Eh? That is massive for a bedroom, it's basically the size of a typical 1 bedroom flat!
Should more homes have air conditioning these days?
- Thread starter Pawnless Endgame
- Start date
Eh? That is massive for a bedroom, it's basically the size of a typical 1 bedroom flat!
Soldato
I'm the kind of person that needs air conditioning built into my house/flat. People say they use theirs for two weeks of the year, I've still been using mine this week.
'Normal' conditions, not so much, but if I start gaming on my PC, that starts heating my room up, or the lamps for recording videos will do the same.
'Normal' conditions, not so much, but if I start gaming on my PC, that starts heating my room up, or the lamps for recording videos will do the same.
Soldato
Can you quantify 'a lot'? Our monthly bill for gas and elec is £105 (couldn't be sure how it's split) and I don't think it really varies that much through the year. In the winter I guess gas is higher for the heating and in the summer I guess the air con replaces the heating costs.
At a rough estimate we pay about 130e PM for two of us.
Our landlord is always in shock when it's so high. We don't have gas, as our stove is ran off gas bottles.
Soldato
Yeah, you need a more efficient air con it it costs 130€ a month... 
We have a/c in the bedroom, but almost never use it. And this is in a country where it's 30c+ for 6 months of the year, I can't imagine really needing it in the UK Actually, the air force is giving us two new ones for the living room and spare bedroom, as some weird sort of compensation for the noise from flying overhead, but we won't be here to use them.
I actually find I generally kind of dislike it, as it makes going outside that much more unbearable. 31c just now apparently, and just got a fan going on low.
I do appreciate it at work, as I'm on my feet and moving around a big classroom, that's usually set to 26c.
Actually, the air force is giving us two new ones for the living room and spare bedroom, as some weird sort of compensation for the noise from flying overhead, but we won't be here to use them.I actually find I generally kind of dislike it, as it makes going outside that much more unbearable. 31c just now apparently, and just got a fan going on low.
I do appreciate it at work, as I'm on my feet and moving around a big classroom, that's usually set to 26c.
Soldato
I suspect that you don't understand how a/c in cars works.
For a start, it doesn't run off 12v. The compressor is driven directly off the engine, and adds such additional load that on some smaller, lower powered cars you can actually feel that the car is slower with the a/c running.
So tell me, how are you going to power this jury rigged home a/c installation? Are you going to have the entire engine sat out on the drive idling away?
Yeah, you need a more efficient air con it it costs 130€ a month...
That's full leccie bill, but were two single guys so we don't use that much really.
It has been on nearly every night though, as it was 35c at night.
Commissario
Erm from my understanding car AC units are usually driven off the engine, not electric (at least not for the compressor).
Commissario
Proper split unit AC is a lot cheaper to run than portable ones, as the portable ones blow heated air from the room out via the vent hose, which means that it's replacing that heated air with air that is at ambient temp that is being sucked into the room, whilst a split unit recirculates the already cooled air in the room, and uses an external radiator which heats up air outside the room (it's pumping the refrigerant between the room cooler and the compressor and radiator outside).
We ended up running 2 portable units for most of every day for much of the last few months, it was expensive (around £7-10 a day), enough so that I'm seriously looking at getting a couple of split units for next year as they'll probably pay for themselves within a couple of years if we get anything like the weather we had this year.
I have a split unit. It's pretty old tbf, if I wasn't renting I'd have put a new unit in.
I've also ran a portable units, their fine if it isn't too hot. But otherwise their bulky and annoying.
The thing to get is the reversible Heating/AC units that can keep you cool in the summer and warm (By operating as air sourced heat pumps) in the spring and autumn. Though you probably will need alternative heating for when it gets close to zero or below (Not sure how well Air sourced heat pumps work under those conditions. I would expect them to tend to freeze up)
Quite a big thread here about a/c in the home - https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/air-con-suggestions.18823328/
Soldato
I doubt that UK homes would have air con retro fitted due to cost and no real justification - it was 4c this morning and it's only September.
Most modern workplaces have AC systems so not sure why you included that.
UK buses won't run AC as standard due to additiobal fuel cost and lack of justification.
Soldato
I think a lot of people think that AC is expensive to run, but a proper split aircon system seems reasonably cost effective compared to the portable units you get due to heat transference.
I'd seriously consider it for my house, as it's a new build and just traps in heat in the height of summer it can easily reach 30c indoors.
I'd seriously consider it for my house, as it's a new build and just traps in heat in the height of summer it can easily reach 30c indoors.
Permabanned
Never really needed it personally.
AC and heating are only solutions to a problem that need not exist (or at least to a far less extent) if homes were built in a way to naturally stay temperate. For example heat exchange systems in a well sealed home with good insulation can keep temperatures reasonable all year round without wasting huge amounts of energy on heating or cooling (the heat given off by the people living in the house can be enough at times).
It just seems odd that we have all this technology available but loads of people still live in old draughty houses that they can't afford to heat, some new builds aren't always much better (last one I rented was freezing downstairs). We should able to keep a building at a constant (or pretty close) temperature rather than the extremes of too hot / too cold and the arguments over when to turn the heating on (do you set it for a couple of hours or leave it at a minimum temperature etc). Plus you have other downsides to AC / heating such as drying the air out and causing skin complaints.
Essentially I want to live in a cave.
It just seems odd that we have all this technology available but loads of people still live in old draughty houses that they can't afford to heat, some new builds aren't always much better (last one I rented was freezing downstairs). We should able to keep a building at a constant (or pretty close) temperature rather than the extremes of too hot / too cold and the arguments over when to turn the heating on (do you set it for a couple of hours or leave it at a minimum temperature etc). Plus you have other downsides to AC / heating such as drying the air out and causing skin complaints.
Essentially I want to live in a cave.