Deep Singh

Will probably be having my loft converted in the next few months and have decided that air conditioning up there will be essential.

There seems to be a number of different types ie the ones that have ducting connecting the unit to the outside bit and ones without ducting ie where I presume the inside unit is connected directly to the outside bit through the wall.

Is one better than the other?

Also while I'm at it, I'd like to think about having a unit installed in another room that gets quite hot in summer. Its fully decorated and so I can't start ripping it apart to fit ducting.

The room does have three external walls though. Is it a fairly clean install to have the latter type I mentioned above? ie do they just stick the internal unit on the wall, knock a small hole through the wall and then connect the external unit outside?

Thanks

Coffin Dodger

AFAIK It's only the coolant that needs to move from the indoor unit to the outdoor one so just two pipes through the wall, one for coolant in, one for coolant out.

The indoor unit sucks in air, passes it through a heat exchanger with the coolant pipes running through it, and blows it out as cold air. The outdoor unit takes the warmed coolant and cools it with the outside air usually with some sort of fan to blow air through another exchanger. The outdoor unit will have a compressor to pump the stuff around. It's just a glorified fridge at the end of the day

Deep Singh

Thanks.

Does that mean there has to be a box on the outside wall? In my downstairs room thats no problem, its at the back of the house and has 3 external walls.

In the proposed loft room most of the 'walls' will actually be the roof line, so a bit more of an issue

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

Deep, my bro in law had this thought before they had their loft converted. His builder assured him it wouldn't be necessary with PROPER insulation, and at least one Velux-type window that can be opened. Roof windows also have ventilators built in.

I've been, over summer, and the builder was right.

Leslie

Surely your electricity bill would rocket with that working!

Les

Snazy

Portable AC for us in the summer, 2 nice sized units for the big rooms. Works a treat and can easily get them down to 16 degrees in an hour or so. Not that i wanna be at 16. 21-22 suits me just fine.

The dogs love it too lol.

austinwrx

I don't think you need it. we have a huge attic bedroom spanning the entire house- big dormer on it etc.

I re-roofed it last year, and because my (100 yr old) house now has proper insulation, proper sarking felt and a totally rebuilt dormer,any defective slates etc renewed its

(a) dead warm in winter

(B) cool enough in summer

all I do when its been dead hot is leave the windows ajar all day- in a locked position. house is so high- you need triple ladders and a roofing ladders to even get near them if a pikey burglar.

honestly its been totally fine on a night...... we still have the winter douvet on the bed !


you thought about the noise of air con........... i.e when you go on holiday its nice- but you never sleep with it on ?

Deep Singh

Interesting. At the moment (100% uninsulated, unmodernised loft, 100 yr old property) its freezing in winter (no suprise) and boiling in summer.

Now I know it will be warm once brought up to date, but will it also stay cool? The heat of the whole house will rise upwards and surely this will cause it to become very hot?

The loft conversion will have a couple of veluxes at the front and then a big dormer at the back. The dormer will be high, but I just don't feel comfortable sleeping with a window open.

Many of my first floor rooms get really really hot in summer and I can only imagine that it would be worse in the the loft conversion as the hot air will all rise up.

Deep Singh

snaze, what do you do with the outlet pipe/duct of the portable ac unit?

Snazy

You get a number of attachments, from a wall vent to a window pipe.

So you can either put an outlet on a chosen wall, door, window, that you just pop the ducting onto. If its going to be in a set place.
Or the other attachement is for hanging on the window.

Sadly the second option is not great for when you are out, but the hard fix one is.

Not as neat and tidy as a wall mounted unit, but far less hassle to use.

As for sleeping with AC on.... I quite happily sleep with the AC on, both on holiday and in the UK on the hot summer nights.

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

If you get the loft properly ventilated and put in a couple of decent size windows or skylights you shouldn't need AC - the heat of the house rises, so will settle at the roof, if it has somewhere to escape, then that heat will get dissipated.

Saying that, I've got a portable industrial one ( not one of the crappy Argos £100 ones ) and it will get a room down to 14, and give you frostbite if you sit directly in front of it when its running ! Just needs a duct ( or the pipe sticking out the window, although they cool the room quicker if its sealed ) to get rid of the condensation as it does use a lot of water when its running.

Snazy

lol same ere Mike, not one of the "fill with ice regularly" things lol
£400 a pop I believe these were, and that was in a sale haha.
Yours go to 14, ouch ! Sure thats not a fridge without doors? lol

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

Its pretty cool ( pun intended ) - I was looking for one a few years ago as the old house used to catch the sun all afternoon, and the bedroom would be too hot to go into, even with the windows open in the evening.

Cant remember the make, but second hand it was around £350 and it was the sort of thing they used to use in offices, so is pretty good - does use a huge amount of power though !

Snazy

There is no price on comfort lol, not in this house anyway.

Deep Singh

Thanks.

1) I take everyones point, but would still like to have ac in the loft, and its better I do it whilst its being built so that its a neat 'hidden' install.

2) Snazy/Mike, the portable one maybe a contender for my downstairs room.

a) when you say it uses alot of water, where does it come from? does it need a piped constant supply, or you just pour some in from time to time?

b) If you have the duct attached to a hole in the wall, how big is the hole and what do you do with the hole when its not in use?

Thanks

Snazy

You get a wall vent that seals closed when you detatch the ducting. You get a cover for it that can be put in place.

Its a 5inch diameter duct (I think lol) so the vent is the same size. Personally I just use the attachment to hang on the window, and have it slightly open Sort of makes the AC work harder, but im too lazy to fit the proper one

Currently sitting in a nice chilly 20 degrees, while the rest of the house warms.
Portable is really handy I have to say, but if you can get it fitted during building, I would do it too

boxst

There must be some sort of rubber device that goes along the whole window that just has a (tight) hole for the air conditioner pipe? That way you maintain the sealed environment but don't need to mount the airconditioning unit?

(that sounds a bit pervy, but you know what I mean!)

Steve

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

The portable ones ( mine at least ) has a water bottle inside it - I'd guess about 20 - 25 litres - its like a giant milk carton you fill with cold water, flip upside down, and stick in the front of the cabinet.

Snazy

I thought the water bottles were for the dehumidifying, where they collected water. Mine seems to fill itself up, or the dogs are peeing in it lol