One thing leads to another....

I woke up this morning and one of the first things I was thinking of was the canaries. Their cage needs cleaning and that means replacing the paper in the bottom
That means we will need to use the Chronicle that gets delivered to the house, free.
Well before I could use that, I needed to extract the adds for concretors from the classifieds. I need those names and numbers so that I can get some one to lay the base to the pergola.
While wading through the paper I saw an add for split air conditioners.

Interesting.

It had a list of prices for the various sizes. Well of course I don't know how big  so I have to become an instant expert. Three cheers for the Internet.
An hour later I know that once I know the square metres, I need to multiply that by 0.125 and that is how many kilowatts it needs to be.
So if I am to cool my lounge and family room, I need about 6.3Kw.

While Kate is at her flute lesson I dive into the shop running the special and find out more:
I am told that this sort of electric heating is more economical than my ducted gas will be. He also mentioned that my current electric slab heating is about 4 times more expensive. Ouch!

So I got thinking some more.

One of my concerns with the house is that there is no zoning. My bedroom is going to be way too hot if it is the same temperature as the lounge. So here is the solution! Set the gas central heating to take the chill off the house and use the electric heaters to make the living areas warm.

Plus there is the lovely idea of a cooler summer!

 So then what price?

Well I had the price from the place I visited which was fully installed. I then rang a retailer and asked about their prices and the cost of installation. I was given the name of some one who could install it.

I have rung him and he has been terribly helpful. He has given me a bit of a guide on which brands are to be trusted as well as some thoughts on size and installation location.

He has asked me to send him my plans and he will let me know how much installation will cost.

Then I was back on line looking at prices:

Best two options:

 1.
http://appliancecentral.com.au/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=94

That's a Fujitsu, 7 kw and $1599

2.
Harvey Norman have offered me a Panasonic, 5.8Kw for $1300 which is a very good price as well.

So I have the choice between two very good prices. One will be cheaper. The other will be more effective. Especially if we want to leave the doors open and entice icy tendrils to wander through the house!
Guess which way I am leaning?