Untimely airconditioning thread

[IMM]

Are you still inhaling nicotine on mass scale?

[mike.james]

Any chance we could persuade you to try it? The application I have in mind would benifit as much from heat in winter as cooling in summer. I've tried to find some additional technical info on the heat pump mode but failed. mikej

[Grunff]

No problem - just tried it.

Took a long time for the outside unit to reach temperature, but once that happened the fan kicked in and it started blowing hot air. Difficult to estimate the output, but I'd say at least a kW, probably more.

[Simon Gardner]

I'm sure they don't there either.

It's unbearable inside without the aircon on.

That's right. No bloody use at all.

It keeps you very slightly less hot. It certainly deson't keep you cool. For that you need aircon.

And yet still far too unpleasant for a ceiling fan to be any use at all.

[mike.james]

And that's presumably at our current outside temperature i.e. about 3 or 4C. mikej

[Grunff]

No, I stood outside with a big hair drier pointed at the unit :-)

Sorry...

Yes, with outside just about 2C here.

[mike.james]

Its not 100% clear where you are in the world - you might have been some where hotter than 2C given all the programs on giving up the UK for Spain etc. there are on at the moment. mikej

[Grunff]

I know - I was only joking.

I'm in Devon.

[derek]

Snip diatribe about ceiling fans.

No. Ceiling fans are simple, reliable, easily installed and cheap. They are universally used in Texas where my firm has it's head office in conjunction with air conditioning because they reduce the cooling load. You can sleep with them on and they use little electricity.

OTOH aircon units are noisy, expensive to buy and to run, and create cold spots. Installation requires substantial construction work and several specialist trades.

Would I like the house to be a little cooler in the summer? Yes, and if the summers get hotter and/or cheaper (Chinese?) aircon units become available I'll reconsider it. 'Till then I and most British people seem to think airconditioning at home in the UK is not worth it for the few days per year it is so uncomfortably hot. 'Till then..

Ceiling fans rock.

DG

[Grunff]

???

The thread is about a modest home/office split unit. This required no construction work, and was installed by me in about

3 hours.

You try working in a home office with several PCs running.

[mike.james]

So you are somewhere warmer :-)

- I'm in North Yorks and its about 0C at the moment. mikej

[IMM]

A very good and sensible post. If you put in extra insulation the cooling load would be less.

[derek]

Your comment :

" The hardest part was the 3" hole through the 2' wall"

refers. Someone else mentioned using mechanical handling to get the

60lb compressor mounted high on the outside wall.

No disrespect or criticism intended, I read your original informative post with interest. The one I replied to by 666_ made a series of unsupportable comments about ceiling fans.

Several? That would change the equation, but I've already got 2 here in a room 23' x 12'. I manage with just 2 ceiling fans!

To reduce the heat input I binned 2 CRT monitors and got TFT's, set up power saving plus I shut one PC down when it's not needed. All the lighting is low energy, either CF's or GE induction lamps, it's no hotter than the rest of the house with tellies etc.

DG

[Grunff]

Sure, it's not hanging up a picture, but certainly not "substantial construction work and several specialist trades". Most uk.d-i-yers do this kind of thing all the time.

As for getting the compressor up a ladder, I think two ladders and two people would be sufficient.

No offence taken - but I've been there with fans, and they are better than nothing, and can be adequate if the insulation and light input are ok, but it just isn't the same as aircon. Nothing feels quite as nice as walking into an air conditioned room on a hot summers day.

[IMM]

It plays havoc with the body's metabolism. That is why in the USA they revert to serial killing, which crept into the UK when we started this a/c thing. So, overall a/c is dangerous to society at large because:

1) The needless electricity used adds to global warming. 2) Serial killing is now more common. 3) It stops obese people from loosing weight (obese people, who are a menace to society too, overheat too much). 4) This obesity takes its toll on the NHS with self inflicted fatty diseases. 5) Obese people give off far too much flatulence adding to the ozone layer destruction. 6) Obese people don't walk driving everywhere adding to global warming.

So a/c units are bad all around.

[Simon Gardner]

You mis-typed. "For the several months of the year it is so uncomfortably hot."

I acknowledge you may not have as much heat-generating electronics around as I do. But a ceiling fan is merely better than nothing. It certainly isn't adequate for getting on for half the year. I prefer a temperature of

21 or lower. Air con is a must. I wouldn't be without it.

[Jerry.]

No ! I'm a non smoker, but a non bigoted one like you...

[John Rumm]

I wonder how the "recovered" heat works out cost wise compared to the CH since the heat recovery is supposed to be more than 100% efficent... if it is cheap enough (and you have a TRV on the radiator) it might be worth using.

[Grunff]

I'm a little dubious...

First off, I'm happy to put up with fan noise in the summer for the sake of cooling, but if I can have quiet heating then I'd rather have that.

Second, the room is effectively already electrically heated by the PCs - the CH is just backup :-)

Third, I'm on oil, which is really, really cheap.

But I'd be interested in any heat efficiency figures, just from a curiosity point of view.

[mike.james]

The delongi unit from the same supplier quotes - 2.4Kw heat output for 760W electricity used. The millennium is less clear on its spec but seems to say 2.65KW output but doesn't quote input. mikej