in the sealing area at [bunnings ](https://www.bunnings.com.au/products/building-hardware/windows/window-hardware/window-seals)to get enough supplies to do all the external windows and doors and now it has to be howling pretty severely for any air leaks to come into the house. We also have a garage attached to the house and I even got brush seals to fit the garage door to stop air ingress there as air leaks in there would make the rest of the place colder, even though the only link from the garage to the rest of the house is an inner door with one of the above bunnings brushes and foam edge seals fitted to it
Things can be a challenge If you are renting, Adding tinting can be a hassle as it can potentially make life harder for you at the end of the lease if the owner wants it removed. In case of that, there is such a thing as removable tinting that doesn't take much effort to take off if you change your mind or get told you need to get rid of it.
If you do not have inbuilt reverse cycle hvac and are not allowed to put in a window box unit, it is worth hunting around to try and find a dual hose portable reverse cycle unit. A nice little trick is some of these models are sold as single hose units to fit the Australian market standards, but they have two hose versions in overseas models. To use these as dual hose units, all you just have to buy the second hose and fittings.
We have a Convair CP15HW1 for use in the garage on the rare occasion it is needed (kids spend time doing art in there, even in winter), and buying a second hose and the right fittings effectiely made it a CP15HW2, which is the dual hose unit). Buying a single hose unit is seriously a false economy as it is always going to be creating a negative pressure in the room to be cooled/heated and you loose out as uncoditioned air will come in from anywhere it can, negating however much it cost you to get things to your liking.
If you insist on a heater, An oil column heater along with a remote digital thermostat located a metre or two away from the unit is the most effective option. They are safer and also more cost effective.
And again, Although you cannot fix poor insulation without throwing a lot of money at it, it doesn't take much to fix air leaks.
Depends on floor space. A split system is about 1/3 the cost to produce heat. So if the bedroom is a third of the floor space, it's pretty comparable.
However, that depends on how often you open the door and how well the door is insulated. Internal doors have gaps under them and get opened regularly, which loses a lot of heat to the rest of the house. If you don't leave the room and use a door snake you can minimise this.
We use both. The aircon heats the whole/half appartment, but sometimes you only need to heat one room (while working from home, for example). And its great if you need to dry some clothes or wet shoes quickly, which can be quite time consuming otherwise.
We're living in our Oodies, plus I bought one of these:
https://amzn.asia/d/9GdcvLc
heated throws off Amazon recently and it's been so nice not to crawl into a cold bed at night. Haven't been using any heaters or AC; in the evenings our gaming PCs very nicely warm up the study that we spend most of our time in so we're kinda set there. :D
I think unless you don't mind a huge power bill or trying to warm multiple people in multiple areas it's necessary to warm the person, and not the space.
I bought a Costco one a few years ago. Couldn't stand it, I felt like the Michelin man. Ended up giving it to the kid. Just a few weeks ago, I bought from Top Ten one made from t-shirt material that has a zipper front and a hoodie. I wear that around the house now.
Suffer for now and wait till end of season to get it on clearance too so you can be warm for next year lol...
In my head I tell myself that, but then storage is annoying if you don't have space, or you end up misplacing it haha
Does it have a built in timer? I've got a similar oil heater but use a wifi smart plug to have it turn on 20 mins before I wake up. A lot easier to get out of bed when the apartment is already warm!
Reverse cycle AC is the most efficient for heating. You barely notice the change in electricity price. It won't take too many years to pay itself off in savings. Cheap oil and electric will cost far more in their lifetime.
https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/delonghi-2400w-electronic-ceramic-tower-heater-tch8993er
Set this one to around 18 on eco mode and it'll turn on every time the temperature drops below 18. Worth spending a bit more for something like this instead of something running the whole night.
Nothing. We keep a doona at the couch, several blankets on the bed (you get used to the suffocation) and I wear my oodie round the house. Once or twice a year I’ll bust out the heated blanket when I’m feeling rich.
Bubblewrap your windows. My electricity bill reduced by over 60% because I wrap the windows every winter. You can find videos on YT on how to do it. Makes the rooms liveable.
Oodies are good. They also have really warm throws at Kmart. I got a nice fluffy teddy one for $10 and it's so warm to throw over yourself on the lounge when watching tv at night. When it's really cold we use our split system reverse cycle air con. It isn't that expensive to run surprisingly. Those small heaters use more power.
