air con units, any good for heating?

jase_uk_2

Hi
We have recently had a new conservatory built and im looking at various portable air con systems that are available through BnQ, Wickes. They have the ability to heat as well as cool which suits our needs. Does anyone know if the units are actually any good at heating the ones ive seen are 12000 btu and 9000 btu if this helps. We are looking to spend no more than £250.

Cardew

Any ACU that has a heating facility is essentially just an electric fan heater and you can by a heater to provide that facility separately for a few pounds, albeit any form of electrical heating is very expensive to run.

I would suggest that you concentrate on the air conditioning aspect of any appliance, in particular the noise when operating.

inmypocketnottheirs

The most cost effective method of heating a conservatory is by putting a radiator/s off your exisiting system. We have a 5 x 3m conservatory that is south facing. For cooling in the summer we use blinds and a ceiling fan. In winter two twin rads keep it warm, and we have not noticed any additional fuel consumption.

richardc1983

Air conditiopning units that heat as well as cool are more efficient than heating via gas central heating systems. REason being is you get double the ammount of energy out as you put in, For example if you put 2kw of electricity into it you will get 4 kw of heat out of it. This is because the units take latent heat out of the air and put it into the room. These are known as heat pumps so check the unit heats via the heat pump, otherwise they may just have an electrical heating element which is the same as a fan heater.

The same goes for gas if you put in 2kw worth of gas you will get 2kw of heat from that gas you have put in. So not as efficient.

Fan heaters work the same but heat pumps are excellent.

THese units can be used to cool the room in summer so you are getting year round use and comfort.

If the b&q units are on offer then yeh get one although they are cheaper componets than decent companies products.

richardc1983

little explanatiopn here:

http://www.diyconservatories.uk.com/conservatory-aircon.asp

Cardew

richardc1983 wrote: »

Air conditiopning units that heat as well as cool are more efficient than heating via gas central heating systems. REason being is you get double the ammount of energy out as you put in, For example if you put 2kw of electricity into it you will get 4 kw of heat out of it. This is because the units take latent heat out of the air and put it into the room. These are known as heat pumps so check the unit heats via the heat pump, otherwise they may just have an electrical heating element which is the same as a fan heater.

The same goes for gas if you put in 2kw worth of gas you will get 2kw of heat from that gas you have put in. So not as efficient.

Fan heaters work the same but heat pumps are excellent.

THese units can be used to cool the room in summer so you are getting year round use and comfort.

If the b&q units are on offer then yeh get one although they are cheaper componets than decent companies products.

I think there is some confusion here. You are talking about different systems.

Heat pumps are very expensive to buy and fit, but you can get up to 4 -5 times more output than input. The link you give talks about taking 4 hours to fit and are not portable - which the OP requires.

Heat pumps for heating a whole house often cost well in excess of £10,000. I don't know the price of the unit you show but it will be many times that of the normal portable ACU unit with a heating facility.

The normal portable AC unit that incorporates some heating(as supplied by B & Q etc) just incorporates a fan heater.