Air conditioners/coolers what's best

anooprattan

As the weather is hot and I can't sleep, I@m thinking of getting an air conditioner or cooler - any ideas on what's best to buy and what's cheapest gratefully received!

dalepearson

I got one last year from homebase on offer @ £150. Great unit.

dalepearson

Just looked, they still have it http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=20001&langId=-1&catalogId=4551&productId=232603

brenmcc1

What size is teh room you want to install it into?

jazzy

I was considering getting one of these but they are very power consuming devices the one I saw was 2100W! Also I think that you need some kind of outlet ventilation for the unit to work effectively.

brenmcc1

yes on the higher BTU units they have a hose which you stick through a hole in your wall.

George_Bray

anooprattan wrote:

any ideas on what's best to buy...

Evaporative (water based) coolers will only lower the temperature a very small amount but might work OK if they blow air directly on to you, much like a simple fan.

By using vast amounts of electric energy, proper air con units can chill a room almost as cold as you like.

The simplest type of air con unit has both the evaporator and condensor in one standalone unit in the room, with a sizeable vent (exhaust) pipe which should really go through a sealed hole in the wall. If the vent pipe is stuck through an open window, there is a further, significant loss of efficiency. At best, these units are still inefficient and normally quite noisy.

Much more efficient but more expensive, are split systems where the evaporator unit is in the room with one gentle fan, and the condensor is outside with its far more powerful and noisy fan. The cooling result is better and the noise factor much lower. I would only ever install this type of system, personally.

Regards
George

brenmcc1

And the general DIYer can pick them up in B&Q. Branded under the Airforce name. You should be able to get a free dvd in store showing the installation process. Quite expensive though with prices from £450. Personally I'd wait. near mid summer i'm sure B&Q will have a 20% off air treatment. They did last year and usually follow trend annualy. plus if there is 20% off and you find a similar unit cheaper somwhere near they'll nock 10% off that again....worth looking around.

dalepearson

Mine is an A rated device, and doesnt really use that much power.
Its worth it though.

gromituk

A-rated is better than G-rated but there's no getting away from the fact that air conditioners consume a lot of power. How much is "doesn't really use that much"?