Air conditioning units?!

danceMB · 21 Jul 2006 at 20:10

Oh my god!!!!

Just decided to see how much it would cost to get air conditioning in just the 1 room of my house - the computer room.

It is only 9x9 foot room, and on cucumberman.com (they are supposedly the best) they are quoting me £2,000!!

I never realised that having fixed air con would be that pricey! I do have air con in my work office, and it is really lovely to have a set temperature all year round, but surely, chilling such a small room would be cheaper?

I was thinking of maybe getting a portable one instead after shocking myself.
Is it true that if you get an air conditioning unit that has a "condenser" then you dont need to have an open window anywhere around?

lay-z-boy · 21 Jul 2006 at 20:31

fixed aircon costs about £7/800 for a high end set if you do it manually. (16k btu+)

Best aircon unit has to be the one onboard airplanes, damm thats a high pressure cold blast! :cool:

Dolph · 21 Jul 2006 at 20:36

If you're handy with DIY, B&Q have fixed aircon for much less than that (starting at under £200 for a 9k BTU unit)...

danceMB · 22 Jul 2006 at 16:27

Im useless at the DIY aspect of everything, but I wouldnt be willing to pay that kind of money, im sure other people do that have loads of money spare to do something like that, god only knows how much it would be to pay for the whole house to be kitted out with fixed air con, hardly bears thinking about!

I cant stay in the computer room on hot days, I have to switch it off everyday now as it just gets really hot!

So, whats the best one to buy for, say, a 10 x 10ft room? Homebase one for £170-£200, or one in B&Q?

Townlea · 22 Jul 2006 at 16:33

just picked up a Air con unit from Homebase... £135 is not bad at all

Scania · 22 Jul 2006 at 16:59

Radiation said:
Homebase should have one for a reasonable price.

I deliver to DIY stores like HB all over the country, the amount of scrapped air conditioners in their skips is simply staggering!

Apparently, people buy them, use them for a required period and then simply return them claiming a "fault"

They then skip them! :eek:

From what the lads at the stores tell me, most if not all that are returned actaully work perfectly, they simply do not have the time to test them!

Mad situation imo.

Go skip diving, you never know what you'll find!

wormwood · 22 Jul 2006 at 17:03

danceMB said:
Im useless at the DIY aspect of everything, but I wouldnt be willing to pay that kind of money, im sure other people do that have loads of money spare to do something like that, god only knows how much it would be to pay for the whole house to be kitted out with fixed air con, hardly bears thinking about!

I cant stay in the computer room on hot days, I have to switch it off everyday now as it just gets really hot!

So, whats the best one to buy for, say, a 10 x 10ft room? Homebase one for £170-£200, or one in B&Q?

£150 Homebase portable air con should be plenty good enough for a 10ft x 10ft room. My advice would be to ignore the temperature reading on the machine though. Ours seems to still say 20+ even though it feels so much colder in the room after it has been on for 15 minutes or so. We use the unit downstairs in a room that is 22ft by 10ft and it cools about half the room really well and the other half is a little cooler. Before bed I take it upstairs, which is a pain in the arse, and stick it in the bedroom which is about 9ft by 13ft and it cools it down quickly for a nice sleeping temperature.

EVOII · 25 Jul 2006 at 15:08

Just picked up one of these £150 jobbies from homebase

Has anyone managed to find a way to extend the flexible outlet hose?

danceMB · 26 Jul 2006 at 01:54

EVOII said:
Just picked up one of these £150 jobbies from homebase

Has anyone managed to find a way to extend the flexible outlet hose?

Lucky you! I tried to find one of these, and it seems that everywhere in the South East has sold out, every single store that would sell them do not have any of any kind at all, which means I am stuck in the heat, with a fan blowing the hot air around, for at least another 3 weeks (the minimum time the heat wave will be with us)

Does anyone know anywhere that I can buy one as im getting pretty desperate here now

Craig321 · 26 Jul 2006 at 02:07

Zildjian said:
Hi all,

I need an air conditioning unit because I honestly don't think I will survive through the summer with my bedroom this hot.
Are the portable unit's worth it?
I am looking at spending a max of around £400 as long as It's good.

Any advice?!

To be honest, in England it's a bit of a waste unless it's going to heat as well in the winter.

It's only hot like this for a month or something in England so personally I wouldn't bother when it's hot for such a short time.

Craig.

Replicant · 26 Jul 2006 at 03:52

Craig321 said:
To be honest, in England it's a bit of a waste unless it's going to heat as well in the winter.