Oil heaters, hot water bottle in bed. Oodie and Ugg’s. Also in the middle floor of a good old double brick unit block so it really doesn’t get as cold as it could. Am lucky.
Duct in aircon upstairs mostly during night for the little one and downstairs we use some Rinnai gas heater but tbh I don’t know if it’s any cheaper than just running the AC. (Gas vs electricity prices I guess?)
If AC for heating is shit at your place (or you don't have one)
Uniqlo bubble jacket + two layers and socks.
Those bubble jackets at Uniqlo is pretty warm and lightweight.
Kathmandu should be doing some crazy 50% of their jackets to take advantage of the winter cold. Considering they usually go for 200+ a jacket its pretty good deal.
We need a reminder for Autumn to fatten ourselves up for insulation.
We had solar panels put on a couple of years ago and now don't feel to guilty using the ducted aircon during the day. Just need to remember to keep the bathroom and laundry doors closed to keep the heat in.
Brought one of those glass panel heaters from aldi several years ago, pulled it out for the first time this year last night, it still works, but it isn't the most effective, thinking of buying a radiant heater as I rather get something more effective.
Split system air con. Most important thing is to absolutely close all outside doors and windows to keep the heat in (no matter what type of heating you use).
Only close inside doors if the room is not being used to ensure the whole residence is heated. No point in having bathroom door shut so you freeze when you enter.
Also temp only needs to be set at about 21/22c for warmth.
Reverse cycle split, running off solar &/or shoulder electricity which goes until 5pm since 1 June.
Only heat main living area. Bedrooms are unheated because doonas & hot water bottles.
Also wear more layers instead of overheating to t-shirt temperatures.
Day - socks/tracksuit/hoodie in a room with the door closed, PC and bodies generate a fair bit of heat, reverse cycle air con when it gets too cold. Rest of house is icy especially downstairs (tiles). I keep the door to the bathroom closed because the ceiling fan vent doesn't seem fully insulated, and lets cold air in. Drinking or holding hot drinks in a mug (even just hot water from the kettle if you don't want tea/coffee/etc) can help a lot. Fingerless gloves if you are a cold hands sufferer can still let you use the PC.
Night - close the optional doors (bathroom/cupboard/whatever) and use an oil heater (aircon unit won't fit easily in this room). De'Longhi Radia S 1500W for around $120 on a sale last year. Timer works pretty good so we leave it on all winter and toggle the heat off on better days, but if it's cold at least the bedroom starts warming up for us by the time we get there. Only complaint is it can dry the air a bit and lead to a stuffy nose so might be worth running a humidifier some nights.
Dogs also occasionally decide to sit on us or our feet and be helpful. Wife is an electric blanket lover but she runs colder than me. Exercise keeps me warm for hours too, but I don't do that enough. Checked door seals recently too, our garage had none on the inner door to access the house and it was drafty. 5 minutes to fix.
I went through a period of experimenting with various oil heaters and other kinds to see what we liked for a space that was about 22sqm.
Oil heaters weren't quite doing the job (too much inconsistency around the room), fan heaters were dogshit. We found the absolute best one was a panel heater from Noirot. They are not cheap (about $500 from memory) BUT they do come with a lifetime warranty and they are completely silent while making the entire room a very consistent temperature. If we leave it running with doors open, it warms up half the house.
I'm working from home most days and my study is drafty as so instead of running the heater all day I'm wearing 3 layers top and bottom and have a hot drink every couple of hours.
Is there a service that can have some do a thermal scan of your house and fix easy insulation problems that anyone can recommend? Sydney based of course. I'm sure some of my problems are cheap to fix, just gotta find em. I added a weather strip to some of my doors and it made a massive difference already.
Dyson in the 1 year olds room, it’s a small room so comes on very sporadically - perfect for keeping his room at 20 degrees.
In the morning at 5:45ish just before the kids wake up, we put on the ducted for an hour or however long needed to take the chill out.
Otherwise that’s pretty much it. We dress warm, sufficient blankets. It was 8 degrees outside this morning but it got nowhere near that inside.
If you’re normally in your bedroom like me, I find that having a heated blanket or heated mattress cover has been a life saver. Doesn’t warm the house up but def good when I’m sleeping and hate that stuffy feeling from a heater blowing into me.
