Gas to Electric Heating and Cooling Upgrades in Sunbury

What a real conversion involves in a Sunbury home

Plenty of quotes for a VEU upgrade describe the job as “replace the gas heater with a reverse cycle unit”. In a typical Sunbury home a proper whole-home conversion is a bigger and better job than that. It commonly involves removing the gas ducted heater and decommissioning it as the program requires, often removing the evaporative cooler, installing a completely new ducted reverse cycle system sized for the home, installing new, appropriately designed ductwork, and installing new supply outlets and return air.

The reason is the ductwork. The ducts and outlets that served a gas heater were designed for a gas heater. Reverse cycle heating and cooling moves a larger volume of air at a lower temperature, and a duct system that cannot carry that air will strangle the new equipment. The common problems we find in Sunbury roof spaces are ducts that are too small for the required airflow, insulation that is inadequate for cooling, outlets sized for gas heating, and runs that were squeezed into a tight roof when the house was built. Our guide on reusing gas heating ducts goes into the detail.

New ductwork is not an optional extra on our conversions; it is part of every ducted reverse cycle system we install. Our guide on reusing gas heating ducts explains why.

Designing for Sunbury’s climate

Sunbury is not the Ranges. It sits lower and warmer, so the cooling side of a reverse cycle system gets a genuine workout in January, and the heating side still has to cope with frosty mornings in July. We size the system on the home’s actual heat load, floor area, ceiling heights, orientation, glazing and insulation, so it is sized for both extremes rather than for a Melbourne average. In double storey homes we zone upstairs and downstairs separately, because the top floor holds heat on a summer evening while the living areas downstairs have already cooled.

What we design for

• Heat load. The home’s size, orientation, insulation, glazing and ceiling heights.
• Airflow. Duct sizing, duct insulation, return air sizing and outlet sizing so the system delivers its rated capacity quietly.
• Zoning. Zones around how the household lives, with sensors placed where they read the rooms people use.
• Outdoor unit position. Access, noise, airflow and clearances, with the neighbours in mind, which matters on the closer blocks in the newer estates.
• Condensate and electrical. Drainage that works, and a switchboard and circuit that suit the new load.
• Serviceability. Equipment positioned so it can be maintained in ten years without dismantling the roof.

The systems we install

We install ActronAir and Rinnai ducted reverse cycle systems, for which we are factory-trained dealers who purchase directly from the manufacturers, and we have substantial hands-on experience installing Mitsubishi Electric ducted systems. The right choice depends on the home, the zoning you want and the budget, and we will recommend one rather than list three.

Where a full conversion is not the right answer

Some Sunbury homes are better served by the Braemar Dominator, particularly where the gas heater sits outside or under the floor and the ductwork is sound. Others only want to replace the heater and keep the evaporative cooler, in which case a new gas ducted heater may be the better spend. We install all of them, so the recommendation follows the house.

The program, briefly

The replaced gas heater must be decommissioned so it is permanently unusable and removed, and the work must be documented. Only accredited providers can apply the discount, and only approved equipment qualifies. VEU rebate administration for Macedon Ranges Gas & Air projects is processed under Melbourne Gas & Air, another trading name of the same legal entity; the accreditation details that apply to your job are shown in your written quote. We handle the decommissioning, the documentation and the discount as part of the installation. Eligibility rules and discount amounts change, so we confirm them for your home at quote time rather than publishing a figure here.