I wanna go home

[ramot]

In all honesty I am not really looking forward to the extreme heat and humidity of the Brisbane summer when I live there and don't really know what it will be like to deal with it, but I hate the cold and damp prevalent in the UK for much of the year so it will be a trade-off, essentially. I may actually find it ok but if not I will just enjoy the other 9 months of the year where temperatures will be more temperate.

 

well it's absolutely fantastic now, 25/28 in the day, low humidity, cold at night on the Sunshine Coast.

Get reverse cycle air con and you should cope fine.

[bristolman]

In all honesty I am not really looking forward to the extreme heat and humidity of the Brisbane summer when I live there and don't really know what it will be like to deal with it, but I hate the cold and damp prevalent in the UK for much of the year so it will be a trade-off, essentially. I may actually find it ok but if not I will just enjoy the other 9 months of the year where temperatures will be more temperate.

 

I have never understood the view that is cold and damp for much of the year as we certainly aren't seeing that BUT are from Melbourne so it is probably an improvement lol

[Gbye grey sky]

well it's absolutely fantastic now, 25/28 in the day, low humidity, cold at night on the Sunshine Coast.

Get reverse cycle air con and you should cope fine.

 

Sounds perfect to me. Weather has been very good here lately too. Mainly sunny but in the mid to high teens celcius so a bit cool for my personal liking - bit like mid-winter in Brisbane.

 

Is that better or worse than ducted air con do you know? I may look for a thread on this subject as I see houses with one or the other on the internet and I am curious which is the most effective, practical or costly to run.

[Gbye grey sky]

I have never understood the view that is cold and damp for much of the year as we certainly aren't seeing that BUT are from Melbourne so it is probably an improvement lol

 

It is subjective because it depends how you measure cold really. I see people wearing shorts here in January so we are all different. Anything below 20C I find cold (but that is my age I think).

 

The prevailing weather direction in the UK is westerly air flow. That is the Atlantic Ocean which is a moist air-flow. When the air is coming from the north or east then it is generally dry (but much of the year that means colder).

[Perthbum]

It is subjective because it depends how you measure cold really. I see people wearing shorts here in January so we are all different. Anything below 20C I find cold (but that is my age I think).

 

The prevailing weather direction in the UK is westerly air flow. That is the Atlantic Ocean which is a moist air-flow. When the air is coming from the north or east then it is generally dry (but much of the year that means colder).

 

In Oz it is cold...in the UK it feels warm, its the different locations and climates that makes 20 degrees feel different in different countries.

[JockinTas]

It was 20C here today and it was warm.

[bristolman]

It is subjective because it depends how you measure cold really. I see people wearing shorts here in January so we are all different. Anything below 20C I find cold (but that is my age I think).

 

The prevailing weather direction in the UK is westerly air flow. That is the Atlantic Ocean which is a moist air-flow. When the air is coming from the north or east then it is generally dry (but much of the year that means colder).

 

Absolutely. I'm not bothered by heat or cold, I probably prefer a cheerful clairvoyant, anything from 20 to 30 is fine.

[ramot]

Sounds perfect to me. Weather has been very good here lately too. Mainly sunny but in the mid to high teens celcius so a bit cool for my personal liking - bit like mid-winter in Brisbane.

 

Is that better or worse than ducted air con do you know? I may look for a thread on this subject as I see houses with one or the other on the internet and I am curious which is the most effective, practical or costly to run.

 

Sorry i haven't had ducted, but we like individual air con as we tend to cool/heat individual rooms rather than the whole house.

[BacktoDemocracy]

Sounds perfect to me. Weather has been very good here lately too. Mainly sunny but in the mid to high teens celcius so a bit cool for my personal liking - bit like mid-winter in Brisbane.

 

Is that better or worse than ducted air con do you know? I may look for a thread on this subject as I see houses with one or the other on the internet and I am curious which is the most effective, practical or costly to run.

 

Reverse cycle is ducted ac but with the ability to provide heating in the winter, reduce costs by ensuring unit is big enough to deal with the cubic meterage, also there are more efficient types of unit which minimise power usage, also look closely at controls so that you only use ac in certain rooms, also you might be lucky to get a properly regulated system with thermostats in individual rooms but more usual to have one thermostat for the whole house, so essential to have a zoned system.

Also insulating the roof space helps reduce solar gain, also try to look for projecting eaves as these shade walls and windows, older houses often have verandahs to them but we found these made the houses feel dark and limited your view and actually limited your view of the sky too much, wind out blinds are good but are vulnerable to the sudden storms which come from nowhere on the best of days.

[Guest]

Reverse cycle is ducted ac but with the ability to provide heating in the winter, reduce costs by ensuring unit is big enough to deal with the cubic meterage, also there are more efficient types of unit which minimise power usage, also look closely at controls so that you only use ac in certain rooms, also you might be lucky to get a properly regulated system with thermostats in individual rooms but more usual to have one thermostat for the whole house, so essential to have a zoned system.

Also insulating the roof space helps reduce solar gain, also try to look for projecting eaves as these shade walls and windows, older houses often have verandahs to them but we found these made the houses feel dark and limited your view and actually limited your view of the sky too much, wind out blinds are good but are vulnerable to the sudden storms which come from nowhere on the best of days.

 

Reverse cycle can be ducted but isn't necessarily, you can have standalone units that you can move about or wall-mounted individual units.

 

The other main type of air con is evaporative - this also can be ducted or stand alone units, mostly ducted though. This is much much cheaper to run, about a 10th of the cost but it cools only so you may need separate heating depending where in Australia you are. Evaporative works best when there is a breeze and when it is not humid so not surprisingly it is popular in Perth.

 

Definitely look for a house with 'solar passive' qualities - we lived in a number of difference houses and it makes a huge difference. We had some houses where it was colder inside than out! In another we had a bathroom that was almost unusable but to the heat - luckily we had an en-suite too!!

[Chortlepuss]

In Oz it is cold...in the UK it feels warm, its the different locations and climates that makes 20 degrees feel different in different countries.

 

When I went back to SE UK for 5 months 2 years ago I had a bit of cold when I arrived (April) but from May to Sept it was pretty dry and warm with rain disrupting activity on a couple of days. Sure it was a great summer, but prior to coming back to Oz I was desperate for some chilly Autumnal weather but it never really came. Brisbane in the winter can be gorgeous but feels very cold - the houses are poorly insulated and there is no sensible heating (reverse aircon sucks). Plus we've turned into wimps.

[BacktoDemocracy]

When I went back to SE UK for 5 months 2 years ago I had a bit of cold when I arrived (April) but from May to Sept it was pretty dry and warm with rain disrupting activity on a couple of days. Sure it was a great summer, but prior to coming back to Oz I was desperate for some chilly Autumnal weather but it never really came. Brisbane in the winter can be gorgeous but feels very cold - the houses are poorly insulated and there is no sensible heating (reverse aircon sucks). Plus we've turned into wimps.

 

I agree we had a small wood burner for the winter and we were only 25k outside the city at Samford on a very maintenance intensive 1.5 acres.Although our reverse cycle did work but that was probably because i had insulation in the walls and roof when i had it built.