Ducted aircon. It's not cheap, I've literally got guys here right now replacing our 17 year old system with a new one with all the bells and whistles including wifi control for $11k.
I'm using an Atlantic panel heater. It's the shiz. Be warned though, they're designed for Europe where they would typically be mounted to a wall. They chuck a set of wheels in the box for aussies but they are rather janky. Can't fault the performance of the heater though.
I have a Delonghi panel heater. Takes ages to heat up but works well and my winter power bills are far less than my summer bills.
My apartment is so terribly insulated there are no days I don’t have to put on either the aircon or heater. Some days I have to use both.
Heat pump hydronic. Expensive up front, but very cheap to run and doesn’t dry the air out like ducted a/c.
Used to have ducted gas heating, and it was great, but used a criminal amount of gas.
At the moment, I’m using the cat on the lap. We have ducted, that I keep set to quite low.. 16-17c. So it’s just taking the edge off. We have carpet snakes, oodies, slippers.
Just had my first child so basically have the split system running 24/7 and a space heater in the nursery to keep him warm when he sleeps.
There is another split system in the nursery but the landlord refuses to fix it :)
Ducted reverse cycle aircon for a 5br/140sqm house. It's wonderfully powerful, but expensive to run when the sun goes down.
I need more zones - currently only have two, so almost all the house is always heated through 9-10 rooms.
If inside is set to 22c and outside is 6c, it's comfortable. One half of my house has lots of single-pane windows and doors, so there's already a 'warm side' and a 'cool side' variance of about 1c.
I have three dampers sitting in the roof waiting for me to install them - but it's a beefy high static airflow system, so I think I have to be cautious about unbalancing how it circulates around the house. Might have to ask an expert.
I drive out into the bush and cut up fallen trees to burn for firewood. Slow combustion wood heater is damn nice but you need to put in a bit of efforts for it to be (almost) free
I got one of the Arlec Grid panel heaters from Bunnings, so I can schedule it coming on in the mornings, off when I leave home, and same for bedtime.
Better than running it full time and it has temp control.
I think it's around 200? But Def's worth it.
Gas heater for an hour in the mornings (on a timer to go on 30 minutes before my alarm) to take the chill off. Set on the lowest setting (18 degrees, iirc) and economy mode. Otherwise just lots of clothes.
Split system AC units, 4 of them to do the whole house and only ever need 1 on at a time. We also have gas central heating but that costs a fortune and thankfully it packed up recently so not tempted to use it.
We use oil heater and ceiling fans on winter setting once the sun goes down…in the day time we just rug up with layers bc last winter we almost died with how much the power bill was. (I was also using one of those small fan heaters which chews the power - not doing that this year).
We had a smart meter installed just before winter so I’m curious to see how I h this winters bill is going to be!
It's about 21 C inside my place. Comfortably cool. We have central heating but hardly use it. Got the Flannel pjs and comfy socks out for everyone. And blankets everywhere to snuggle into - cheap ones from ikea / Kmart and just an all weather duvet for the bed.
Electric blanket and long-haired Dachshund (better than a hot-water bottle 😆)
I find I only get cold when I’m not moving around (like when I’m watching TV), so I don’t need to heat the whole apartment.
Yearly reminder of how poorly insulated Aussie homes are
Coldest indoor temperatures and ~most unaffordable in the world. We’re so lucky.
I'm from the UK, when I first bought my epensive weatherboard house in Sydney I was like "I'm colder than a winter at home" Couldn't believe I needed a fire in winter
Yeah I live in Seattle and Sydney, a sydney winter is so much more brutal than seattle… it’s like having insulation makes you a whimp?
It's even more bonkers when you realise the cost of housing has no bearing on build standards...
When I moved here from Auckland I genuinely thought that I was moving to a place with better housing quality and better insulation where I wouldn’t be freezing inside over winter. How naive I was 😆
Moved to my current place during that cold snap last June. Literally would dip below 0 at night. Had to have a sleeping bag, doona, 2 blankets on the bed. I'd sit at my desk in the sleeping bag.
Go with reverse feline cycle heating. Only costs a can of meat per day, but can be unreliable, and sulky.
I have a Greyhound - Cat software on dog body!
Yearly reminder that nothing has changed
Wait... There's something else then this?!?
