I want: Air Conditioning

DanH_3

I agree with RichardC. The range of portable units available at http://www.koolbreeze.co.uk are all worth consideration as they are high quality and have good features. They also do a Wallbreeze model which can be fitted by a plumber or electrician rather than a more expensive air conditioning engineer. For an extremely quiet portable unit, their 14000btu Climatemaster is superb. Some Koolbreeze models are sometimes sold on Ebay by a company called "Climate King" at a bit below Retail price.

Mrs_pbradley936

If you or someone in the house is competent at DIY then you can install the unit yourself. We did that last year but my husband is very good at DIY – he used to be an engineer anyway so is very practical. He also had all the tools including the one for boring through the walls. The unit itself cost about £450 and it took a couple of hours to fit. We only have it in the main bedroom. If anyone wants to know about where to get one PM me and I will give the details I do not want to put the chap’s phone number on an open forum in case he gets lots of silly calls. Our unit is very quiet and I am tempted to say silent but you can hear it very faintly if you listen hard enough but it would never keep you awake.

If you are not able to fit it yourself then I would advise a professional installation rather than one of those units where you hang a pipe out of the window. The are noisy and not very good. I think Phil (the man we bought from) can fit them as well and I know he does the revac and recharge (you need that every couple of years or so to keep the unit working properly).

peterbaker

I am going to try a couple of Mastercool portable evaporative coolers made / distibuted by an Australian company Convair / Seeley International.

I first saw these on sale in El Corte Ingles in Puerto Banus a year or two ago for about 300 euros, and then noticed they had been on sale here too. I know Robert Dyas sold them at one stage and they can be found on Google for about £250. They are an extremely simple environmentally friendly concept and it will be interesting to see how effective they are. I am not sure they are quiet enough to sleep with but I am almost wishing for a swelteringly hot period to find out whether I got a bargain or not!

I bought mine used for a total of £60 the pair. I took them apart to clean them and they are now good as new and ready to rumble!

Although not small, they are very light so can be moved around easily on their wheels and are actually no real trouble to lift upstairs either.

You might even find a new one on eBay for less than £100 out of season.

mjr600

Glad someone started this thread, I'm also looking at a portable air con unit for this summer. It will only be for use at night and I hope to use a single unit to send cooled air to two bedrooms. I managed this with an air cooler last year set to swing back and forth.

I appreciate the advice provided by RichardC but its the sub £200 category where my cash has to go (new car and holiday bookings have hoovered up my cash).

There are units at Argos for £170, on Ebay DeLonghi units can be bought for about the £200 mark.

Does anyone own one of the cheaper units or have a view.

shopndrop

I have been out looking at the B&Q ones today but after reading this will now look online and forget about B&Q. I want something portable so that I can use it during the day in my home office and then move it to the bedroom to cool it down for the night. Have looked at the ones suggested above and 52db seems to be the quietest around - does anyone know if there are any quieter ones around?

shopndrop

richardc1983 wrote: »

If you want low noise go for a split system but if you wanting convenience of being able to cool the room before going to bed to lower temp and make more confortable then go for portable.

Cheapest is portable units but a reliable and effiecient system can be fitted for about £500 more.

Does the above mean that you would switch the portable one off before going to bed - are they too noisy to leave on and sleep?

Also are the portable ones not so reliable as a fitted system?

Does the fitted one require more maintenance than a portable one?

moonrakerz

I have read an identical post from richardc1983 on another thread. Whilst agreeing with some of his comments about mobile/split units I strongly disagree with his comments about unit from B & Q, and similar outlets.

I have had a B & Q unit for many years, it has performed well, cooling a large lounge in even the hottest weather.

"These units are 4.4kw, units from b&q are much lower or will claim to be of similar power but are not.

The unit i have is very professional and modern looking. 15,000 btu for the larger rooms, It also functions as a true heat pump providing 4kw of heat from 2kw of electric input... it doesnt use elements to heat the air so is very efficient.

Very impressed with it.

Another unit that i have in my house is a 12,000 btu, suitable for most average sized lounges. Provides 3 kilowatts of cooling by only putting 1.5kw of electric into it. This unit heats but uses an electric element but is a very good cooler."

This is meaningless mumbo jumbo !

richardc1983

Well only just managed to log onto the forum after being offline for a while.

The meaningless mumbo jumbo is actually true facts, as offered in the post i welcome any questions regarding this as would rather someone get a decent unit.

Perhaps b&q units have improved slightly but after looking at their range if you size up a room properly and add factors such as heat gain from windows and number of occupents the number of BTU goes up.

My mumbo jumbo is like sizing an electric fan heater. U can by 2kw fan heaters that heat a room up good except you burn 2kw of electricity to get that 2kw of heat.

With a heat pump or a/c unit you put in 2kw of electric and you get double the heat/cold air out. MUch more efficient.The b&q units is my personal opinion i have had one before and it was very poor.

Although i have just looked on b&q website and i would recommend

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9372977&fh_sort_by=_price_rrp_min&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_sort_order=-1&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3c%7b10096%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b10098%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b8960100%7d%2fspecificationsProductType%3dAir+Conditioners%2fspecificationsSpecificProductType%3dMobile+Air+Conditioners&fh_refview=lister&ts=1179257646015&isSearch=false

This is 14000 btu which is very powerful for a portable. Also seems reasonably priced at £299.00. This is a new model that i know is made by a company called GREE and Airforce will brand as there own. B&Q do a 9000btu for £199 which will be very poor and will not cool the room at all, so it is worth spending the extra £100.

ANy questions please do pm me

richardc1983

shopndrop wrote: »

Does the above mean that you would switch the portable one off before going to bed - are they too noisy to leave on and sleep?

Also are the portable ones not so reliable as a fitted system?

Does the fitted one require more maintenance than a portable one?

Portable a/c are too noisy to have on at night, reason being is the compressor is mounted inside the unit, split systems the compressor is outside the building.

YOu could have the fan on i suppose as these are quiet but actually having the unit chilling the air would mean too noisy to sleep. Although i can sometimes sleep with it on, when the compressor is cycling on and off (reaching set temp and then coming back on when room temperature rises) it can make a loud noise when it starts up.

Cant think of any thing else to ask but i have mentioned a unit from b&q i wud reccomend and the koolbreeze website which are good also.

Please pm me if you wish to know more.

Cheers.

richardc1983

peterbaker wrote: »

I am going to try a couple of Mastercool portable evaporative coolers made / distibuted by an Australian company Convair / Seeley International.

I first saw these on sale in El Corte Ingles in Puerto Banus a year or two ago for about 300 euros, and then noticed they had been on sale here too. I know Robert Dyas sold them at one stage and they can be found on Google for about £250. They are an extremely simple environmentally friendly concept and it will be interesting to see how effective they are. I am not sure they are quiet enough to sleep with but I am almost wishing for a swelteringly hot period to find out whether I got a bargain or not!

I bought mine used for a total of £60 the pair. I took them apart to clean them and they are now good as new and ready to rumble!

Although not small, they are very light so can be moved around easily on their wheels and are actually no real trouble to lift upstairs either.

You might even find a new one on eBay for less than £100 out of season.

Personally i wouldnt recoomend evaporative coolers for cooling in a house. They are better for very large areas with lots of ventilation, such as open doors and windows and good air flow. They work on the wind chill factor and add moisture to the air so humidity levels go up which can add to hot temperatures on a hot day. Humidity is the problem on hot days and is what makes us uncomfortable.