In Praise of Air Conditioning

[mjr]

Sadly at the moment down here among the God forsaken heathen an open window does nothing more than allow a hot sweaty soup of muggy air to flow in.

That's why you open them at night, then close them during the day and let the house insulation keep the heat out. There shouldn't be any need for air con in the Midlands yet this year. Even my retrofitted 35-year-old house can keep cool without it. I thought yours was newer.

A few years ago, where we had a period of sustained 40ish days and 20ish nights, I couldn't cool the house sufficiently overnight and so lost control of the temperature after three days. Then air con might have been useful. For about a week. Still not worth it.

Of course, cars need air con more often, being basically mobile greenhouses, but that can be reduced by using bikes for short journeys. Amusingly, even little "urban heat islands" are better to cycle around because English planners tend to shove cycleways around the edges, where you're in the flow of cool air getting sucked in to go up in the thermal currents generated by the heat island, often with boundary trees offering some shade... meanwhile, motorists are sat in the middle of eight lanes of sweltering blacktop far from any shade... and it's really dark blacktop, without the lighter stone or concrete mixed into road surfaces in more Mediterranean countries, so it gets really hot. Scorchio!

Edit to add: read more. Oh yeah. MS. That makes air con worthwhile. Still shouldn't really be needed yet. Also saw your post reminding me about the extreme solar gain of your windows. I'd add shutters, you added film. Now the test!

 

[mjr]

Our next door neighbours apparently have a portable, there's a great big flexi pipe sticking out their window.
It must be working awfully hard, eternally trying to cool the warm air coming in the rest of the open window ?

Yeah, there should be an insulated blanking plate for the pipe to go through. We used to have them in a server room I once worked in. People often don't think these things through. They just fit a bigger unit because it's not working well enough. Same thing people do with boilers for heating. 28kW output? Yikes! 😲

Silliest one I saw was in a corner shop. Air con monoblock unit by the open-fronted fridge, blowing cold air into it. OK. Air pipe running the full width of the shop and out the entrance, blasting customers with toasty hot air on arrival and departure, plus heating the whole shop nicely. The fridge next to the air con was fine, but the packet cakes had condensation running down inside 🤢

 

[lazybloke]

Yeah, there should be an insulated blanking plate for the pipe to go through. We used to have them in a server room I once worked in. People often don't think these things through. They just fit a bigger unit because it's not working well enough. Same thing people do with boilers for heating. 28kW output? Yikes! 😲

That's might be the maximum output. It would likely modulate to a far lower output, and be further restricted when the internal and external thermostats do their thing

 

[Drago]

That's why you open them at night, then close them during the day and let the house insulation keep the heat out. There shouldn't be any need for air con in the Midlands yet this year. Even my retrofitted 35-year-old house can keep cool without it. I thought yours was newer.

It's a spanking new house, A rated energy efficiency. It simply doesn't let heat out. The windows are relatively small for that reason, except for the huge ones in the living room that suck in the sunlight and heat the ground floor, and thus the whole house in winter but make it a furnace in the summer,

Opening windows is a noble tnought, but largely pointless when there isn't a whisper of wind and therefore no airflow.

I've slept everywhere from Finland to Mississippi and a lot of places in between and I sweat, moan, gut it out and I'm no worse off afterwards for the experience. I'm sure you're the same as me in that regard.

That doesnt work for Mrs D who has multiple sclerosis and if she overheats she can end up hospitalised, hence me going to the not insignificant expense of having it fitted for her benefit.

The solar film helps, and also has the benefit of making curtains unnecessary where it's fitted, not that we're overlooked at the rear. Rest of the rooms a the rear have white venetian blinds with high solar reflective properties - I'm not frivolous in the use of the AC, have done everything reasonable with these measures to minimise the need to flufk the switch.

Then other advantage is that run in reverse it's far more efficient and less expensive than using the central heating. Unless we have a sustained cold snap in heavy negative numbers I don't need to use the central heating at all, and last time I checked not burning natural gas was considered a good thing.

 

[OldShep]

Minimum temperature at Eskdalemuir, near me, yesterday was 2C
1.7 at Tyndrum no AC required 😀

 

[slowmotion]

This is worth a look...[media]
]View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mBeYC2KGc[/media]

 

[FrankCrank]

As it's so hot over there, this might help. Form an orderly queue.

https://newatlas.com/outdoors/worlds-first-portable-shower-dryer-yoomiily/

 

[CXRAndy]

The UK has muggy hot weather generally, so being able to control the humidity is crucial in feeling comfortable. Aircon does this, extracting moisture from the air

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Aircon? Scotland?

 

[lazybloke]

Domestic aircon?
Electrically adjusting car seats?
Heated car seats?
Heated steering wheel?


The people who talk about the above are the ones to avoid at parties.

 

[fossyant]

It's a spanking new house, A rated energy efficiency. It simply doesn't let heat out. The windows are relatively small for that reason, except for the huge ones in the living room that suck in the sunlight and heat the ground floor, and thus the whole house in winter but make it a furnace in the summer,

Opening windows is a noble tnought, but largely pointless when there isn't a whisper of wind and therefore no airflow.

I've slept everywhere from Finland to Mississippi and a lot of places in between and I sweat, moan, gut it out and I'm no worse off afterwards for the experience. I'm sure you're the same as me in that regard.

That doesnt work for Mrs D who has multiple sclerosis and if she overheats she can end up hospitalised, hence me going to the not insignificant expense of having it fitted for her benefit.

The solar film helps, and also has the benefit of making curtains unnecessary where it's fitted, not that we're overlooked at the rear. Rest of the rooms a the rear have white venetian blinds with high solar reflective properties - I'm not frivolous in the use of the AC, have done everything reasonable with these measures to minimise the need to flufk the switch.

Then other advantage is that run in reverse it's far more efficient and less expensive than using the central heating. Unless we have a sustained cold snap in heavy negative numbers I don't need to use the central heating at all, and last time I checked not burning natural gas was considered a good thing.

Exactly the same here, except our house is 30 years old but exceptionally well insulated. Just holds the heat upstairs - two bedrooms are south facing, and the bricks heat up. Cheap on gas in winter though. Windows we can't throw open, and never helped, as we've four indoor cats. Downstairs is fine. Upstairs has always been an issue, even before cats.