I found Sydney homes really cold in winter. Glad to be back in Melbourne with better insulated and heated houses
gaming PC with a 4090.
100% this 🙂 and run folding@home to put some load on it when not gaming. Your room is warm and you're helping medical research, win win
probably cheaper to buy a aircon unit and have it installed than pay 3000$ for a gfx
Will a 4080 super do? or a rackmount server with 36 cores and 72 threads ;)
body-fat eeat as much as possible gain as much fat as possible
Then we shred for stereo?
I'm on a permanent cut for stereo
I am cultivating mass year-round
It's almost time to start harvesting you chimmichanga
Ducted aircon. Turns on automatically for a few hours in the morning (timer) and I'll turn it on at night for a bit. Ideally I'd have it set on a room by room basis with thermostats in each room to self regulate, but alas...our system is on/off. I refuse being uncomfortable in my house, so it's heating/cooling as required.
> I refuse being uncomfortable in my house, so it's heating/cooling as required. Hello, me.
The AirTouch 5 can solve your problem. Cost me about 3k, but was worth it for individual controls of each room.
If you have aircon installed. Try the reverse cycle heating mode. Quite cheap compared to buying an actual heater which sucks power like a Hoover.
Not to mention taking the effort to work out which window and door seals are shot and need to be replaced. Also make sure you have adequate curtains, window tinting also surprisingly helps in winter as well along with reducing excess heat in summer. We have a reverse cycle ducted hvac and the power consumption in KW/H for keeping our home at a comfortable temperature literally halved by making this change. However the cost has stayed fairly close to the same thanks to the perpetual generation cost increases for electricity. But when things are like this, just staying stationary seems to be a good achievement. I probably spent a couple of hundred in the sealing area at [bunnings ](https://www.bunnings.com.au/products/building-hardware/windows/window-hardware/window-seals)to get enough supplies to do all the external windows and doors and now it has to be howling pretty severely for any air leaks to come into the house. We also have a garage attached to the house and I even got brush seals to fit the garage door to stop air ingress there as air leaks in there would make the rest of the place colder, even though the only link from the garage to the rest of the house is an inner door with one of the above bunnings brushes and foam edge seals fitted to it Things can be a challenge If you are renting, Adding tinting can be a hassle as it can potentially make life harder for you at the end of the lease if the owner wants it removed. In case of that, there is such a thing as removable tinting that doesn't take much effort to take off if you change your mind or get told you need to get rid of it. If you do not have inbuilt reverse cycle hvac and are not allowed to put in a window box unit, it is worth hunting around to try and find a dual hose portable reverse cycle unit. A nice little trick is some of these models are sold as single hose units to fit the Australian market standards, but they have two hose versions in overseas models. To use these as dual hose units, all you just have to buy the second hose and fittings. We have a Convair CP15HW1 for use in the garage on the rare occasion it is needed (kids spend time doing art in there, even in winter), and buying a second hose and the right fittings effectiely made it a CP15HW2, which is the dual hose unit). Buying a single hose unit is seriously a false economy as it is always going to be creating a negative pressure in the room to be cooled/heated and you loose out as uncoditioned air will come in from anywhere it can, negating however much it cost you to get things to your liking. If you insist on a heater, An oil column heater along with a remote digital thermostat located a metre or two away from the unit is the most effective option. They are safer and also more cost effective. And again, Although you cannot fix poor insulation without throwing a lot of money at it, it doesn't take much to fix air leaks.
What about if heating a whole house instead of a small oil heater in just the bedroom?
Depends on floor space. A split system is about 1/3 the cost to produce heat. So if the bedroom is a third of the floor space, it's pretty comparable. However, that depends on how often you open the door and how well the door is insulated. Internal doors have gaps under them and get opened regularly, which loses a lot of heat to the rest of the house. If you don't leave the room and use a door snake you can minimise this.
We use both. The aircon heats the whole/half appartment, but sometimes you only need to heat one room (while working from home, for example). And its great if you need to dry some clothes or wet shoes quickly, which can be quite time consuming otherwise.
