They and children Lillian, Ben and Louise Haddow are loving the feel of their new Champion Ena pellet fire.
Instead of the house turning ‘‘into a fridge overnight’’ the family are safe and snug with heat radiating throughout the house.
With the children at home during the school holidays and Mr Garrick off work due to a back injury, it had made a huge difference to the family having a warm and welcoming home, he said.
Before winning the competition they had a small ‘‘ancient’’ heat pump that only managed to heat the kitchen, leaving the rest of the place freezing cold, and forcing them to use plug-in heaters.
There had been some big power bills and the family was burning through the money they had saved, Mr Garrick said.
So it was a great day when Otago Pellet Fires came to place the pellet fire at the centre of their home in the hallway.
Installation was easy and simple, ‘‘they did a good job’’.
Pellets were fed into the fire and the fan efficiently pumped heat around the home, using only a small amount of electricity.
‘‘It doesn’t take very much to run at all.’’
When the pellet fire was first installed they placed a thermometer on the wall nearby ‘‘just to see what temperature it got to ’’.
The fire was so warm and cosy ‘‘it broke the thermometer’’, Mr Garrick said.
Mr Garrick said one of the benefits was being able to operate the fire through an app for his phone.
Through this he could schedule start and stop times, set the temperature, and when travelling he could programme the pellet fire to start about an hour beforehand, to ensure the house was comfy and warm when the family returned.
Mr Garrick said the whole family were very grateful to Otago Pellet Fires.
In a word, the new pellet fire was ‘‘brilliant!’’
