Tightening the belt with the increase of cost of living hitting bbq

  • Anyone notice how many ads and discounts bbqg has recently?

    Also Bunning replacing all their bbq floor stock with cards showing the items as a cost cutting measure.

    Have people started tightening their belts and stopped buying bbqs?

  • Not sure but I have noticed that the marketplace prices generally have been reducing. Sure you get the odd person trying to get an unreasonable price.

    Enjoy your "Q"
    James

    Primo XL, GMG Davy Crockett, Char-Broil Grill2go, Akorn Jr and Weber Baby Q.

  • There's been a noticeable shift lately not only in the amount of BBQs on the market but also there's better quality BBQs around, even from the Chinese Manufacturers, they don't tend to be rubbish anymore compared to what they used to be, so perhaps, BBQs are lasting longer and so people are replacing them less.

    I truly hope that Bunnings don't totally reduce their Outdoor section as well as BBQs. It's the best I've ever seen them in recent days.

    Even BBQs Galore have really good kit these days. The One near us in Albury is a Company store, not a private franchiser and they have the biggest amount of rubs, sauces that I've ever seen. Lots of American stock too.

      Weber Performer (Sage) Weber Jumbo Joe (Black) Weber Master Touch Plus (Deep Ocean Blue)

  • Weber themselves are discounting their popular Weber Q,

    Maybe it's not just bbqs? I have been noticing things that never used to get discounted like current model iphones being discounted.

    Edited once, last by 12x7 (April 6, 2023 at 9:45 PM).

  • I guess when things are popular, they tend to be over-priced, then a correction occurs when they stop selling in the numbers that they were, mobile phones are a good example of this 12 x 7 but i think that people are also holding onto their phones a lot longer so every time, I phone or a Samsung phone is released, it's premium priced until announcement of next model, maybe like Weber Qs, it's a sign of market saturation and down turning economies, eg looming recession?

    It's not usual that Weber reduces the prices of their products but not rarely, they've reduced the prices of their previous Genesis II models and their Qs but one line was superceded and the other is probably still in high stock mode now that we're coming into Winter. Many things influence even the tightest of Companies.

    Exception of course is food related Companies as we've seen recently, some have risen their prices to recoup costs but many have raised their prices in a way to ramp profits, especially Supermarkets themselves where they've all announced record Profits and then blame inflation....it's a perfect vehicle for them.

      Weber Performer (Sage) Weber Jumbo Joe (Black) Weber Master Touch Plus (Deep Ocean Blue)

  • ‘I’m not giving up the barbeque’: Melbourne aims to be gas free by 2030 (msn.com)

    Well it's going to be interesting in the next 6 and a half years especially if you live in Victoria where the Greens have a strong foothold and are telling Labor how it's going to go. The Greens have a strong foothold in any parts of Melbourne and Victoria in general.

    I don't normally talk anything of politics on forums however Politics are part of everyone's life whether you recognise that or not.

    Victoria's Labor Government along with the greens want ALL Gas appliances scrapped, your heaters, your gas cookers, your BBQs and anything that runs on Natural or LPG and Albo is all for it with his fairytale new power grid run by solar panels and wind farms.

    As I live on the border but in NSW, many gas tradies refuse to place a new gas bayonet output in my house to run an unflued gas heater but they still will in NSW but there's a lot of confusion about this even amongst the trades people. I do agree that unflued appliances can produce toxic emissions in the house but we have a huge area, can open windows if we need to and we make sure our appliances are being checked over every couple of years. People have been using Gas/Kero/electric and other heaters for many decades to keep warm.

    Anyone in Victoria may soon have to turf their Natural Gas log fires and Nat Gas BBQs to the tip if they try and ban Gas in Victoria, I have a friend in Eastern Melbourne that has already chucked their heater, their Gas Cooktop and hot water heater, have put solar panels on her roof to help reduce electricity prices.

