3 ms·

Every single time I see these articles about efficient heating/cooling technology, it reminds me of just how plainly _dumb_ a lot of the systems we have are. L

Every single time I see these articles about efficient heating/cooling technology, it reminds me of just how plainly _dumb_ a lot of the systems we have are. Loungerooms with no doors, so the split system on the wall has to work 3x as hard to cool half the bloody house. Ducted heating/cooling without any valves, so your choices are either "heat up every room in the house", "get up on a step ladder to close off each vent manually" or "be cold". Cheaping out on insulation to knock a grand or two off of your million dollar new build. Just like in the software world, I suspect we'd be able to make massive efficiency gains just by actually engaging our brains. No special technology required, nor specialist knowledge. Just think about things for two seconds before putting in the semi-permanent installations.

hedora 5y ago
The insulation thing particularly surprised me. We had to repeatedly insist on doubling the material cost to get the next step up for sound and noise insulation. The material costs were rounding error. I can't even remember what the increase was.
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  > We had to repeatedly insist on doubling the material cost to get the next step up for sound and noise insulation. The builders might have been saving you from yourself there, actually. I know at least one "acoustic" insulation product on the market (worked on by my old man before the mass layoffs at CSR/Bradford) isn't actually better at noise reduction than other products (funnily enough, it was measurably worse than some of the other, more expensive batts); just they've specced it as such and advertised it on the packaging.
BizarroLand 5y ago
They make smart dampers that can help close off the heating and cooling to rooms. They're a little pricey but might be worth it if you have a large house or if you care more about energy efficiency than upfront cost. Here's one type: https://www.amazon.com/Zone-Damper-Round-Professional-Grade-Zoning/dp/B01DOB7OIC?tag=smarthome01-20 https://www.amazon.com/Zone-Damper-Round-Professional-Grade-... For total control you would need 1 of those for every vent in the house, plus wiring, installation, and a controller for it all, so it would be a few grand at least, but if you had a few rooms that had issues with hot-spotting or cold-spotting and controlling the temps evenly were difficult, it might be a good option for you. You could also try something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Flair-Compatible-Honeywell-thermostats-Assistant/dp/B07TJD4JGN https://www.amazon.com/Flair-Compatible-Honeywell-thermostat... and the relevant temperature sensing pucks to do the same thing for a few rooms easily.

hedora 5y ago

The insulation thing particularly surprised me. We had to repeatedly insist on doubling the material cost to get the next step up for sound and noise insulation. The material costs were rounding error. I can't even remember what the increase was.

AussieWog93 5y ago
> We had to repeatedly insist on doubling the material cost to get the next step up for sound and noise insulation. The builders might have been saving you from yourself there, actually. I know at least one "acoustic" insulation product on the market (worked on by my old man before the mass layoffs at CSR/Bradford) isn't actually better at noise reduction than other products (funnily enough, it was measurably worse than some of the other, more expensive batts); just they've specced it as such and advertised it on the packaging.

BizarroLand 5y ago

They make smart dampers that can help close off the heating and cooling to rooms. They're a little pricey but might be worth it if you have a large house or if you care more about energy efficiency than upfront cost. Here's one type: https://www.amazon.com/Zone-Damper-Round-Professional-Grade-Zoning/dp/B01DOB7OIC?tag=smarthome01-20 https://www.amazon.com/Zone-Damper-Round-Professional-Grade-... For total control you would need 1 of those for every vent in the house, plus wiring, installation, and a controller for it all, so it would be a few grand at least, but if you had a few rooms that had issues with hot-spotting or cold-spotting and controlling the temps evenly were difficult, it might be a good option for you. You could also try something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Flair-Compatible-Honeywell-thermostats-Assistant/dp/B07TJD4JGN https://www.amazon.com/Flair-Compatible-Honeywell-thermostat... and the relevant temperature sensing pucks to do the same thing for a few rooms easily.