It's only hot like this for a month or something in England so personally I wouldn't bother when it's hot for such a short time.

Craig.

LOL, he and i bought one ages ago, for the £150 i paid i think its good value, been using it for most of june and July and will no doubt need it some more in August and early september too.

Overlag · 26 Jul 2006 at 12:00

Craig321 said:
To be honest, in England it's a bit of a waste unless it's going to heat as well in the winter.

It's only hot like this for a month or something in England so personally I wouldn't bother when it's hot for such a short time.

Craig.

what england you been living in?

only hot for a month?

i just come back from tenerife, and the heat HERE near London is unbearable.

Haircut · 26 Jul 2006 at 12:07

Craig321 said:
To be honest, in England it's a bit of a waste unless it's going to heat as well in the winter.

It's only hot like this for a month or something in England so personally I wouldn't bother when it's hot for such a short time.

Craig.

You should try living in a loft room then. 3-4 months of the year it's too hot to be comfortable.

danceMB · 26 Jul 2006 at 17:26

Same as in my house, no matter which room you run to they are all just as hot, getting to the point of unbarable unless you have a fan pointing in your direction all the time, as all fans can do is blow the hot air around. I cant imagine the situation getting any better in future years, so might as well make the purchase this year as you cant really go any many years before Air Conditioning becomes a compulsory purchase :cool:

Shocky-FM · 26 Jul 2006 at 20:01

Hi, I've recently bought one of the 9000BTU Challenger ones from Argos and I'm wondering how much these things cost to run? I think the one I have is B rated and is 1100W peak.

Probably average 6-8 hours a day, over a month how much would this cost roughly?

Also, does it use less power using the dfferent fan speeds or do the fan speed have little effect on the power used?

btw, it cost me around £160 but they did get it to me within 2 days of ordering .

i know nothing · 26 Jul 2006 at 21:54

Shocky-FM said:
I'm wondering how much these things cost to run? I think the one I have is B rated and is 1100W peak.

Probably average 6-8 hours a day, over a month how much would this cost roughly?

Also, does it use less power using the dfferent fan speeds or do the fan speed have little effect on the power used?

btw, it cost me around £160 but they did get it to me within 2 days of ordering .

Depends on how much you get charged for a Kw/hr by your electric company (and whether you use it on a night time/ day time rate).

Say it costs £0.07 per KW/Hr and you run it 8 hours/day for 30 days, you're looking at roughly £18.50 a month.

Compressor is normally what sucks the juice, fan speed will have an effect, but a small one I would imagine.

VIRII · 27 Jul 2006 at 18:12

Is anyone pleasantly suprised by the air con that they have bought.
It appears that there is no stock of anything under about £350 anywhere in the UK. Much more than that and it gets to the point where you might as well have a proper slit installation and a couple of roof cassettes.

I'd be particularly interested to knwo if anyone has one of the amcor units.

My wife goes on maternity leave in a couple of weeks and I think for her and for the newborn we will have to get one of these things (if I can find one for sale upto £350 max).

Simmz · 27 Jul 2006 at 18:17

VIRII said:
Is anyone pleasantly suprised by the air con that they have bought.
It appears that there is no stock of anything under about £350 anywhere in the UK. Much more than that and it gets to the point where you might as well have a proper slit installation and a couple of roof cassettes.

I'd be particularly interested to knwo if anyone has one of the amcor units.

My wife goes on maternity leave in a couple of weeks and I think for her and for the newborn we will have to get one of these things (if I can find one for sale upto £350 max).

Get a Amcor PLM15000 and you won't be dissapointed. It costs £350 and can heat as well as purify all the air and loads of other nice settings

Also it's very energy efficient unlike the ones from homebase and won't eat your electricity bill if you have it on 24/7.

VIRII · 27 Jul 2006 at 20:04

Simmz said:
Get a Amcor PLM15000 and you won't be dissapointed. It costs £350 and can heat as well as purify all the air and loads of other nice settings

Also it's very energy efficient unlike the ones from homebase and won't eat your electricity bill if you have it on 24/7.

If you can link me up with one at that price I'd be a happy bunny, I have a sneaking feeling that prices have shot up in the last week.
All the 10-12 Kbtu are sold old, I've googled high and low and visited every place I can from Wembley to Hemel.

DarkShadow · 27 Jul 2006 at 20:42

Looking to get a 12k BTU one tomorrow, which would be the best one to buy for a budget of £250, the shop below all are slightly similar.

Which one to buy? The ones at Focus DIY, Hombase or B&Q?