Air conditioning recommendations for the house?

[CherryStoneTree]

I know I’m looking at £400-£500, and they are bad for the environment. But working from home and the heat that the electrics put out for the sake of my sanity I need one this year, not going on holiday so can spend the money!

Any recommendations? I know I need to buy a window adapter kit as well I think.

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MNHQ

I had a full inverter system for £2000 for the upstairs in our house. This was ten years ago, night time temperatures were around 96 degrees in our bedroom! Would have moved house otherwise so £2k much less than the cost of that.

I don’t know how effective those £500 kits are. Are they the ones you have to put the tube out of the window?

Our household carbon footprint is tiny so I don’t feel remotely guilty. No flights for 20 years, for example.

We can’t currently have anyone come into the house to install anything, so it’s one we get delivered to the door or nothing at the moment.

Yup most of the smaller ones are ones that the hose goes out the window

I have the type of air con you’re talking about. It won’t cool down a large space though, only one room and you need to keep the door shut. I have mine in my bedroom as I can’t handle the heat at night and it does do the job. But also be aware they are very noisy.

Thanks @Mereum at the moment I would settle for keeping the one room cool to sleep in. It gets the sun all day, has the hot water tank etc, nothing we can do apart from sleep downstairs will help at the moment.

Which one have you got? Would you by it again/get a different one etc?

We are getting solar film put on our south facing windows. 3M does it.

This is the one I got:
www.airconcentre.co.uk/products/kyr-45gw-x1c-mobile-air-conditioning-unit-14000-btu-kyr-45gw
I got it about 6 years ago now and it’s still going strong! It doesn’t eat up electric either (I’m on a meter so it’s easy for me to see). It also came with a panel for the window so I didn’t need anything separate. I couldn’t be without it now. I personally am not too bothered about the noise as it’s white noise and an added bonus is that it covers the noise of neighbours parties!

@TenCornMaidensnthat might be a really good idea actually, could you let me know where you’re getting it from?

I've asked a local archistects firm to sort it out for me. I think there are various installers around the UK so you probably need to have a Google.

Any other suggestions/advice before I buy a random aircon unit?

Bumping as I’m still undeceive

We have just recently bought this one after suffering 3 horrendous summers in our new build with solar panels built into the roof of our bedroom we had to buy one as we now have a baby in their!

The temp was 28C and this brought it down to 21C then it just uses the fan, has auto settings so turns back on when the room reaches over what ever temp you set it to!

It is quite loud but then most of them are!

Thanks that’s great, is that the website you ordered from?

@CherryStoneTree Yes! Came next day 😄

I like their website, now I’m wondering if I want the 9000 or 12000 if I want it to do all of upstairs not just one room?

As far as i can tell there are 3 options you can get for 500

1 a window unit that fits in a lift up window like you see in america. Unlikely to be suitable in the uk as we mostly have casement windows. Ive seen these for 350 fot 12k btu. They are more efficient and quieter than portables

A split unit. You can buy quick connect one which dont need a gas engineer but the condenser must be within 5m. You need a 70mm hole through a wall and there are conditions in that

The unit must be at least 1m from a boundary.
You can only have 1 outside unit without planning permission
Technically ive also seen they are supposed to be used for heating only. Not sure this is enforced
Minimise impact on appearance of property which i think it has to be on sides/ back.

These are much quieter and more efficient than the other two.

I think the portable one are probably the only viable options for most people. I dont think 12k btu would cool more than 25m2. Ive seen some videos where they give 2 figures in america where they give standardised performance figures which shows the portables are at least 25% less effective than split units because of their inherent disadvantages

You can buy ones that are 18k but these are more like 700 to 800.

If you want more cooling you might be better off getting 2 smaller ones. At least with the portable ones you can move it between bedrooms etc

We had air con fitted in our bedroom last week but was £1500 for one unit. Cools our en-suite too but not sure it'd do more than that because the hallway outside our room is 3 stories.

Hardly uses any electricity and heats in winter so could probably do away with radiator in there.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01GJONCMS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8
I bought this two years ago, was £230 and it's brilliant. I have it in my attic bedroom which gets unbearable and it cools it down in about an hour from baking to chilly. I bought in winter when prices are cheaper.

Thanks @walksen we think the portable one is best, for the easy install and the option to move it during the day from study work during the day to bedroom in the evening.

I think I’ll get the biggest one we can and then always add in smaller units for downstairs if needed. I think once the room gets down cooler once it’ll be easier to keep it that way, just can’t get it below 24 in the summer.

I have two, well I did, the bedroom one is about 12 years old and has just stopped working, I'm going to change the fuse and see if that works.

The other one I got about 3 years ago, I have moved it fromthe living room to my bedroom.

Last night my room was 17 degrees all night, they are noisy but you do get used to it. The only problem with the second one is that the cat can switch it on and off - I'm going to sort that with a plug connected to alexa.

I have this one www.aircon247.com/p/9354089/olimpia-splendid-dolceclima-12hp-12000btu-27kw-portable-air-conditioning-unit.html

I paid under £300.

OP

Why don't you hire 1 or 2 for a week and see if you think the investment is worth it.

I have an Arlec one from Homebase I bought a few years ago, but they still sell it:

www.homebase.co.uk/8k-btu-portable-air-conditioner_p499060

There is a slightly bigger one as well on the site.
Honestly, best thing I ever bought. Cools the bedroom wonderfully. I vent it out through the en suite window and have one of the window attachments on there so it's more effective.

I love the slim ones with remote controls they have fitted high up on the wall in holiday apts in S Europe. I bet they’re a lot cheaper than the ones you can get here too.

Otoh they often seem to have to condense into an ugly plastic bottle on the balcony. That would be a problem here

Good idea about the renting but I’m convinced about the benefit of it so just need to pick one now!

@CherryStoneTree we have had ours a few weeks now, I have had to start turning it of as it makes the room to cold!! Never thought I would say that in a million years...

Defo only need the 7000 if you go for it!!