Air Conditioner units?

gkf

I am considering buying an air conditioner unit in anticipation of the hot :rotfl: summer we may get. Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced one? Husband refuses to put a hole in the wall for one so is there one that can be used without outside venting? Any advice would be appreciated.

Paul_the_Painter

1.) ALL air conditioners need venting to the outside - an air conditioner extracts heat from the room and exhausts it out the hose. If you run an air conditioner without venting it outside, the result is that the room will be hotter than if you hadn't had an air conditioner.

2.) Buy on price and BTU capacity (range is from 8000BTU upwards) There is no point getting an 8000 BTU one for £10 less than 12000 BTU one.

gkf

Thanks for your reply. Is it sufficient to have a window open and vent out that, doesn't the moisture drip and ruin the brickwork though?

Paul_the_Painter

You will waste a load of "cooling" by leaving a window open. If you have to vent it out of a window do it on the shady side of the building. It's a bit like running the central heating with a window in winter - not terribly efficient.

On the hole in the brickwork front, the vented air isn't actually that damp, and you can line the hole with sewerage pipe or similar, some machines come with a blanking plate that covers the hole in the room. If you are worried about the "vented out the window" air dripping damp onto the woodwork, don't not an issue, doesn't happen.

The other alternative, for about twice the price in terms of BTU's per pound is getting a wall mounted one, these only need two smallish diameter holes (around 1" - 1 1/2") and there is no damp issue at all. The actual cooling is done outside in the second half of the unit. These are the units that are most popular in Europe, as they can be used for heat as well, meaning no expensive central heating that only gets used rarely

gkf

So which units would you recommend that we could buy? Sounds like it is getting very complicated

Paul_the_Painter

Ok if you are staying in the house for longer than say 4-5 years, and only will only want one room cooled seriously consider a wall mounted one from B+Q (or similar) they look a lot better, but will be there all year and are not easily movable from room to room.

If either a.) you are planning on moving in the next couple of years, or b.) want to move the A/c from,say, lounge to bedroom at night, get a free standing one.

I have a free standing one, that I have cut a hole for in my bedroom, on the occasions when I take it downsatirs, I use the vent out of the window approach, but have made up a cover for the open part of the window so I am not wasting "cold". You could just close the curtains over the window it is venting out of, I can't as I have blinds.