Having the right temperature in your home is an important part of being comfortable, at any time of year. In Winter, the World Health Organisation recommends a minimum temperature of 18°C in living areas and 16°C in bedrooms. For the very young and old, the temperature recommended is even higher.
If you need to keep your family warm during the cooler months; it’s important to find the right heating option. Finding the right heating solution means matching a source of heat to the style of your home, your heating requirements and your budget. It’s also important to consider how much work you want to put into heating.
For the elderly or for parents of young children, keeping a home warm is important if you want to keep your family healthy. What you don’t want is to add extra work into your day when you may not have the ability or the time to do more.
Here are a few simple ways that gas central heating, gas heaters, gas fires and heat pumps can take the hard work out of heating your home.
Say goodbye to the physical labour of wood fires
Wood burners and ‘real fires’ have been a favourite in New Zealand homes for a long time. Wood fires generate high levels of dry heat and they’re a traditional way to heat a home. Unfortunately because they require wood to operate, they also need a lot of physical effort to stack wood every season and bring it into the home. That’s not always easy if you’re juggling the demands of small children or you don’t have the physical strength you once had.
Gas Fires are an effective alternative to Wood Burning Fires. Modern gas fires can offer you all the pleasure of a real flame with none of the hard work associated with wood. Gas fires switch on and off at the touch of a button, giving you instant heat and total control of your energy consumption. There are a wide range of both modern and traditional styles of gas fire available so you can find a stylish addition to your home.
Choose heat when you want it, not when you don’t
Wood fires are beautiful to sit beside, but lack the thermostatic control to make sure you don’t overheat your home. Traditionally owners of wood fires complain about one room being too hot while the rest of the home is freezing cold. It’s not uncommon to need extra heaters for bedrooms to ensure young children can sleep comfortably during the day or at night.
Whether you choose a heat pump, central heating or a gas fire: you’re in complete control of the temperature of your home. Being able to switch your heater off when you don’t need it avoids overheating and wasting energy where it’s not needed. That not only adds to your comfort, it also ensures you’re not paying for heat you didn’t need in your home.
The hidden benefits of heating your whole home
The heat output of wood fires is well suited to older New Zealand homes that traditionally lacked insulation and often leaked heat from windows and doors. Modern New Zealand homes are better constructed, better insulated, and require less heat to reach a comfortable room temperature.
If you want to increase the temperature across your whole home a little, Central Heating can be an effective heating solution. Central Heating can run from a range of energy sources, and gives you thermostatic control of the temperature in your home. If you only need to raise the temperature a little to achieve a comfortable level of warmth then that’s exactly what your Central Heating system can efficiently achieve: in every room of your home.
Another excellent heating solution for modern homes is the ducted heat pump. Ducted heat pumps are hidden in the floor or ceiling and allow you to benefit from one central heating source across the whole home. Vents in each room allow warm or cool air to circulate across your home. An added benefit of a ducted heat pump is that as well as enjoying even warm temperatures in every room across the Winter months, you can also benefit from cooler air that helps everyone sleep better even when it’s hot outside in Summer.
The right heating solution for your home
If you or a family member need to heat your home; call East Coast Plumbing and Gas. We have a wide range of heating solutions available and can help you choose the best solution for you.
Our Heating Showroom has a wide range of our Gas Fires, Radiators and Heat Pumps in stock, so you can see exactly what they look like before you install them in your home. Book a free appointment today and our heating consultant can help you to match a smart heating solution to your home and your budget.
East Coast Plumbing and Gas is a preferred supplier of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Sustainable Homes scheme. If you would like to apply for funding to support the cost of your clean heating choice, we can help you understand what’s possible.