It's so hot - Help me if you have air conditioners!

[Pinkfizzy]

Hi all,

I have had a mobile split unit air conditioner for years and it's fab but we are doing up the house & roof and want to put fixed air con in. I gather that you can get air con which also heats the air in the winter if required, think it's called inverter-type.

Does anyone have this? If you have, has it worked well? Does it need annual servicing/lots of tlc, and lastly what brand is it?

TIA

Bump
Doesn't anyone have a/c?!?

you might need to wait a little longer than overnight on a Saturday!!

who needs house aircon in the UK? (If that's where you are). office buildings are usually badly designed with fixed windows, but houses aren't. Much of our housing stock is older and keeping it cool is not the problem. Judicious use of curtains and window opening at the right time should keep most places cool

I have AC but not the type you mentioned in your OP. It was installed by the previous owners and is brilliant. It's a Jet Con system. Our house has loads of glass and huge skylights (v modern design) and it gets stifling hot in here. Our neighbours said that when the previous owner was pregnant, she used to go and sit in the car on the driveway with the coolers on before it was installed.

I lived with the type of air con you mentioned when I lived in the states (NE England now so no need now), it was great to live with but I can't comment on servicing as landlord sorted that out.

My parents have a split system, but they are in Aus where it truly is required!

I don't think you need aircon in the UK. We have a ceiling fan in our room and an oscillating one in DD room which is enough. On hot days keep your curtains closed to block out the sun (I.e the heat source!).

Thank you all. Unfortunately a health condition means half of the household simply cannot cope with the heat without getting very unwell. Our house is SW facing, in a dip so not much breeze and large expanses of glass...obviously we will change the latter but keeping curtains closed all day long only rubs in how little we can enjoy summer months! I would be happier to put A/C in and rarely use it than to try & do it later or revert to mobile a/c x4 which works, but isn't really the easiest solution. Phew! essay answer-hope you see where I'm coming from!

ps Evaporative air coolers & tower fans have been tried. They don't have enough impact. We had a single oscillating fan in an overhead socket but it blew sheets, papers & us about too much so although we effectively got a strong breeze , it didn't actually cool the room down - you could have a strong draught underneath but further from the fan's draught, it was boiling again.

We have air con in the south facing rooms in our current house and we are refurbishing a house which we'll move into soon and we're putting in a/c units in every room. It gets very hot during the summer and we both work from home with a lot of computer equipment, servers etc which need to be kept cool.

We are happy with the Daikin units we have and are getting the same thing although a newer model. Ours are a split converter (4 a/c units per outdoor unit) and they do heating as well as cooling. They are pretty quiet in operation. They are really reliable and we've been very happy with them.

You need an annual service by law to check the refrigerant gas is not leaking and also to clean the units and ensure good running. I think ours costs about £140 a year for the service plus electricity costs (not expensive).

Our house has lots of glazing and a flat roof and before we had the a/c the temperature could reach 32 degrees in the bedrooms at the height of summer heatwaves and was generally always pretty stifling all summer indoors here in the south. Ceiling fans and judicious window opening did bugger all to help.

That should say inverter not converter.

Thank you wildstrawberryplace!

I was looking at Daikin as my first choice - neighbours very happy with theirs -similar health issue & same SW facing back of house! Great to hear someone else with good experience of it.