Fitted Air conditioning
Discussion
PF62 said:
Comparing your ‘smart’ gas system with your ’dumb’ AC system is, well, not sensible.
If you were to use the AC system as the main heating system you could make it ‘smart’ for a relatively trivial cost or would have bought a ‘smart’ system in the first place.
You make a good point, I could probably smarten it up with a Tado, it just seems a pointless exercise for me when I heat the entire flat on gas for £25 per month (yes, that's about to increase but then so is my electricity) so it just isn't worth it when you consider I'd then have A/C heating two rooms and gas heating two others.If you were to use the AC system as the main heating system you could make it ‘smart’ for a relatively trivial cost or would have bought a ‘smart’ system in the first place.
ukwill said:
Are any of you using your A/C for heating during the winter rather than GCH? Have you made a saving in comparison?
Given the relative costs of electricity and gas I doubt you would make any savings. For example to generate 100kWh of heat with an AC system with a COP of 3.5 would use 28.5kWh of electricity, which at the current 28p would cost about £7.98. To generate the same with a gas boiler at 95% efficiency would use 105kWh, which at the current 7p would cost about £7.35.
Where there are potentially savings is using the AC to only heat one room rather than heating the whole house, although that can usually be achieved by turning off the radiators in the unused rooms (either manually or with smart radiator valves).
In addition it also depends on what the gas and electricity prices do in October - if gas rises proportionately more than electricity then it might make a difference.
However one thing I noticed when I used my AC to heat this spring was that it was a different sort of heat. Because it is blowing warm air around the room heats up very fast, but unlike radiators when you turn it off it also seems to cool down faster - presumably because it hasn’t heated the fabric of the room.
As above cost wise it's sort of similar but slightly more expensive due to the cost balance of electric and gas, if this were to change then it would make sense to use the AC. I found it was a more comfortable heat when in my office as it heated the room as a whole rather than pumping out high heat from the rad right next to me. i'll be aiming to use any solar excess to just put a bit of heat into rooms on top of the gas over the winter. Once temp outside drops below 8 i found the cost soon shot up for the AC,
Blue Oval84 said:
Electricity this winter will be about 40p/kWh on the price cap, and gas will be about 14p or so (based on the latest forecasts) so realistically on a cold day I can't imagine there's much realistic saving to be had there.
The latest forecasts do have gas at around 14p but electricity higher at 46p, unless standing charges climb significantly again.https://www.cornwall-insight.com/default-tariff-ca...
The OFGEM price cap is based on gas usage of 12,000 kWh and electricity usage of 2,900 kWh.
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/price-cap-in...
Just a question.
I’ve had a portable unit for 15 years at least maybe more. It’s ok for just 1 room but given we now WFH and the upstairs gets hot and the kids complain, Would a unit be powerful enough if placed in the landing to cool 3 bedrooms ?
Also how do you keep downstairs cool ?
The bedrooms are 11*10ft x 2 and 1 9ft*8ft
I’ve had a portable unit for 15 years at least maybe more. It’s ok for just 1 room but given we now WFH and the upstairs gets hot and the kids complain, Would a unit be powerful enough if placed in the landing to cool 3 bedrooms ?
Also how do you keep downstairs cool ?
The bedrooms are 11*10ft x 2 and 1 9ft*8ft
Downward said:
Just a question.
I’ve had a portable unit for 15 years at least maybe more. It’s ok for just 1 room but given we now WFH and the upstairs gets hot and the kids complain, Would a unit be powerful enough if placed in the landing to cool 3 bedrooms ?
Also how do you keep downstairs cool ?
The bedrooms are 11*10ft x 2 and 1 9ft*8ft
No, you would need one for each room. I’ve had a portable unit for 15 years at least maybe more. It’s ok for just 1 room but given we now WFH and the upstairs gets hot and the kids complain, Would a unit be powerful enough if placed in the landing to cool 3 bedrooms ?
Also how do you keep downstairs cool ?
The bedrooms are 11*10ft x 2 and 1 9ft*8ft
Downstairs is kept cool by also having a unit fitted there!
Some setups can have 3 or 4 indoor unit running from just the one outdoor unit, which has positive & negative points
mrpbailey said:
No, you would need one for each room.
Downstairs is kept cool by also having a unit fitted there!
Some setups can have 3 or 4 indoor unit running from just the one outdoor unit, which has positive & negative points
Also looking to do the same - im going to try a split unit on the landing and see if it cools the bedrooms down a little. Downstairs is kept cool by also having a unit fitted there!
Some setups can have 3 or 4 indoor unit running from just the one outdoor unit, which has positive & negative points
Havent read all 30 odd pages but what do you do if you want two indoor units but they are on opposite sides of the house. Would you need 2 outdoor units or can you route the pipes through the loft - or is that not advisable.
wjwren said:
Also looking to do the same - im going to try a split unit on the landing and see if it cools the bedrooms down a little.
