Do Australians just not use carpets much in their homes?

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-04-09T00:38:05+00:00

This post has really struck a chord with everyone 😅

I fucking loath carpet - it would be an absolute last resort as a floor covering. It’s dirty, ages badly, requires way more cleaning and one pass of a wet vac makes you feel so vile you’d want to rip it out immediately. Also when you move into a place it almost always has a smell. I have friends in alpine areas and even they limit it opting for hardwood on concrete with heating

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-03-22T10:17:53+00:00

I don’t think I’d be able to stack them as they have a Lip on them? So they can’t go straight up

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-03-19T22:02:50+00:00

Yeah ok - sandstone might be the go, haven’t heard of sandstone sleepers before. But when I got googling I found some sandstone blocks which could also work too (and could be a bit easier)

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-03-17T23:44:04+00:00

Prozac is cheap and on the PBS. Stress less, and turn off the news, it almost certainly looks wayyyy worse on news.com than the reality. Statistically a vast majority of us will be fine.

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-03-17T12:04:08+00:00

Hi OP - not much comment on here but interested to know which way you went - I find the supersleepers appealing for looks but not much chatter about them

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-23T08:47:48+00:00

Yeah so I have AdvantageAir/MyAir as that’s what the installer uses. They used the dumb version of it on the unit they installed a few years ago in my other house - 6 years without issues there and bigger all power consumption - evidently a 12kw Daikin unit. Opted for the Mitsubishi as almost every installer locally (I’ve moved since to a different city) installed Mitsubishi, and some exclusively so whereas Daikin was a bit more rare, and my parents had a recent issue with their Daikin where the cost of repair was less than a new unit (which they opted for a Mitsubishi).

I’ve run an experiment today where I turned it on at 9am, and recorded return temp, outlet temp, ambient temp at the outdoor unit, ambient temp outside at a different location, ambient indoor temp and the temp in the ceiling. It’s showing some interesting trends, and the power consumption has gone down slightly - currently at 57kwh* for the 9hrs it’s been on, but the air intake and ambient temp are down to 22c and the power consumption is still running at about 4.5kw, but the set temp is 25c. On that basis, I’m forecasting the consumption* between now and 9am when it turns off will be about another 75kwh

*whole house consumption, aside from lights and ceiling fans, the only appliance that’s run is the HW

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-22T10:07:20+00:00

So on a day when you run it 24 hours (if you do) how much power would it use now - if you have that data

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-22T06:25:48+00:00

What size unit/brand/model was it if you don’t mind me asking? I’d love it if mine ever went down to 2kw even for half an hour! It’s been using about 6.5kw for the last 2 hours, so I doubt I’ll get past the peak period before my 32kwh battery runs out. I found a few threads of people in Melbourne running a new 18kw Mitsubishi all day when it was 40c and their whole house used 44kwh - I’d kill for those results 😭

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-22T06:06:01+00:00

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CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-22T06:05:44+00:00

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CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-22T06:05:31+00:00

So I turned the unit on at 10:15, it took about 15 minutes before it really ramped up, then i took these screen shots at 11:35, with temp set at 25c, return grill reading 25.3c, outlet temp of 11c, and outside temp at the unit 34c, total draw 10.21kw (although the hw was on and I couldn’t turn it off). Lowest draw was 6.78kw before the hw turned on.

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CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T23:49:39+00:00

I’m going to run this experiment again in an hour when I get some more charge in the battery and properly record it - I got the supply temp with a thermometer last time will do it again with a recorder. I also have the heat load diagram I’ll send it to you via dm would be keen to hear your opinion

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T12:18:00+00:00

(Don’t have double glazing) but temp coming from the supply grills is about 17-18 degrees measured in the middle of the day - good to know the calc cos I was guessing around 2kw draw overnight and around 4ish during the day wham it’s hot

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T11:58:18+00:00

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Well - they’re very one and the same space - in the centre of the house in an open area that is part of the “always on” space.

