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hey guys,

got the first little debarkle of the new house.

It has an old style wall airconditioner/heater which is stuffed. I have a mate who is a fridgy whos going to have a look at it for me.

The property condition report states its old and if it breaks down it will not be replaced (bullshit to be honest)

now i can get replacements of the same/similar styles from gumtree for about $150, if the owners tell me to get stuffed with them replacing the wall airconditioner im going to ask them if i can buy a replacement and get it fitted, for $150 i dont really care as i can get it fitted for free.

If they say no to me replacing it my only other option will be a portable ELECTRIC system.

Does anyone have any experiece with them, power consumption wise and how well they heat/cool down an area.

The house is pretty cold and the main living room is tiled. Im in the process of finding a nice big shaggy rug to warm up the room abit, it already has thick curtains fitted.

Gas is also probably out of the option, if the owners wont replace the old airconditioner i doubt theyll fork out for gas to be connected.

What options do i have? Or should i just go out and buy a 50inch plasma as they seem to radiate a serious amount of heat haha.

cheers

alex

Window shakers arent bad, (apart from being noisy) and are much more efficient than the equivalent kw radiant heater

A 10A 2400w radiant heater produces 2400w of heat (roughly)
A 10A 2400w reverse cycle air con can produce close to 6000w of heat (roughly)

Yeah if you cannot get the installed one to work, pick up a 2nd hand unit and plug it in. Try to make sure it is the same physical size so you dont have to do any structural work to the building.

The one that is installed, does it have a 10A or 15A plug on it? If the current one has a 10A plug, the replacement will also HAVE to have a 10A plug

okay thanks, how do i check the plug amperage? Im a total noob with home electrical haha.

alex

Usually those type of units are just sitting in a hole in the wall or a window, just held in with a couple of screws or sometimes not really held down at all. Replacement should be as simple as yanking the old one out and bunging a new one in and plugging in the wall socket.
Yeah some of them (like my parents' old one) need a 15amp socket, the one with the slightly larger earth pin like some welders also need.

My brother uses a new portable plug-in one for his master bedroom and rekons it works fantastic. Power consumption is much lower than an older style unit but still fairly high.

One of my mates was renting and wanted airconditioning. He got a wall/window mounted unit from an electric store new, made a board to mount it to then shoved it in an open window that was secured with a bar so it couldn't be opened from the outside. It locked in well, was removable and did the job he wanted.

This could work for you as well if you think about the approach If you start seeing L's you've tried too hard

Cheers

Bennie

alrite thanks guys, im going to investigate the hole and how its mounted this weekend. We need some form of heating in the house asap haha!

alex

There is some ripper little ceramic heaters around, and the less you pay for them the more you have to pay for electricity bills when they arrive. Go for expensive electric heaters and you have no money left to pay bills. I like the idea of nobo and another brand that are silent and have ten and lifetime warranty but are about a years rego to buy.

Now you are in as a tenant, google the landlords woes of gettin you out!!