this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
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For people like me that don't know Australia:
Question for locals: do you need gas connections?
Side question: do you have fireplaces, gas or otherwise?
Local here. You don't need a gas connection if your house is all electric. A lot of new houses are all electric already, some bigger builders already do all electric.
Some houses have fireplaces both gas or actual fireplaces. I have a gas fireplace but I don't use it as I have solar and electric heating so it's much cheaper than running the gas heater.
I guess you don't have a wok.
You can get a propane burner to use outside that has WAY more BTUs than anything on your cooktop. It's how you're supposed to cook on a wok to get that signature flavor. You can't really do it on an indoor gas range. Also that amount of fumes would be toxic indoors.
I do, I have a gas cooktop. My previous house had induction so using a wok was very different though.
Opinions on this are going to differ a lot.
I really like cooking on gas, but acknowledge it wastes a useful resource, is environmentally bad and potentially harmful to my families health.
It's becoming less common.
My last house, we had an internal combustion (wood) heater as the primary form of heating.
I know several people who have gas powered whole house ducted heating.
Both of these things are becoming prohibitively expensive to run compared to decent reverse cycle (heat pump) split systems.
Like everything, there's more layers than an onion to this.
Older houses had decent insulation as heating and cooling were hard.
Houses built from the 70s on have shit insulation, as running a heater or cooler year round were cheap and easy.
Back in the 00s, the federal government tried to kill 2 bids with one stone here - stimulate the economy whilst improving the insulation of most houses through what became known as the "Pink Bats" program
This itself become massively controversial as the program was rorted to hell, and even some deaths, leading to a royal commision.
The whole "ban new installs of gas" is a bit of a Green initiative, but it's becoming more common across the country, starting with Australian Capital Territory, which banned it in June.
I'm curious about this as well. The climate there can easily support efficient electric heat sources (heat pump) in the cold season. Gas ranges/hobs are nice but induction is pretty good now.
I've just replaced a gas stove with induction. It's far better than the gas stove was and I never want to go back.
Also replaced the gas water heater with a heat pump. The gas bill went way down, and the electricity bill didn't go up.
Is the heat pump system continuous/unlimited, or tank-based? I have enjoyed the luxury of never running out of hot water on gas, but weighed against squandering a finite resource and/or destroying the planet it's hardly a necessity for our two-person household.
As for cooking, I've heard nothing but good things about modern induction setups and a rapidly growing body of research highlighting the toxic byproducts of gas stoves/ovens - even when turned off - due to inevitable leaks from imperfect seals and aging equipment.
The last big argument for gas cooking seems to be wok burners, but I just did a quick google and not only is wok induction a thing now, but it looks sci-fi af so I'm here for it. They're not cheap yet, but I imagine that's only a matter of time as adoption picks up.
The heat pump uses a 315L tank. The heat pump only runs during the day, so we either have enough solar power to run it, or cheaper electricity at that time.
We have run out of hot water a few times, but with even minimal planning it's not really a problem.
We decided to get a split heat pump and tank (rather than an integrated system) as they tend to be quieter and more efficient. It's barely audible when standing next to it, and provides a great place to sit in summer.
Good to know, thanks! Renting atm so we're stuck with whatever we have for now, but I'm keeping a list of nice-to-haves when we eventually buy our own place.
My weed vape uses induction, and it rips very nicely.
I wish I didn't have to rely on gas for heating. I just got a $600 bill for 2 months of ducted heating.
House is a rental, and the air con has no reverse cycle. The ducted heating also recently broke, and being a rental it was just changed over, as the landlord doesn't need to worry about operating costs at all.
I'm in NZ, not Australia, but...
Gas connections are somewhat common, but by no means essential.
As most houses in Aus have Aircon and heading requirements are minimal, fitting reverse cycle (heat pump) units is easy, cheap, and efficient.
Most houses don't use gas for cooking. Using electric/induction is easy.
Water heating is the only real 'killer app' gas has, because most houses don't have the power for electric continuous flow. People will have to spare a little bit more space for a tank.
Heat pumps are great for heating in almost any climate it should be said. It's only in places with extreme cold that a bit more thought and planning is needed.
Depends what you mean by need. I have gas but just for cooking. Otherwise there's just air-conditioning. Definitely more moderate winters than Canada though.
It's also worth noting Victoria has limited amount of gas and is expected to run into shortages due to the limited pipeline capacity and LPG terminals
Since you mention Canada, I'd just like to let you know that in Québec (2nd-most populous province), more than 90% of homes are all-electric. I've never even lived in a house that had a gas connection, and in all my relatives I only know of one who does. And yes, that means we use electricity for heat in our -30°C winters.
It's at the point where if somebody wants a gas range, they have to install a tank outside their home, because the gas network just isn't there. It's much cheaper to cook electric (and almost everybody does). The only common use for gas is for barbecues, and that's almost always using 20-lbs propane tanks.
Natural gas is pretty common to have in homes in Victoria.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/australias-victoria-state-looks-wean-households-off-gas-2022-07-02/#:~:text=The%20state%2C%20where%2080%25%20of,to%20use%20hydrogen%20and%20biomethane.