    We are replacing our old Gas Furnace wall heater for a 9.5kw recycled air conditioner this Month so unless I buy a Nat Gas BBQ, the only thing powered by gas will be the hot water. I was going to get my thermal Gas wall heater replaced by a brand new one for $2,500 as this one i have now is on its way out, keeps stopping and relighting itself every 5 minutes but we were advised not to do it and a good high powered air conditioner will do a better job. So I guess that all we have to do is replace out HWS to a solar one with a power booster and we'll be sweet and we can cut off our Gas account but I've got a Gas outlet for a Nat Gas BBQ outside....and I really wanted to get one so maybe i'll just have to go LPG instead. A damned pity I'm discouraged to use what I already have available to me.

    Will Natural Gas get too expensive that we'll all have to stop using it anyway due to being uneconomical? What do you guys think?

    Davo

      Weber Performer (Sage) Weber Jumbo Joe (Black) Weber Master Touch Plus (Deep Ocean Blue)

  • We are replacing our old Gas Furnace wall heater for a 9.5kw recycled air conditioner this Month so unless I buy a Nat Gas BBQ, the only thing powered by gas will be the hot water. I was going to get my thermal Gas wall heater replaced by a brand new one for $2,500 as this one i have now is on its way out, keeps stopping and relighting itself every 5 minutes but we were advised not to do it and a good high powered air conditioner will do a better job. So I guess that all we have to do is replace out HWS to a solar one with a power booster and we'll be sweet a

    Some advice mate

    I've lived in a couple of houses with solar hot water + booster. It was fine for evening showers but morning showers required the booster. Depending on your showering habits/preferences, that can mean it's inefficient. In contrast, an electric heat pump hot water system will be cheaper to run than your old gas one and might be a better option - put some thought into the different options and get some advice. It'd be a lot cheaper to install if whatever you buy can sit in the same location.

    The other thing is the reverse cycle AC to replace the wall furnace. When I moved to Canberra, the old Vulcan wall furnace didn't light. I tried to get it serviced but was dicked around so much I got a 13kw ducted AC installed instead - we wanted to before the next summer anyway and it was getting too bloody cold to keep arguing with gas techs over actually turning up to my house when they say they will.

    The AC is fantastic but it's too hot. The lowest it will go it 18C which is fine in the evening but too hot once someone needs to sleep. So we turn it off at 8pm when the kids go to bed and by 10pm I'm freezing my balls off. When choosing a unit, make sure it's suitable. If I could turn it down to maybe 14C heating - just enough to keep the edge off, it'd be a lot more useful.

  • Some advice mate

    I've lived in a couple of houses with solar hot water + booster. It was fine for evening showers but morning showers required the booster. Depending on your showering habits/preferences, that can mean it's inefficient. In contrast, an electric heat pump hot water system will be cheaper to run than your old gas one and might be a better option - put some thought into the different options and get some advice. It'd be a lot cheaper to install if whatever you buy can sit in the same location.

    The other thing is the reverse cycle AC to replace the wall furnace. When I moved to Canberra, the old Vulcan wall furnace didn't light. I tried to get it serviced but was dicked around so much I got a 13kw ducted AC installed instead - we wanted to before the next summer anyway and it was getting too bloody cold to keep arguing with gas techs over actually turning up to my house when they say they will.

    The AC is fantastic but it's too hot. The lowest it will go it 18C which is fine in the evening but too hot once someone needs to sleep. So we turn it off at 8pm when the kids go to bed and by 10pm I'm freezing my balls off. When choosing a unit, make sure it's suitable. If I could turn it down to maybe 14C heating - just enough to keep the edge off, it'd be a lot more useful.