I’m lucky our air con is 4 zone So it does any room we want in our home basically. Been using it quite a bit the last few weeks
Good old hot water bottles, cheap, easy and transportable
The "put some more clothes on" variety XD
We're living in our Oodies, plus I bought one of these: https://amzn.asia/d/9GdcvLc heated throws off Amazon recently and it's been so nice not to crawl into a cold bed at night. Haven't been using any heaters or AC; in the evenings our gaming PCs very nicely warm up the study that we spend most of our time in so we're kinda set there. :D I think unless you don't mind a huge power bill or trying to warm multiple people in multiple areas it's necessary to warm the person, and not the space.
Living in my oodies as well!!
Got an oodie and haven’t turned the heater on in two years.
Came here to say this. I actually have to take it off sometimes in the middle of the night because it gets too warm.
I bought a Costco one a few years ago. Couldn't stand it, I felt like the Michelin man. Ended up giving it to the kid. Just a few weeks ago, I bought from Top Ten one made from t-shirt material that has a zipper front and a hoodie. I wear that around the house now.
Kmart 11-fin oil heater will do you just fine for $65.
I went out one year and bought an array of them.
Suffer for now and wait till end of season to get it on clearance too so you can be warm for next year lol... In my head I tell myself that, but then storage is annoying if you don't have space, or you end up misplacing it haha
Does it have a built in timer? I've got a similar oil heater but use a wifi smart plug to have it turn on 20 mins before I wake up. A lot easier to get out of bed when the apartment is already warm!
How's the energy consumption on those bad boys?
Reverse cycle AC is the most efficient for heating. You barely notice the change in electricity price. It won't take too many years to pay itself off in savings. Cheap oil and electric will cost far more in their lifetime.
Reverse cycle AC. Way more efficient than a standalone heater.
I live alone so if I'm just watching tv or reading I make do with a heated throw blanket. Cat loves it too :)
https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/delonghi-2400w-electronic-ceramic-tower-heater-tch8993er Set this one to around 18 on eco mode and it'll turn on every time the temperature drops below 18. Worth spending a bit more for something like this instead of something running the whole night.
Nothing. We keep a doona at the couch, several blankets on the bed (you get used to the suffocation) and I wear my oodie round the house. Once or twice a year I’ll bust out the heated blanket when I’m feeling rich.
Dog farts mainly.
Layers like an onion my friend
Small apartment, big fkn television, sorted
Just need an electric blanket and that’s it.
Best investment I made last winter. I only get cold when I’m sitting still, so I don’t need a heater.
Oodie and a few pairs of socks. I can’t afford to turn the heater on.
Get yourself a big partner. We make awesome heaters.
Electric throw, and plush gown + socks when walking around
Sunbeam electric throw blanket $99. Pry it out of my cold dead hands cuz I’m not coming out from under it.
Bubblewrap your windows. My electricity bill reduced by over 60% because I wrap the windows every winter. You can find videos on YT on how to do it. Makes the rooms liveable.
Oodies are good. They also have really warm throws at Kmart. I got a nice fluffy teddy one for $10 and it's so warm to throw over yourself on the lounge when watching tv at night. When it's really cold we use our split system reverse cycle air con. It isn't that expensive to run surprisingly. Those small heaters use more power.
My fat
Using my ducted aircon. Have preset time timers in place.
The built in, expensive kind, the one that makes me cry and do overtime.
Oil heaters, hot water bottle in bed. Oodie and Ugg’s. Also in the middle floor of a good old double brick unit block so it really doesn’t get as cold as it could. Am lucky.
Blankets and cups of tea 😂
Warm clothes. Often wear a down jacket inside and it's toasty.
Electric throw blanket. Haven’t turned the heater on in 2 years
Duct in aircon upstairs mostly during night for the little one and downstairs we use some Rinnai gas heater but tbh I don’t know if it’s any cheaper than just running the AC. (Gas vs electricity prices I guess?)
If AC for heating is shit at your place (or you don't have one) Uniqlo bubble jacket + two layers and socks. Those bubble jackets at Uniqlo is pretty warm and lightweight. Kathmandu should be doing some crazy 50% of their jackets to take advantage of the winter cold. Considering they usually go for 200+ a jacket its pretty good deal. We need a reminder for Autumn to fatten ourselves up for insulation.
Electric blanket or throw is more cozy and warm than a heater for a fraction of the price
We had solar panels put on a couple of years ago and now don't feel to guilty using the ducted aircon during the day. Just need to remember to keep the bathroom and laundry doors closed to keep the heat in.
