Air conditioning - one unit on each floor?

blizeH

Hi, I've seen some cases where people have been able to cool (or heat) their entire house with a single AC unit on each floor. I think our ground floor and second floor are fairly straight forward and I'm not overly bothered about the rooms which the AC won't touch, but the first floor is proving difficult to figure out what to do.

Currently the bedrooms at the back of the house (2 and 4) are the children's rooms - ideally we would like these to be kept cool, but they're on the north side of the house which never gets any sun anyway. I was tempted to put a unit in each of these rooms, but when they are older they will be moving into the two rooms in the front of the house (1 and 3). It feels overkill to have 1 on the ground and second floors, then 4 on the second floor so am trying to figure out our best options. We've had two quotes - one person said to put the unit in bedroom 1 (easy since it'll be on the same wall as the other units) blowing out towards the stairs, and another has said that won't work and the landing is the best option (which seems logical, but it has an awkward layout and still would result in it blowing from the bedroom 1 wall towards the stairs



Would be grateful for any suggestions, thank you!

Bigphil1474

Are you in the UK? If so, my suggestion would be not to bother with air con units. Expensive and pointless for the couple of hot weeks we might get IMO. Presumably the property already benefits from central heating? If you are fitting heating as there is no current heating system, I'd still avoid air cooling as the cost of running them is high, and energy costs aren't going to drop back to pre-covid levels. 

subjecttocontract

One unit on each floor is unlikely to be enough to reach all rooms. You can buy inverter air conditioners (hot & cold) where one external unit will support 3 or 4 internal units. They are air sourced heat pumps. Take a look at what's on offer from Mitsubishi.

twopenny

What is it that you are aiming for exactly?
Is it to cool the childrens rooms?
They are in cool northerly ones at the moment but going to move to the hot ones?

To work out where would need to know what outcome you hope to achieve . Will the background noise affect anyone.

I lived in a north south house and spent hot days in the northerly beds, cold ones southerly + opening the northerly windows on hot days. Seems easier 

subjecttocontract

Daikin or Mitsubishi......search them on the web for details.

moneysaver1978

blizeH said:

Sorry off-topic and sadly cannot help with ACs but I love your house layout! Would love to see a photo of that sun room as we are looking to add a porch/front extension (to make a "proper" hallway) out of the front door.

Once budget allows in future, we are going to add a back extension and open up the kitchen - exactly like yours!

EssexExile

Ceiling fans work wonders and are a lot cheaper.

tacpot12

I would suggest you find an expert installer who can guide you on whether one of the external units that supports four internal units would be sufficient, and if need two external units how best to split the load over these units. I expect the split will have an impact on the cost of using them.

They are effective at heating, but you have to get used to the hot air being blown down to ground level, so it can rise up. 

GrubbyGirl_2

I had my house refurbished and considered AC but running costs are pretty high and they are noisy.  I had ceiling fans put in and it was the best thing I ever did.  Was perfect last year when it was so hot.  Save yourself some money and forget AC

john.h

I have a Daikin air to air heat pump (air conditioner) they are not noisy, and they don’t just blast heat downwards. You can’t really compare a ceiling fan, they don’t cool rooms down and they can’t heat a room up if needed,  
I have been in plenty of hotel rooms in Spain etc with just a ceiling fan and I’m sorry they don’t work. 

blizeH

Bigphil1474 said:

Are you in the UK? If so, my suggestion would be not to bother with air con units. Expensive and pointless for the couple of hot weeks we might get IMO. Presumably the property already benefits from central heating? If you are fitting heating as there is no current heating system, I'd still avoid air cooling as the cost of running them is high, and energy costs aren't going to drop back to pre-covid levels. 

Thank you, we have solar panels and batteries, so was thinking along with a cheap energy night tarrif (7.5p per kWh) it could work out at a reasonable rate to heat the house as well as cool it.

subjecttocontract said:

One unit on each floor is unlikely to be enough to reach all rooms. You can buy inverter air conditioners (hot & cold) where one external unit will support 3 or 4 internal units. They are air sourced heat pumps. Take a look at what's on offer from Mitsubishi.

Thank you! Sorry I wasn't clear, but that is the kind of unit we're after. But you think we would need a unit in each room still?

twopenny said:

What is it that you are aiming for exactly? Is it to cool the childrens rooms? They are in cool northerly ones at the moment but going to move to the hot ones? To work out where would need to know what outcome you hope to achieve . Will the background noise affect anyone. I lived in a north south house and spent hot days in the northerly beds, cold ones southerly + opening the northerly windows on hot days. Seems easier 

Thanks, hoping to cool the house in summer and heat it in winter using this unit. The top floor (our bedroom) is quite hot already which doesn't bode well

moneysaver1978 said:

Sorry off-topic and sadly cannot help with ACs but I love your house layout! Would love to see a photo of that sun room as we are looking to add a porch/front extension (to make a "proper" hallway) out of the front door. Once budget allows in future, we are going to add a back extension and open up the kitchen - exactly like yours!

Thank you, yeah we really like the layout! Sorry I only have a photo from the outside and the inside, facing outwards. We don't have a door on it at the moment but would like to - help keep the cold out in winter, and heat out in summer!

EssexExile said:

Ceiling fans work wonders and are a lot cheaper.

Thank you, to be honest we hadn't properly considered this but maybe we should! Probably worth trying before going crazy and splashing out on AC.

tacpot12 said:

I would suggest you find an expert installer who can guide you on whether one of the external units that supports four internal units would be sufficient, and if need two external units how best to split the load over these units. I expect the split will have an impact on the cost of using them. They are effective at heating, but you have to get used to the hot air being blown down to ground level, so it can rise up. 

Thanks! Good points. We have had two installers but they kinda said different things so I figured it was a good idea to ask here.

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

I had my house refurbished and considered AC but running costs are pretty high and they are noisy.  I had ceiling fans put in and it was the best thing I ever did.  Was perfect last year when it was so hot.  Save yourself some money and forget AC

Thanks! Definitely going to consider (and probably try) ceiling fans  

john.h said:

I have a Daikin air to air heat pump (air conditioner) they are not noisy, and they don’t just blast heat downwards. You can’t really compare a ceiling fan, they don’t cool rooms down and they can’t heat a room up if needed,  
I have been in plenty of hotel rooms in Spain etc with just a ceiling fan and I’m sorry they don’t work. 

Thank you. I'm tempted to try them anyway? Or at least they could be ideal on the first floor which we're struggling to figure out what to do - have one AC unit in the hallway and then a ceiling fan in the rooms which need it?

Thanks again all, and sorry for such a long reply!