Has anyone had air conditioning installed in their house?

[twiddlingthumbs69]

If so, how much was it, who installed it, how much disruption did it cause, how many wall units did you have and does it work well?

Any tips to be aware of?

seriously considering as, although I have a portable AC unit, it’s only sufficient for one room.

We have a semi open plan downstairs, and just one unit there. It is more powerful than the units upstairs. We took the advice of our installer (who was local) - we got quotes and he was the best value.

Interesting, thank you for the tip. I am thinking of doing an FGAS installer course and fitting my own, so will keep your recommendation in mind.

If you want it, get it put in before Milliband bans new installations.
There are already cases of people in London being required to remove existing AC though in today’s Telegraph

I have a Mitsubishi too. One unit at the highest point of the house, which for us is the top of the stairs. Outside unit mounted on the side of the house, above the garage. Slight hum when outside, but not intrusive.

The vents being tilt-able mean that we can point them down to the bottom of the stairs if needed and it will cool the lounge and part of the kitchen, as well as the upstairs. The vents can also swing side to side. We’re a 3 bed linked detached.

£1,600 supplied and fitted, no visible cables as used a no longer used switch to hook the outside unit in to. We could have had additional venting in to other upstairs bedrooms/bathroom, but there’s just the two of us and we don’t shut our bedroom at night, unless we have guests, and even then we only close the door to, rather than fully, so it wasn’t necessary for that odd occasion. My ‘office’ is the box room and I can get so chilly during the day that I put a jumper on! Oh and it has a silent mode, fan speed can be adjusted as well to suit.

Ok, there’s the initial outlay and our fuel bills do increase a bit due to electric over the summer. But given we’re talking (at the minute anyway) maybe 3 weeks a year, I’d fight you for a pound if you tried to take it off me. 🤣

We installed units in two of the bedrooms. Needed two external units as the rooms are on totally different sides of the house, but that’s ok as we’re detached, even if one external unit does narrow our garden path a little now. They’re Mitsubishi units, and one is a low-level one because of sloped ceilings in one of the bedrooms, which I believe makes it a bit more expensive. Was just under £3k for everything and we used a local company.

@MyKindHikerwe used these guys: https://www.airconinstallation-uk.com/

Based in Colchester but will fit in most parts of London, I reckon.

The fgas course doesnt really each you much outside of handling refrigerant, I wouldnt recommend it so you can install your own, it wont teach you how to do that

I'm getting two quotes next week to have air con fitted at home. A colleague told me he has a splitter unit outside that you can use to cool 3 rooms. It's only hooked up to 2 rooms at the moment, and that cost just over 2 grand. He says the one unit upstairs in the bedroom cools the whole first floor in about 20 minutes if he leaves all the internal doors open. He's chuffed with it

We have a big hot kitchen with a skylight, and a loft extension so thinking they might be quite pricey to cool

Thank you. I will check when I book, but I definitely want an installer course.

I got mine from http://avonair.co.uk/

He’s based in south London, not sure where you are based and how far he would travel but 100% would recommend him. I got two really good Mitsubishi units for £3500 including labour and materials, he won’t overcharge you the way most big companies do

One bedroom. It does help cool the house in these crazy days. 1k.
Installation was messy as our wall waa tough.
The outside box is ugly as anything

It works well and is quiet.

Yes they were ordered to remove the units from flats because they were installed against the existing regulations.

Standard guidance says planning consent is not needed for air conditioning in most circumstances.
But permission becomes mandatory in specific scenarios, including properties in conservation areas - with separate regulations applying to flats, leasehold properties, and shared buildings.

If you put air con on your house which is not in a conservation area you’ll be fine, let’s not exaggerate

They can mount the outdoor units high. We have one about 8 feet off the ground .

That was not the case from what I read. There was one of the cases in a conservation area though.
There must be adherence to the cooling hierarchy and other eco measures adopted before air con is considered appropriate according to some councils from what I understand.

It may not be widespread but I can see these sort of regulations proliferating with the way that net zero is being promoted.

That’s great, but I wouldn’t inflict it on my neighbours as, although detached, we are only separated by the width of two garden gates, so I’d rather the outdoor unit/s were discreetly close to the ground. Very helpful for others on the thread, though - thanks.

3k for 2 units and that cools a 2.story house. Love it.

Where do you have your units? I guess you don't necessarily need one unit per room then

I just had mine fitted last week! 7k for four bedrooms fujitsi units. I can take pics if you like of the outside as well if you like?

It's not true (of course, it's the Torygraph).

If you get solar PV at the same time you can run your aircon free.

If you get an air to air ( as opposed to the more common air to water) heatpump it will also provide hot air in winter.