Beating the Heat: Why Can't New Builds Have Air Con?

[TeaTimeMum]

I'm not sure what it's like at your end, but it's absolutely hot and humid over here and everything just feels harder—neither staying in nor popping out offers any relief. Whether it’s doing the housework, driving, or even just nipping out for some shopping, the heat just makes it all the more dreadful. And yes, we do moan about the weather a fair bit, but this heat is simply too much. I’ve been wondering, why don’t new builds come with air conditioning as standard? Some might argue that we only have a week or two of this scorching weather in the UK, but these days, air con units can heat as well. So why not fit these versatile systems? We could use it to keep cool in the summer and cozy in the winter.

If the UK had been building Passivhaus homes like parts of Northern Europe and Canada have been for decades…our homes wouldn't overheat or experience draughts, condensation, mould, cold spots, etc.

Scotland is about to introduce Passivhaus building regulations later this year for this exact reason. It’s long, long, long overdue.

You don’t need an aircon or any other bolt on technologies (solar panels) in a Passivhaus. The home is so well insulated and constructed, it stays at a constant, comfortable temperature all year round.

Aircon in homes would be pretty disastrous for sustainability, and it is warm for what, two weeks a year? We're not Spain. Who don't necessarily need aircon in homes either as they build traditionally with thick walls keeping the sun out.

why can’t new builds have a system i. which grey water can be used to flush the toilet, guttering run off into water butts, south and west facing large windows anti glare, why do they so often build downstairs cloakrooms, with toilet, right next to
the front door !?! as soon as you walk in the house the first thing you see
is the bog ?!?

We live in a house built 2005. Normal height ceilings. It has ceiling fans when we moved in. I have no idea how we lived without them. Fugly as they are

@voiceofastar

There’s new council flats being built locally to me. They look very similar to this picture. Using wooden slats to shade certain parts, awnings and they have roller blackout shutters. They are new, not old conversion but being built to be economical

@Caspianberg I was talking about the UK where blocks of flats aren’t equipped with these things and as a leaseholder you wouldn’t get permission to retrofit them. The flats in the pictures you’ve posted look bloody brilliant. And council flats too, astounding.

I have 8ft ceilings in my new build!

Not too hot in here, loads of ventilation and efficient building means we are kept ok in the heat and toasty in the winter!

It isn't a problem in the summer, that is just a basic science misconception. A well insulated house will prevent heat entering in the summer just as well as heat leaving in the winter

Our house is a new build and stiflingly hot whenever outdoor temps reach about 25+ especially in the front because the front of the house has the full sun on it from about 11am until the sun goes down. We moved in 10 years ago and after 8 summers we finally installed air con in the bedrooms last year! It’s some of the best money we’ve ever spent. Cost about £3k and don’t believe the naysayers, it really doesn’t cost very much to run at all, it’s very efficient. I thoroughly recommend it and my next door neighbours are getting it installed soon too!

Because then cooling would become a significant part of our energy use and we are trying to reduce the amount of energy we use not increase it.

It is possible to run heat pumps in a cooling mode, but I don't believe they are allowed as part of the government grants because of energy efficiency.

British summers aren't really very hot. It's not really necessary to have air con.

Air con increases climate change I understand. We need to build better style houses, not increase energy use.

Why ? It's 23 degrees, a nice summers day but hardly hot. It's maybe 2 weeks a year tops that air con would be used and we manage just fine with a fan

DH fitted one in our living room and one in our bedroom a few years ago. Absolute game changer!

I'm in a new build with low ceilings and we have ceiling fans. Although we're all tiny (DH at the tallest is 5'6) so that's probably why it's not a problem. 😂

I think more importantly new builds should HAVE to have solar panels and ground source heat pumps.
But as a PP has said (and I'm paraphrasing here) the rotten, sneaky, thieving, toady money-grabbing bastard builders are more interested in their own profits than sustainability, IMO.
Although, to be fair, some of them are quite good.

The only new build I’ve ever bought was in an eco friendly development and had air con as it was more eco friendly than central heating (as it used green generated energy rather than burning fossil fuels). It was absolutely useless at heating though, so I wouldn’t recommend it as a heating replacement.

Although that said we’ve just retro-fitted air conditioning into our not-new build for £6k, and the both the heating and cooling on that are cracking. We’ve got solar panels too so it’s practically free to use for cooling on sunny days.

AC is just not necessary for 2 weeks a year, as pp have already noted ceiling fans and shutters would make a huge difference, as would Brits being taught how to deal with a heat wave, maybe some of those infomercials we had in the 80s but instead of not playing in the fridge it was a helpful reminder that throwing your windows open when its 30deg outside just lets 30deg air inside even if it does feel cool as it blows in.

Air con units can heat but they aren't very good at it. Hot air rises. Blowing hot air near ceiling height won't keep you warm in our winters. They're ok in countries that don't have much of a Winter.

What was stopping you installing aircon when you bought the house?

I don't live in a new build but had aircon fitted a couple of years ago. Our house is always hot so I've used it a lot more than I thought, even in random snap hot spells in October and March.

Absolutely worth it because I work from home, I'm just so much more productive. Plus I sleep straight through as normal (even with windows open would be kept awake all night by neighbour's dog etc). The other day when everyone was complaining about the heat we had a nice roast dinner 😂

Ours worked fine in our large log cabin, no problem with them in shops and offices either

Yes - Germany and Austria are full of them (houses and engineers!).

But new houses in the UK are built by property developers solely with profit in mind - profit that is used to lobby MPs into making regulations that do little to improve the housing stock or to improve the environmental impact of new builds.

We had a ceiling fan and shutters before we got aircon, made next to no difference, our house was still 28-30 degrees on average.

However shutters have been good for keeping the rooms warmer in winter, you can really tell the difference even though they're just basic MDF and we have new double glazed windows.

@PeloMom is that the PIV system?

Air con units are rubbish at heating which is what we need more. I live in the hottest part of England but find a fan does the job.