Anyone fitted air con?

[Cousin Jack]

Mrs CJ reckons it's too hot, so at least partial air con is required. Anyone else doe it?

Rang about 5 firms, 3 don't to domestic, waiting for quotes from 2 but fcuk me, they don't give you much info about the size, shapes and general appearance of the indoor stuff. Mostly they say it's about that big, white and that's it. Mrs CJ is not impressed!

Hitachi do at least 2 non-plastic-rectangle units, I am still searching for more.

[gremlin]

Yes. In both master bedrooms. Only in our bedroom it still ain't working.

Can't offer much in the way of advice as our mate Smelly Lee fitted it and I had little input other than saying, 'I don't want to see those fecking 'orrible white boxes hanging off the wall', hence we now have circular vents in the ceiling and a lot less room in the loft.

[Count Steer]

Yes. In both master bedrooms. Only in our bedroom it still ain't working.

Can't offer much in the way of advice as our mate Smelly Lee fitted it and I had little input other than saying, 'I don't want to see those fecking 'orrible white boxes hanging off the wall', hence we now have circular vents in the ceiling and a lot less room in the loft.

So you don't have a big box hanging on the outside wall either? I assume the aircon still vents to outside though?

I've been thinking of adding some aircon in our bedroom - at the moment we just have a large ceiling fan/punkah that was there when we moved in. I thought 'that's getting removed'. Now you'd have to pry it from my cold, dead hands. It's

(On our recent short break the accommodation was on 2 levels with a mezzanine/loft area for the bedroom. Being directly under the roof it got a bit warm up there so the owner (she used to work for the Roux family so breakfasts were ) had installed one of those DeLonghi Pinguino movable units - plumbed into a wall vent. I checked and they're £600+ so should be quite good. Even on 'whisper' mode it was way too loud to be in close proximity if you wanted a decent night's sleep. We ran it during the evening and switched to fan only at night. I made the mistake on night 1 of leaving the window open....and quickly realised why there was a can of mosquito spray downstairs They're going to add mozzy screens to the windows).

[Cousin Jack]

It's the open plan downstairs that overheats, massive solar gain and good insulation. Ceiling vents are a non starter, upstairs is all carpeted and I know there is a least one engineered beam between the floor and ceiling. So wall mounted box it is, but Mrs CJ does not rate white plastic boxes.

[gremlin]

So you don't have a big box hanging on the outside wall either? I assume the aircon still vents to outside though?

They both sit on the flat roof of the garage, doing their venty, cooling thang. Taipan could never move into my house as it's more 'Loft of Plenty insulated ducting and metal aircon parts' (evaporator? I really should know, but that's why I have a Smelly Lee on call). During hot weather spells, it's fucking ace and yes, I know it adds to global warming, but as I lay there in the buff, nice and cool, I do at least think of the polar bears and the ice cap.

In the winter it heats as well, so I assume I must be sucking the global warming out of the air that I put in during summer, right?

[Mussels]

I looked at it but decided the temp wasn't directly the problem, Yorikland is about the same temp as UK summer and he doesn't feel the need for aircon.
I noticed the loft was getting really hot during the day and despite insulation it was making the ceiling warm and heating all the rooms (bungalow) at night. Top avoid putting a hole in the ceiling I put a 6' vent in the loft hatch with a hose to an inline fan so unless it's really hot outside I'm constantly drawing air through the house into the loft. On hotter still air days I suppliment it with a 30" fan blowing out the patio door to create my own breeze.
Then I have a dehumidifier in the bedroom, it warms the room slightly but helps a lot when doors are shut at night. Professional aircon would work better but it's much more expensive and intrusive to install.
I have a portable aircon in my shed/office but it struggles and better ventilation would do just as good a job for less running cost. I have considered an MHRV setup with a cooler added which should do it all for less money but that's not easy to fit in a 2 storey house.
All of these options are noisy and need to run for long periods to be effective, I don't think there's any way round that.

[gremlin]

With the aircon out of commission I found having a cool shower then just flopping onto the bed evaporate the heat worked rather well, plus it was an extra treat of eye-candy for when Mrs. G came up to bed.

Lucky bitch.

[Yorick]

I don't understand how anyone in UK needs aircon
It's been high 30s here for a few days but we've coped.
It drops to low/mid 20s overnight so we open all the doors and windows overnight to let cool air in.
First light we close everything and inside villa is 24 ish. It stays that all day despite silly temps outside.
Etc etc etc

I'm sure the UK has colder nights, so our system will work even better there.

We reverse system in winter.

