Brivis installer, Melbourne’s south-east.

Almost always, yes. The Wombat and Buffalo share their footprint with the older Brivis and Braemar units, so when the ductwork is sound and only the heater has failed we reuse the existing ducts, the controller wiring and the return-air grille and drop a new unit into the same spot. That is what keeps a swap well under the cost of a fresh install, and it is usually done in a day.

Often it can still be fixed. Rinnai keeps Brivis parts for every unit still in the field, discontinued models included, and we carry controllers, ignition units and burners on the truck, so a lot of older units are a one-visit repair rather than a replacement. If it is genuinely past it we will tell you, carbon monoxide test it first for safety, and price the replacement so you decide with numbers in front of you rather than in a cold house in June.

It depends on the unit's age and how hard you run it. If the ducts are sound and the heater is not ancient, a like-for-like Brivis is the least-disruptive and usually cheapest way to be warm again the same day. If the old unit is well past its life and you heat all winter, we put a reverse-cycle ducted price alongside it: not to push you off gas, but so both running costs are in front of you.

Star rating, and therefore the gas bill. The Wombat is a 3-star heater: the right call for a house being sold, rented, or heated a few weeks a year. The Starpro 4/5-star is where the gas bill starts to move for a family running it all winter, and the 6-star Starpro adds a modulating burner that varies its output to match the rooms. Same cupboard footprint across all of them, so the retrofit is the same job whichever you pick.

Not at all. The Buffalo and external Starpro are the weatherproof-cabinet builds for exactly that, common on the older Berwick, Endeavour Hills and Cranbourne weatherboards where the heater has always sat outside. We reuse the existing pad and gas line, so nothing new gets poured.

The Brivis manufacturer warranty covers the unit, and on top of that we carry six years on our own workmanship: the gas line, the ducting connections, the flue and the mounting, the things that are our fault if they go wrong. And every gas heater we install or service gets a carbon monoxide test whether you asked for one or not; it is a safety check, not a sales one.