Gas Ducted Heater Replacement in Woodend: Gas, Dominator or Reverse Cycle

When a Woodend gas heater is finished

Gas ducted heaters in Woodend do a long, hard winter every year, and they do more of it than heaters anywhere else we work. Most give fifteen to twenty years. The usual end comes when the heat exchanger cracks, when the heater needs a fan motor and a control board in the same winter, or when it becomes the thing you cannot rely on on the coldest night of the year. At that point the decision is not just “which heater” but “which kind of system”, and in Woodend that decision is made by winter.

We service and repair gas heating in Woodend every week, so we usually know the unit by the time replacement comes up. If you are not sure yours is finished, start with the Woodend gas ducted heating service and repair page.

Option one: a new gas ducted heater

A new Brivis or Rinnai gas ducted heater, matched to the home’s heat load and connected to the existing flue, gas supply and ductwork where they are suitable. For a lot of Woodend homes this remains the right answer: it is the quickest and usually the least expensive path, it leaves the evaporative cooler alone, and a correctly sized modern gas heater will keep a period weatherboard warm on a minus four morning without any argument.

We size the new heater on the house, not on the badge of the old one. Heaters were often oversized in the past, and a correctly sized modern unit runs longer, quieter cycles and heats more evenly. We are factory-trained dealers for both Brivis and Rinnai and buy direct from the manufacturers.

Option two: Braemar Dominator direct replacement

The Braemar Dominator is designed by Braemar as a direct replacement for a gas ducted heater mounted outside the house or under the floor: an electric reverse cycle unit that goes in the position the gas heater came out of and connects to the existing ductwork and outlets where they are suitable. It heats and cools through the same vents and is designed to work alongside an existing evaporative cooler.

For Woodend the question is capacity. The Dominator has to be able to carry the house’s winter heat load through the existing outlets, and that is something we confirm at the site visit, in the roof, against the manufacturer’s conditions. Where it can, it is a sensible middle path. Where it cannot, we say so.

Option three: whole-home ducted reverse cycle conversion

Replacing the gas heater with a ducted reverse cycle system that heats and cools the whole house, usually with support from the Victorian Energy Upgrades program. In Woodend this is the option that needs the most care. The system has to be sized for the coldest mornings in the district, and in our experience it almost always needs new ductwork, because the ducts that served a gas heater are frequently too small or too poorly insulated for the airflow a reverse cycle system moves. It is the biggest of the three jobs and, done properly, the one that transforms a house. The Woodend gas to electric page goes through the cold-climate sizing question in detail.

How we help you choose

The site visit is where this gets decided. We inspect the heater, flue and gas supply, get into the roof space to look at the ductwork, return air and outlets, ask how the house is used and which rooms matter, and check whether the household is likely to be eligible under the VEU program. Then we put the realistic options in writing with what each includes, so you can compare them properly. If only one option makes sense for your home, we say so, and in Woodend that is sometimes a new gas heater.

The warranty

Our 9 Year Labour & Workmanship Warranty covers the installation work on every replacement we do. The heater or reverse cycle unit carries the manufacturer’s product warranty, which we manage for you. Existing ductwork and components that are reused are not covered by our warranty, which is why we only reuse what we have inspected and are prepared to stand behind.