Havent read all 30 odd pages but what do you do if you want two indoor units but they are on opposite sides of the house. Would you need 2 outdoor units or can you route the pipes through the loft - or is that not advisable.
It wont workwell, unless youbalso use big fans.Havent read all 30 odd pages but what do you do if you want two indoor units but they are on opposite sides of the house. Would you need 2 outdoor units or can you route the pipes through the loft - or is that not advisable.
To get cool air from my fan into my daughters room i need to leave 2 tower fans on all night on full and even then my room is too chilly and hers is just slightly cooler then an un air conditioned area. I have a 12000 btu unit.
Nola25 said:
Quick question
Do you have to have a separate external unit for each internal unit with a split system? Our can you get external units to run multiple internals?
You can have one external unit with multiple internals. It is called multi split. Something like this : Do you have to have a separate external unit for each internal unit with a split system? Our can you get external units to run multiple internals?
https://www.daikin.co.uk/en_gb/product-group/air-t... or
https://les.mitsubishielectric.co.uk/products/air-...
Other makers available too.
OldGermanHeaps said:
wjwren said:
Also looking to do the same - im going to try a split unit on the landing and see if it cools the bedrooms down a little.
Havent read all 30 odd pages but what do you do if you want two indoor units but they are on opposite sides of the house. Would you need 2 outdoor units or can you route the pipes through the loft - or is that not advisable.
It wont workwell, unless youbalso use big fans.Havent read all 30 odd pages but what do you do if you want two indoor units but they are on opposite sides of the house. Would you need 2 outdoor units or can you route the pipes through the loft - or is that not advisable.
To get cool air from my fan into my daughters room i need to leave 2 tower fans on all night on full and even then my room is too chilly and hers is just slightly cooler then an un air conditioned area. I have a 12000 btu unit.
Blue Oval84 said:
OldGermanHeaps said:
wjwren said:
Also looking to do the same - im going to try a split unit on the landing and see if it cools the bedrooms down a little.
Havent read all 30 odd pages but what do you do if you want two indoor units but they are on opposite sides of the house. Would you need 2 outdoor units or can you route the pipes through the loft - or is that not advisable.
It wont workwell, unless youbalso use big fans.Havent read all 30 odd pages but what do you do if you want two indoor units but they are on opposite sides of the house. Would you need 2 outdoor units or can you route the pipes through the loft - or is that not advisable.
To get cool air from my fan into my daughters room i need to leave 2 tower fans on all night on full and even then my room is too chilly and hers is just slightly cooler then an un air conditioned area. I have a 12000 btu unit.
On Tuesday when it was up to 40c I had both units running all day with most of the doors open throughout the house, and the vents in the bedroom unit angled towards the door.
Upstairs which gets hot fast in warm weather was 22c in the main bedroom and the other rooms (with no fans to blow that cold air around) were 26c. The one bedroom not used had the door closed and that room was over 30c.
The 26c rooms were warm but not horrible, but the 30c+ room was unpleasant.
Downstairs the whole house seemed a reasonable temperature.
So no the cold air doesn’t move out of the rooms where the unit is very well, but it does enough to make the house liveable rather than unpleasantly warm.
And running both all day used about 10kWh.
PF62 said:
Blue Oval84 said:
OldGermanHeaps said:
wjwren said:
Also looking to do the same - im going to try a split unit on the landing and see if it cools the bedrooms down a little.
Havent read all 30 odd pages but what do you do if you want two indoor units but they are on opposite sides of the house. Would you need 2 outdoor units or can you route the pipes through the loft - or is that not advisable.
It wont workwell, unless youbalso use big fans.Havent read all 30 odd pages but what do you do if you want two indoor units but they are on opposite sides of the house. Would you need 2 outdoor units or can you route the pipes through the loft - or is that not advisable.
To get cool air from my fan into my daughters room i need to leave 2 tower fans on all night on full and even then my room is too chilly and hers is just slightly cooler then an un air conditioned area. I have a 12000 btu unit.
On Tuesday when it was up to 40c I had both units running all day with most of the doors open throughout the house, and the vents in the bedroom unit angled towards the door.
Upstairs which gets hot fast in warm weather was 22c in the main bedroom and the other rooms (with no fans to blow that cold air around) were 26c. The one bedroom not used had the door closed and that room was over 30c.
The 26c rooms were warm but not horrible, but the 30c+ room was unpleasant.
Downstairs the whole house seemed a reasonable temperature.
So no the cold air doesn’t move out of the rooms where the unit is very well, but it does enough to make the house liveable rather than unpleasantly warm.
And running both all day used about 10kWh.
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