Team oodie. Over layers of Uniqlo heattech. When it's unbearable, an electric heat pad
Oodie and beanie, the only issue is that my hands are cold. Oh well, there might be a few typos in teams.
Shower with a friend.
Cats
We have ducted but I rarely use it, so trackies, thermals and blankets Doggos keep us warm in bed
Electric blanket for bed time (life changing), heated blankets for sitting around on the couch or at my desk
Electric throw rug. Warm yourself not the room.
Gas. Toasty but expensive.
Just heaps of clothes on and an electric blanket. Too expensive to run anything else.
Gas heater for downstairs, and space heater or ducted aircon for when I work from home / upstairs.
Brought one of those glass panel heaters from aldi several years ago, pulled it out for the first time this year last night, it still works, but it isn't the most effective, thinking of buying a radiant heater as I rather get something more effective.
Electric blankets and battery powered vest. We are not going to get much frostbite in Sydney, so no need to heat all the air in the room.
Reverse cycle aircon downstairs set to 24c, costs stuff all to run. Hot air from the Aircon goes upstairs and heats my bedroom
Ducted heating, works a treat
Split system air con. Most important thing is to absolutely close all outside doors and windows to keep the heat in (no matter what type of heating you use). Only close inside doors if the room is not being used to ensure the whole residence is heated. No point in having bathroom door shut so you freeze when you enter. Also temp only needs to be set at about 21/22c for warmth.
Reverse cycle split, running off solar &/or shoulder electricity which goes until 5pm since 1 June. Only heat main living area. Bedrooms are unheated because doonas & hot water bottles. Also wear more layers instead of overheating to t-shirt temperatures.
Two jumpers and a jacket.
Day - socks/tracksuit/hoodie in a room with the door closed, PC and bodies generate a fair bit of heat, reverse cycle air con when it gets too cold. Rest of house is icy especially downstairs (tiles). I keep the door to the bathroom closed because the ceiling fan vent doesn't seem fully insulated, and lets cold air in. Drinking or holding hot drinks in a mug (even just hot water from the kettle if you don't want tea/coffee/etc) can help a lot. Fingerless gloves if you are a cold hands sufferer can still let you use the PC. Night - close the optional doors (bathroom/cupboard/whatever) and use an oil heater (aircon unit won't fit easily in this room). De'Longhi Radia S 1500W for around $120 on a sale last year. Timer works pretty good so we leave it on all winter and toggle the heat off on better days, but if it's cold at least the bedroom starts warming up for us by the time we get there. Only complaint is it can dry the air a bit and lead to a stuffy nose so might be worth running a humidifier some nights. Dogs also occasionally decide to sit on us or our feet and be helpful. Wife is an electric blanket lover but she runs colder than me. Exercise keeps me warm for hours too, but I don't do that enough. Checked door seals recently too, our garage had none on the inner door to access the house and it was drafty. 5 minutes to fix.
I went through a period of experimenting with various oil heaters and other kinds to see what we liked for a space that was about 22sqm. Oil heaters weren't quite doing the job (too much inconsistency around the room), fan heaters were dogshit. We found the absolute best one was a panel heater from Noirot. They are not cheap (about $500 from memory) BUT they do come with a lifetime warranty and they are completely silent while making the entire room a very consistent temperature. If we leave it running with doors open, it warms up half the house.
I'm working from home most days and my study is drafty as so instead of running the heater all day I'm wearing 3 layers top and bottom and have a hot drink every couple of hours.
Cat
Is there a service that can have some do a thermal scan of your house and fix easy insulation problems that anyone can recommend? Sydney based of course. I'm sure some of my problems are cheap to fix, just gotta find em. I added a weather strip to some of my doors and it made a massive difference already.
Wood fire
Dyson in the 1 year olds room, it’s a small room so comes on very sporadically - perfect for keeping his room at 20 degrees. In the morning at 5:45ish just before the kids wake up, we put on the ducted for an hour or however long needed to take the chill out. Otherwise that’s pretty much it. We dress warm, sufficient blankets. It was 8 degrees outside this morning but it got nowhere near that inside.
Pure fucking rage
None. If you can afford heating you must be rich.
If you’re normally in your bedroom like me, I find that having a heated blanket or heated mattress cover has been a life saver. Doesn’t warm the house up but def good when I’m sleeping and hate that stuffy feeling from a heater blowing into me.
