air conditioning units (merged threads)

scarletjim

Did yours come with a window fitting kit? I mean like a piece of foam or perspex etc with a hole in it to fit in your window when open? Or do you just vent yours out of an open window?

EDIT: When you say leave 2 feet around it do you mean both in front and behind? Because if I have to make room for the unit itself, then 2ft behind and 2ft in front then it definitely won't be going in my bedroom.

EDIT2: One more question - when they say you get 1.5m hose, can it bend however you need it to, or is it relatively rigid?

vikingaero

My best mate runs an a/c hire company so I've got 2 free units.:p:D

Buy the highest output model that you can afford. This means that the unit won't be running at max power to cool your room. If you have the DIY skills, space and type of property then a split unit is the best.

You do need to vent somewhere. In the main bedroom we vent out of a drilled hole about the same size as a tumble dryer hose. The a/c unit we have comes with the exterior grille and a white blanking plug which blends in perfectly with the white walls when the unit isn't used.

We vent out of the landing window to cool the kids bedrooms. and use the supplied sliding blanking plate and close the window against it. The blanking plate has a hole for the hose.

Consider buying 2 units because even the smallest unit is heavy, the weight is awkwardly distributed and the handles are slippery plastic. Our smallest unit weighs 35kg and the large unit 41kg so they're not easy to slide around on their castors.

Yes both units are noisy. Sometimes too noisy to sleep with. The fan on the lowest settings give a hum which you can sleep to and they are very powerful on the lowest setting, so much so that the fans on the units can cool the rooms without the a/c setting. The problem with the units are the compressors which cut in and the random sloshing coolant sound which keeps you awake.

We've found that our bedtime routine is thus:

At 6.30pm close all the upstairs windows, switch on both machines on low fan with a/c. Let the kids go for a bath and bed by 7pm. By then most of the humidity has been removed and they can sleep comfortably. Then we leave our unit off and run the landing unit only. We have a fan in the hall that blows into our room and 8/10 times it's cool enough.

What we have found is that the a/c unit only needs to reduce the air temp by 2-4 degrees C to have a comfortable nights sleep. Reducing air temp isn't the key to a good nights sleep but reducing the humidity.

scarletjim

Thanks for the additional tips!

Any ideas on the queries specific to my problem? In a flat I'm not allowed split aircon, so either need one unit for whole flat, or two units - but I have issues with both those solutions (see my earlier two posts)...

vikingaero

scarletjim wrote: »

Thanks for the additional tips!

Any ideas on the queries specific to my problem? In a flat I'm not allowed split aircon, so either need one unit for whole flat, or two units - but I have issues with both those solutions (see my earlier two posts)...

With regard to your bed and the distance from the wall, you do as other posters have said need a couple of feet gap from the wall to allow warm air to be drawn into the rear of the unit. Plus the hose is flexible over it's whole length - you can make a decent snake out of it, but it's rigid where it connects to the rear of the unit. We've secured the hose to the plastic ends with duct tape as it is easy to bend the hose too much and pop it out of the plastic ends (the spiral hose screws onto the ends so it doesn't break it if it pops out. You can also get hose extension kits.

Some a/c units are slim, especially the ones around 9k BTU and these may be the ones to go for Jim. IIRC B&Q exhibit their a/c units with the hose attached so you may be able to have a look/see/touch. I think you'd be OK with a small bedroom unit and a larger unit for the living room.

Remember that for our kids rooms we don't have a unit in their rooms. Their doors are next to each other so we leave the landing unit pointed at their doors and they stay nice and cool. This has the advantage of having the noise of the unit outside their rooms.

Maybe you should buy a small unit and see if it meets your needs?

jackieb

scarletjim wrote: »

Did yours come with a window fitting kit? I mean like a piece of foam or perspex etc with a hole in it to fit in your window when open? Or do you just vent yours out of an open window?

EDIT: When you say leave 2 feet around it do you mean both in front and behind? Because if I have to make room for the unit itself, then 2ft behind and 2ft in front then it definitely won't be going in my bedroom.

EDIT2: One more question - when they say you get 1.5m hose, can it bend however you need it to, or is it relatively rigid?

Our one came with a window fitting kit (foam). Their bedroom is in the loft so it's a velux window. The foam just about fits the length of the window. Unfortunately there's not much we can do with the gaps at the side when the window is open (it's a top opening fire escape window). But it still works okay.

Could you turn the unit side on to your bed. I can't remember if there are any vents/grills at the side of our machine (I don't think there are). The hose is quite flexible so it should still be okay even if the back of the machine isn't facing the window. I suggested 2ft as a guess but if anyone knows any different please correct me.

Sorry, I can't be of more help.

richardc1983

I have replied to scarletjim via pm but as mentioned above you should have about a foot and half clearance at the back of the unit to allow air circulation so the unit can pull air into it.

If your in a flat you might be able to just buy one unit and wheel it through the flat to bedroom also on an evening. if you find the unit is suitable you could always then buy another of the same unit for that room.

I live in a big old style house with high ceilings so the space to be cooled is double to that of a modern house, plus there is no wall insulation. I have a 12,000btu unit and it cools the room ok. Ok it struggles on the peak of summer because of the room size. But it works well and certainly would in average sized rooms.

I also configured it with 2 hoses so that rather than it sucking air out the room it take air from outside so that the air in the room is recycled.

londonman81

I took delivery of a portable air conditioning unit today in the hope it would make a significant difference to the bedroom temperature in this warm weather.

However, after a few hours use I have felt only a minimal difference despite shelling out £350.

Am i being naive to think that it should be a a significant difference? If so, then isn't £350 a lot of money to pay for something that makes only a tiny difference?

What are other people's experiences with these things?

ariba10

Do not have one ourselves but understand that they must be vented to the outside or, they will warm the room rather than cool it.

londonman81

ariba10 wrote: »

Do not have one ourselves but understand that they must be vented to the outside or, they will warm the room rather than cool it.

Yup mine has a hose which goes outside through a window....I just would have expected it to make a bigger difference than it has so far.

ariba10

To keeping a bedroom cool we find that opening the bedroom window and a window in a bedroom in the other side of the house (Keeping doors in between open) works well.