[MrLongbeard]

I don't understand how anyone in UK needs aircon

We have different building materials, we have different building designs, we have different building regs, we have different seasons, we have a different climate, it's not rocket science, the 2 locations really aren't comparable

[MyLittleStudPony]

The ex bread knife had one of the mobile indoor units which did bring the temperature down significantly. It was a bit of a pain to use but less than £500 to buy IIRC. And you need to use it so rarely the hassle wasn't a disaster compared to that of fitting a permanent system.

I think she has fitted a permanent system in her current place though! Just the upstairs I think.

[Yorick]

I don't understand how anyone in UK needs aircon

We have different building materials, we have different building designs, we have different building regs, we have different seasons, we have a different climate, it's not rocket science, the 2 locations really aren't comparable

Do the windows open to allow cool air to enter overnight?

[Mussels]

I don't understand how anyone in UK needs aircon

We have different building materials, we have different building designs, we have different building regs, we have different seasons, we have a different climate, it's not rocket science, the 2 locations really aren't comparable

Do the windows open to allow cool air to enter overnight?

It's not quite that simple, your villa will probably have bigger openings and I expect you have a reliable cool breeze. I find here that on very still nights with no breeze open windows hardly help at all. At 06:30 I opened the back door and stuck a big fan there blowing air out, I put on the kitchen extractor so cool air is forced in our bedroom window and through the house. Even though the air feels nice and cool it's not going to cool the stuff indoors fast enough before it gets hot outside, it's a vicious circle that means it never cools well in here.
All my fans and occasional dehumidifiers make it much more bearable but they are noisy, a decent aircon system would be quieter and more effective but still not as good as a Spanish villa designed to keep itself cool.

[Mr. Dazzle]

There's been a recent trend on Instagram of people from hot places (typically the southern US or Aus) living in Britain. They all say "I take back, heat hits different in the UK"

Flip side is of course that out homes work much better when it's 4°C and raining - which is rather more common in the UK.

[Count Steer]

There's been a recent trend on Instagram of people from hot places (typically the southern US or Aus) living in Britain. They all say "I take back, heat hits different in the UK"

Flip side is of course that out homes work much better when it's 4°C and raining - which is rather more common in the UK.

Yup, the higher humidity has a significant effect I gather. Dry heat is a different kettle of haddock.

That and we don't paint the outside walls white, tend to have bigger roof spaces with wads of insulation in, have bigger windows, thinner walls (than some traditional places in hot areas etc etc etc. Ours are mainly designed to keep heat IN.

On a hot still night opening windows doesn't really get the heat out of the house.

I am a fan of ceiling fans though.

[Cousin Jack]

Update.

2 firms asked to quote, both turned up and looked at the job, some vague information about what they proposed to do, both went away to prepare a quote.

Neither inspired confidence, neither gave us any solid information on what size/shape units would be needed, and so far neither has given a quote. Two weeks and counting.

I may not be getting air con at all.

[MrLongbeard]

I don't understand how anyone in UK needs aircon

We have different building materials, we have different building designs, we have different building regs, we have different seasons, we have a different climate, it's not rocket science, the 2 locations really aren't comparable

Do the windows open to allow cool air to enter overnight?

Yes, but as has been said it ain't that simple, you're comparing apples to oranges.
You've also got to factor in acclimatisation, for you 25 - 30 + degrees is normal, you've lived with it for years, for us this is only the forth time this year we've had 30+ degrees, if your temps dropped to 10 degrees you'd be huddled up in fleeces and jumpers lighting the fire, me I'd still be in shorts.

[Yorick]

We have different building materials, we have different building designs, we have different building regs, we have different seasons, we have a different climate, it's not rocket science, the 2 locations really aren't comparable

Do the windows open to allow cool air to enter overnight?

Yes, but as has been said it ain't that simple, you're comparing apples to oranges.
You've also got to factor in acclimatisation, for you 25 - 30 + degrees is normal, you've lived with it for years, for us this is only the forth time this year we've had 30+ degrees, if your temps dropped to 10 degrees you'd be huddled up in fleeces and jumpers lighting the fire, me I'd still be in shorts.

10 ????

Fuck that. 20c is cold to us now

Lowest temp while we've been here is 15c

[MrLongbeard]

30 sodding four degrees today
Thankfully I was in the lab, and now we've dropped all our accreditations at this location and don't have to worry about a controlled environment I dropped the aircon to 16 degrees and sat in front of a fan all day



Also finally found out that the cut price tint job I did on my car works wonders for keeping the car not too stonking hot at the end of the day, which is handy when you've got 'leather' seats

[Mr. Dazzle]

Pre climate FTW.

Car was ready and waiting at 18°C when I went out to it this afternoon.

[MrLongbeard]

Yes, I have been loosely toying with the idea of a Polestar2 with such bells n whistle's, but then head wins and car that owes me nothing and is fully paid for with only 20 quid VED gets a stay of execution.