My house has Air conditioning AMA

[itschillyinhere]

Over the last few years I've got air conditioning installed in my modest detached house. We use it for heating aswell as cooling. AMA

Sorry forgot size. About 1400 sqm

Yes there's a lot of issues with the green push towards air to water systems that use radiators. The government are about to announce extending the grant to air to air systems this year which will be good for a lot of people. Thousands of vulnerable people die in heat waves in the UK, if they can get AC installed hopefully that should help reduce that

Daikin... same as yours. I hope you have better luck with your set though. Ours worked brilliantly the first 3 years and then the motor got old and now doesn't heat or cool as well as it once did. I think the average life span is supposed to be at least 7 or 8 years with daily use so they are telling me I got a bad batch 😔

That's a shame. Have you thought about replacing it? The majority of the cost of install is the drilling, running pipes abd the labour associated with that etc. Should not be too expensive for swapping out external unit and internals

I could have written this same thread except Iwent with midea units. LOVE THEM, best money I ever spent.

Surely that’s a typo?!

Is your house a new build? Ours is a south facing new build and I find the bedrooms so uncomfortably hot in the Summer. After 2022 we considered ac. We have an air source heat pump but with radiators upstairs. This sounds brilliant!

Yep 😅. 1400 square feet

Like you OP we had it installed in early 2023 after the sweltering summer of 2022 - we’re in a new build that gets the sun on the front of the house pretty much all day in the summer and the house is just a greenhouse. We only had the bedrooms done and it cost about £3k. We could potentially add the lounge later.

Of course the last two summers have been pretty rubbish since, but we do still end up using it quite a bit. We don’t use the heating function very often, but we often use the dehumidify option for when we’re drying washing, that’s very useful.

It isn't a new build but i know how hot they get. With an autistic child who likes to climb, leaving the windows open in her bedroom overnight wasn't an option so AC is perfect

How did the whole process look and how long did it take ?
So you contacted company and what was next?
How long were works at the house and was it a big destruction?

Install involves drilling through exterior walls for refrigerant lines, mounting internal units and commissioning outdoor unit. 2 day install so not bad. Tidied up after themselves so no mess.

Rang the company, they came round for a quote then scheduled install about a month later

How much is your full gas and electric bill per month on average in summer and winter? Eg June and February.

You say this involves a heat pump. Is it suitable for older houses? Who was your installer?

Still a big place then!

Spent £10 on cooling in June and £10 for gas for hot water.

Gas last Feb was £110. with AC this Feb, £20 on gas for hot water and £65 electric for AC in heating mode

Yes AC is known as air to air as it converts heat from air outside and blows air over the heated refrigerant to generate warm air. The other heat pumps that the daily mail like to attack are air to water. They use air outside to generate hot water to pump through your radiators. Because air to water runs at a lower temperature than a boiler, you have to have more and bigger radiators to compensate and if your house is old the heat loss could be too much for an air to water system. Far less of an issue with air to air as they generate heat better and easier to size the power of the indoor unit. If you are interested there is a good YouTube channel Tim and Kat's green walk that goes through their whole house AC system. The government will be announcing grants for AC systems this year as they can suitable for most properties unlike the other type

Well, a standard 4 bed detached. Not large I'd say

How cold can you get it? I have two portable units but I would love to have proper AC.

18c is the lowest, but it dehumidifies the air so it feels nice and cool. Have it set to 20c overnight in the summer so it's just right

Thank you.
when you say “ drilling” did it affected the wall inside the bedroom? We have wallpaper on the wall in the bedroom so wonder if it would need to be redone?
DD has additional needs as well so I’m always trying to plan as much as possible and make distractions minimal.

So you are saying your combined gas/electric bill is £20 in the summer and £210 in winter? That sounds extremely cheap for a 4 bed detached house in the midlands.

Standing charge alone is £15/month for gas and electric combined.

No it would be fine. They drill a 2 inch hole for the pipes then the internal unit covers the hole

ooh i keep looking at this. DD is autistic and ADHD and can't regulate her temperature she's always too hot

My dh is an aircon engineer - AMA 😆