Thinking about installing a 'Easy Fit ' Split Air Conditioner

[Andrew Gabriel]

I installed two of them about 8 years ago, first one for someone else, and then for me. They were on offer from B&Q at the time (they don't do them anymore, but others still do). Heat pump capacity is 3.something kW.

I'm very pleased with the unit. I bought it for cooling originally, but I mostly use it for heating my main room (also my home office) during the winter, rather than heating the whole house when I'm working during the day. Annual running cost is a few tens of pounds. You should factor in occasional recharges too (about £100), but mine hasn't needed one yet.

Mine will cool the whole ground floor if I leave the doors open, but I generally try to avoid doing that. I doubt such a unit would be able to cool more than one floor. A work colleague was very impressed and (not being a DIY person), got a system installed in his home with one outside unit supporting two inside cooling units, one on each floor (one of them in a room stuffed full of computers). However, professional aircon install in this country is extremely expensive, versus the same in warmer parts of Europe or the US. Indeed, you can buy aircon units much cheaper if you pick the up in southern europe and bring them back, although you probably have to wave goodbye to any waranty.

[srp]

home office. I have a 'typical' two bed semi. and was wondering how effect ive such a unit installed in the spare bedroom office upstairs would be at cooling the whole house ? I would expect the cool air to drop down the stai rs.

to connect up the pipes. Is this really as easy as it sounds or would it b e better to get a pro. in to check for leaks and test it all first ?

Web sites quote installation costs as 'from £400' so it's going to be bet ter to take the small risk writing off a £400 DIY install. The pre charge d systems are vacuumed and filled in the factory ( the interior unit is fil led with compressed nitrogen I suspect) Might cancel out the effect of havi ng to purge the air from the pipes compared to having a 'pro' come in ? any way I think it would be a fun project :-)

[gremlin_95]

Around what outdoor temperature can your unit still provide effective heating to? I.e. without going into defrost mode too often.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Down to around 6C. What I didn't realise for first few years is that when it's gone below freezing outside, it again works fine. Since then, I think I've used it down to -10C outside. I don't know what the lower limit is, and I presume the efficiency will reduce as the outside temperature drops.

So there's an outside temperature range of probably -1C to 5C where it's not efficient to use it for heating because of the need to run defrost cycles. (It works, but is probably no better than an electric heater.)

[dennis]

It depends on the design. If the condensate freezes on the condenser you need to defrost. If the airflow and/or gravity keeps the condensate moving off the condenser you don't need as many defrost cycles.

AIUI most units are not designed for a humid environment like the UK.

[srp]

OK so it appears that you can't get hand outs for a cooling system, and tha t Gas will always be cheaper for heating ( even though my boiler is ancien t) With that in mind I just order a split system online for my spare room o ffice. I am hoping that this will have enough capacity to cool and dehumidi fy the lounge downstairs if I close the doors. If not then I will install a nother unit in the lounge at some point.

For my next trick I shall climb a ladder and install the thing ;-) Cheers all.

[Rick Hughes]

you are jesting ?

I have worked all over Asia, they have serious humidity and AC is installed everywhere. Hong Kong for example is sub-tropical and very humid outside of the short winter ... do you think the 10's of thousands of AC units in use there don't work ?

[Dave Liquorice]

Yeah but they are hot and humid places and the units normally pumping heat from the inside out.

This thread is about use in a cold and damp UK pumping heat from the outside in.

[Tim Lamb]

I reported on a friend's *Grand Design* near the coast in Suffolk. She has air sourced heating feeding a wet under floor arrangement.

Last winter appeared not to be a problem but I was concerned that the humidity might be higher than inland and the temperature spend more time hovering in the 0deg. to +5deg. range. Time will tell:-)

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