air conditioning units (merged threads)

Goldenyears

We bought a floorstanding Homebase unit about 4 years ago. It was much less than £350. It could get a bedroom at 27 degC down to 21 degC in a couple of hours, but it was noisy. We couldn't easily sleep with it on so we switched off at bedtime. Overall it worked well. Haven't needed it for some time so expect some seals have dried out.

moonrakerz

I have had one of these units for many years and think they are great.

They are a bit noisy, but a split (quieter) unit is in a totally different price range.

First Question: Are you sure that you have a proper "air conditioning" unit ? not something with a similar sounding name.

Next question: what size is the unit (in BTUs), is it suitable for the size of your bedroom?

The biggest "fault" with these units is the vent pipe, which people just hang out of the window; if you do this:-
a. The heat that the machine has just extracted from your room comes back in the window.
b. The pipe gets quite hot. The pipe (6" across, 6 ft long, or thereabouts) is a wonderful radiator so a large percentage of the extracted heat never even gets as far as the window before it is radiated/convected back into the room.

I have always had my unit standing right up against the wall with a 6" hole cut through the wall behind it lining up with vent hole on the rear of the unit. I literally have about 1" of pipe in the room. Plus, the short length of pipe means that the fan in the machine actually removes the extracted heat much more efficiently.

diable

I sleep next to the fridge with the door open ;o))

Mankysteve

At my old work we used a bog standard B&Q one(as it was B&Q store) It cooled our largish staff canteen quiet well. are you shutting the bedroom door.

ormus

weve got a BQ one too. it does the job pretty well. although noisy.
the room must be sealed off apart from the extractor hose. ie you cant have windows and doors open.

just like a cars air con unit.

withabix

Have they gone up in price?

I got a 12000BTU one for about £125 and that cools the bedroom down so far that you shiver!

The trick is to use them for an hour or so BEFORE you go to bed, to pre-cool the room.

Doors and windows shut (apart from a small gap for the exhaust) is a must.

If the air movement outside is toward sthe window however, the warm exhaust air will come back into the room.

As air conditioning units are fairly low on efficiency, the amount of heat generated will be more than the amount of cooling, so if you try and use one unvented, your room will get hotter and hotter and hotter...

Debt_Free_Chick

An air conditioning unit does nothing to lower the temperature - it simply lowers the humidity making a "drier warm room" more comfortable than a "humid warm room". This is why it needs to be vented outside, to remove the moisture extracted from the room.

Lowering the temperature is only a feature of the unit if it actually claims to do this. AC units can actually generate heat, due to the power needed to extract the moisture.

Your AC may not be doing what you thought it would - have you read the documentation for it and does it say anything relevant?

ormus

thats a dehumidifier, not an AC unit.
an AC unit contains a mini fridge unit. (in effect).

mr-mr_2

Thinking of getting air con (whole of house, depending on cost), what's the best way to do this? Which brand is recommended? Thanks for any insight.

moonrakerz

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

An air conditioning unit does nothing to lower the temperature - it simply lowers the humidity making a "drier warm room" more comfortable than a "humid warm room". This is why it needs to be vented outside, to remove the moisture extracted from the room.

Lowering the temperature is only a feature of the unit if it actually claims to do this. AC units can actually generate heat, due to the power needed to extract the moisture.

Your AC may not be doing what you thought it would - have you read the documentation for it and does it say anything relevant?

Sorry, but this reply is very misleading, if not absolute rubbish !

An "air conditioning unit" DOES reduce the temperature, it contains a refrigeration unit to do just that. The purpose of the vent IS to exhaust the hot air extracted from the room, it can also be used to remove the moisture that a "proper" air conditioning unit produces. (hence the puddle under your car !) Some units don't do this and you have to empty a tank - this water is great for your steam iron !
I will agree that there are a number of units which claim to "cool" a room, but do this by blowing warm air over water which gives the impression of cooling - this is NOT "air conditioning".

This IS an air conditioner:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4140492.htm

This ISN'T:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4250148/Trail/searchtext%3EAIR+COOLER.htm

Totally different technology - one cools, the other doesn't.

PS: Today my "air conditioner" has been running in my lounge, it was 31 deg outside, 21 in my lounge - very pleasant !