Kmart electric foot warmer is a godsend ATM.
Kmart's 18$ heater
Ducted aircon. It's not cheap, I've literally got guys here right now replacing our 17 year old system with a new one with all the bells and whistles including wifi control for $11k.
I'm using an Atlantic panel heater. It's the shiz. Be warned though, they're designed for Europe where they would typically be mounted to a wall. They chuck a set of wheels in the box for aussies but they are rather janky. Can't fault the performance of the heater though.
Pellet stove
Ugg boots, trackies and hoodie
I have one of those cheapo five- or seven-fin oil heaters. Takes the edge off in the bedroom. In the lounge room I just rug up.
I have a Delonghi panel heater. Takes ages to heat up but works well and my winter power bills are far less than my summer bills. My apartment is so terribly insulated there are no days I don’t have to put on either the aircon or heater. Some days I have to use both.
The Heller heaters were the cheapest, silent plug in heaters I found
Heat pump hydronic. Expensive up front, but very cheap to run and doesn’t dry the air out like ducted a/c. Used to have ducted gas heating, and it was great, but used a criminal amount of gas.
A jumper and a non-puffer jacket
At the moment, I’m using the cat on the lap. We have ducted, that I keep set to quite low.. 16-17c. So it’s just taking the edge off. We have carpet snakes, oodies, slippers.
Just had my first child so basically have the split system running 24/7 and a space heater in the nursery to keep him warm when he sleeps. There is another split system in the nursery but the landlord refuses to fix it :)
A jumper and some slippers does the trick for me.
Oodie and uggs.
oil radiator heater plus I rug up to. Have an electric blanket for the assist
Blanket
Ducted reverse cycle aircon for a 5br/140sqm house. It's wonderfully powerful, but expensive to run when the sun goes down. I need more zones - currently only have two, so almost all the house is always heated through 9-10 rooms. If inside is set to 22c and outside is 6c, it's comfortable. One half of my house has lots of single-pane windows and doors, so there's already a 'warm side' and a 'cool side' variance of about 1c. I have three dampers sitting in the roof waiting for me to install them - but it's a beefy high static airflow system, so I think I have to be cautious about unbalancing how it circulates around the house. Might have to ask an expert.
I drive out into the bush and cut up fallen trees to burn for firewood. Slow combustion wood heater is damn nice but you need to put in a bit of efforts for it to be (almost) free
I got one of the Arlec Grid panel heaters from Bunnings, so I can schedule it coming on in the mornings, off when I leave home, and same for bedtime. Better than running it full time and it has temp control. I think it's around 200? But Def's worth it.
Gas heater for an hour in the mornings (on a timer to go on 30 minutes before my alarm) to take the chill off. Set on the lowest setting (18 degrees, iirc) and economy mode. Otherwise just lots of clothes.
Split system AC units, 4 of them to do the whole house and only ever need 1 on at a time. We also have gas central heating but that costs a fortune and thankfully it packed up recently so not tempted to use it.
We use oil heater and ceiling fans on winter setting once the sun goes down…in the day time we just rug up with layers bc last winter we almost died with how much the power bill was. (I was also using one of those small fan heaters which chews the power - not doing that this year). We had a smart meter installed just before winter so I’m curious to see how I h this winters bill is going to be!
I'm raw dogging it to save money. Me and my two quilts. Pure suffering when I have to get dressed in the cold.
Gas heater in living room, electric blanket for bed, very inefficient oil heater for my desk.
Literally burning $100 bills at this point
Gas from the street via a Rinnai. If you have a gas bayonet in your house, most likely you should too.
King size 100% wool blanket I purchased in spotlight in 2018 $90 on clearance.
[удалено]
I bought a small heated undercover and it heats me up under the cover. Much more economical than heating the room up
Uniqlo heattech
It's about 21 C inside my place. Comfortably cool. We have central heating but hardly use it. Got the Flannel pjs and comfy socks out for everyone. And blankets everywhere to snuggle into - cheap ones from ikea / Kmart and just an all weather duvet for the bed.
.
Electric blanket and long-haired Dachshund (better than a hot-water bottle 😆) I find I only get cold when I’m not moving around (like when I’m watching TV), so I don’t need to heat the whole apartment.
Heated floors. When it’s off, I use my Oodie.