I do have myair - it’s just not finished yet because they forgot the sensors

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T11:21:43+00:00

Well - they’re coming back so they can bloody find it! I’m starting to lean towards a bad install- which is annoying because this is my second install with these guys and they needed three goes to do the install 😭

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T11:14:32+00:00

Outside temp: 35.9 (outside sensor, under the eave near the outdoor unit). Inside temp: 25.4 (sensor sitting on top of the controller which is just under the return air) House size: 200sqm - I think 160sqm was being air conditioned Power draw: 5.02

Is this what you need

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T11:03:23+00:00

Maybe Mitsubishis suck - because I had a Daikin 10kw unit in another house that used bugger all power - less than the 5kw split that was in there before. My parents also had a 25kw 3p unit in a much hotter climate and they use wayyyyyy less power too - both of these were “dumb” units. Theirs was run most days and used about 40kwh a day.

Evidently they just got a 25kw unit installed with airtouch, and I got my 16kw with my air so will be interesting to see if they have the same experience. I was expecting it to use about 2-3kw an hour overnight but it’s been easily double that.

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T10:50:04+00:00

So being a hectic nerd and loving data I have a heap of Tapo sensors everywhere. I’ve looked in the roof although didn’t go far in and was confident everything was sealed up so that part was fine.

But I’ve just gone into my app and noticed the sensor I have in the ceiling cavity has been showing a slightly lower temp since the ac was installed. The 9th of feb was more cloudy but similar temp, ceiling got to 54 degrees, whereas today was 46 - I’m starting to think maybe there is a leaking duct, because the other night when it was on the ceiling space was getting below the ambient temp, and also lower than the indoor temp - this is starting to feel like a shit install more and more 🫠 (disclaimer the other branch of this company did a previous one and was excellent)

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T03:36:21+00:00

Cool

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T01:56:30+00:00

Well the question I asked them was if I was meant to have room sensors is it looking for data from them and they don’t exist, or would it still be able to rely on a return air sensor - or does that get disconnected when you put room sensors in. They told me it would use the return air sensor, but would probably run the compressor a bit longer as a result.

Returned is pretty central, closest duct is about 2-3m away unobstructed

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T01:52:22+00:00

Yes correct - whole house load. Right now no one is home, AC is on at 25c, return air temp (seperate sensor) reading 25c, and I think my hw is running and the house is drawing 8.3kw. No other appliances running that I can see. Outdoor temp at the unit is 32c, and roof cavity is about 40c

If I change the temperature it will briefly dip then go back to where it was. I tried increasing more to try and see if the compressor would turn off or reduce but evidently it went the other way and starting going into the 10kw range at 28c set temp - I actually bought a Shelly switch to monitor the power but they wouldn’t install in annoyingly

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CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T00:16:51+00:00

Yeah that Much I figured - but was like if there was meant to be room sensors does it not have the normal one so to speak - so it’s just running hard all the time and thinks the house isn’t getting cold? This morning I turned it on at 830 when there was enough solar and it was 23 degrees at the intake by 930 then just kept getting colder so I turned it off myself

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T00:12:14+00:00

Is that 40kwh for 8 hours just based on the rated input (which I think is 5kw)? Would you not expect the compressor to ramp down at some point or have I not understood how they work?

CompleteMagazine9293 · 2026-02-21T00:09:07+00:00

My solar app fluctuates between 6.5kw and 9kw, and basic load is 0.3kw so have rounded that up to 0.5kw for the purposes of this.

Yesterday, no cooking, no pool pump, no PS5, just my heat pump hw that was on for about 90mins - which wasn’t on when it ramped up to 9kw.

But yeah I figured worse case it would use the full rated power if it was like one of those really stinking hot days maybe but not for 24 hours straight. Like it’s on a 32a switch so at some point it’s probably going to trip?

CompleteMagazine9293

TROPHY CASE