    Yeah Thanks Bduza,

    As for Solar Hot water, when we lived in Mac Flds in Sydney, we had to replace the Solar hot water on the roof because we had to re-roof the house after a huge storm and it already had an old but fragile Solarhart tank and panel combo so we replaced it with an Edwards tank and panel combo and it was really good. It's rare that we (only wife and I ) had morning showers, it's always before we go to bed and I ever needed a shower at 4am when getting ready for work, so it suited us and our power bill was very low. We only found that if it was a rainy or crappy Winter that we'd have to boost it but it got to 40C by itself anyway so only need an extra 30C for the maximum allowable to come through the taps. it was always hot during Summer even at 4am. So I'm very much for Solar hot water. I was told by those in the know that heat pumps weren't real efficient in the colder areas and they are much better for places in Qld. I think if I ditch gas, it'll be for Solar but constant Gas hot water is so good when having a shower but this old system does take a while to send out hot water so I now put the hot water on while undressing and by the time i'm done, it's getting nice and steamy.

    I 've been told that Canberra is a lot colder than Albury due to a higher altitude and it's somewhat in a basin. Goulburn is colder still.

    Yeah our ol Vulcan Thermo wall heater is on it's way out, it'll light up, then stop after 10 minutes then light up again after 5minutes so we're getting a 9.5kw reverse Cycle Split System installed soon, when you mentioned the temp only going down to 18, apparently the Fujitsu will range from 10C and beyond so we should hopefully not experience what you are and because it's not going into the brms, it'll mostly be for our living area of 63sq mtrs. We were also going to put a small 2.5kw unit in the main bedroom but I think we'll just see how it goes before spending extra money. We'll put a reverse ceiling fan in the main brm. Warmth wise, well that's what doonas are for ^^

      Weber Performer (Sage) Weber Jumbo Joe (Black) Weber Master Touch Plus (Deep Ocean Blue)

  • One of my favourite type of winter heaters is the wood heater. My favourite after I have stored the two tonne of wood and forgotten it costed about $1,000 for the decent hardwood.

    One of the looming problems is the lack of electricity due to the increase in demand and reduction of base load and the brown outs and black outs. At least with a wood heater I will be warm and have some light.

  • Yeah it'd be the best and it's really cozy 12 x 7 but at 63, the last thing I wanna do is chop wood, I'd be in bed with a crook back for a fortnight lol.

    I asked a heating place about those wood pellet heaters and the lady there told me that they were a failure so they stopped stocking them, people were not happy with them and I thought that surprising because they are used is much colder climates than Australia.

    I used to love them old Vulcan oil heaters that ran on a solvent type of oil that you can actually run jet engines on. They kept the house nice n cozy is left on low all night but oil just got too expensive, then there's the Gas heater, my parents had an LPG gas heater in the kitchen/dining and you'd be surprised how much that thing warmed up the living areas even with 1 bar out of 3 working, they had 2 tall LPG bottles at the side of the house and they would keep them warm all winter. Admittedly it was only the heater they were serving.

    WE are getting a 9.5kw Fujitsu air rev cycle A/C fitted and see how that handles the cold here, if it's not enough, then we'll look at other alternatives. I think the secret with A/C is leave them on all the time at a comfy temp and it's the most economical way rather than the unit trying to warm the house up from cold all the time. Our House is well insulated in the roof so it should help with heating.

      Weber Performer (Sage) Weber Jumbo Joe (Black) Weber Master Touch Plus (Deep Ocean Blue)

  • Inverter air con works better if you don't have to heat or cool from extremes.

    eg start the air con in the morning instead of turning it on when it in the hot afternoon.

    It makes more sense to do that if you have solar panels. Cool or heat the house using solar electricity.

  • Inverter air con works better if you don't have to heat or cool from extremes.

    eg start the air con in the morning instead of turning it on when it in the hot afternoon.

    It makes more sense to do that if you have solar panels. Cool or heat the house using solar electricity.

    Yeah 12 x 7, we're getting to that, hopefully it'll be the next big project for the new place. One thing i like about this house is that we can completely close the living area which is about 63 sq metres so the heat won't need to go all down the hallway. We really don't need for the heat to go to all the house. Solar is something I've been considering, we have a large roof area and the back part where the lounge/kitchen/living room is faces the North and the biggest area of the roof faces West so great for summer Sun which we get truckloads of.

      Weber Performer (Sage) Weber Jumbo Joe (Black) Weber Master Touch Plus (Deep Ocean Blue)

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