Miscellaneous Portable air con units UK

[mizmar]

Buy an aircon unit.
Contribute to global warming.

Well. A heat exchanger, run off renewable electricity; cools in the summer and warms in the winter (using less energy than alternatives). Pretty good deal.
But physical measures - insulation, ventilation, shade etc. Are not only important but, IMHO more comfortable, not least for cooling.

 

[h4yn0nnym0u5e]

Buy an aircon unit.
Contribute to global warming.

Ours gets used, out of necessity in my wife’s work room, maybe 40 hours per year.

In the recent heatwaves, it got lugged into the house once … and we didn’t use it then. Careful management of windows and curtains saw to that.

 

[DavidUK]

We've had 100mm cavity walls insulation in the last house 2021-2025 and the current house (moved in Wednesday) and it's HORRIBLE in the summer. It's THE reason we must have AC.
New regulations on excess insulation will help but any modern house will suffer.
We have indoor cats so opening windows is tricky.
For our extension, solar panels and battery storage will run the AC. Sun heats, but provides power to cool. Cool.

 

[MarkSax]

What the average household can do to mitigate climate change is a drop in the ocean compared to what governments and industry can do. Wars around the globe are far more destructive than my AC units yet they just carry on. How many people pay extra to offset their carbon emissions flying to their holiday destinations? Is F1 (and motorsports) an ecologically viable sport when so few of the world’s population enjoy it?…..etc,etc,etc. I love my AC units. They run 12 hours a day. Life is short.

 

[Wonko]

What the average household can do to mitigate climate change is a drop in the ocean compared to what governments and industry can do.

Perhaps.
But that should not stop you from doing what's right. If enough people make the right steps, things will get moving in the right direction. If we wait for the government, it might be too late....

 

[Targa]

What the average household can do to mitigate climate change is a drop in the ocean compared to what governments and industry can do. Wars around the globe are far more destructive than my AC units yet they just carry on. How many people pay extra to offset their carbon emissions flying to their holiday destinations? Is F1 (and motorsports) an ecologically viable sport when so few of the world’s population enjoy it?…..etc,etc,etc. I love my AC units. They run 12 hours a day. Life is short.

And will get shorter.

 

[MarkSax]

Perhaps.
But that should not stop you from doing what's right. If enough people make the right steps, things will get moving in the right direction. If we wait for the government, it might be too late....

You’re absolutely right, but I’m very cynical. At the risk of hijacking the thread (apologies, Jeanette, delete the post if need be) let me share one small story (among several I have heard) about tackling climate change.
A friend who works with small developing nations told me a large industrialised western government (not the UK) was looking to exchange ‘green’ equipment it produced for carbon credits, which the developing nation had plenty of but not enough equipment. Carbon credits have a virtual price. The equipment offered was of premium quality but the offer was 4 credits for 1 machine when the open market rate was 1 credit for 1 machine. Why? Because the purchaser govt was 1. Subsidising its own industry 2. paying commissions to middlemen…on both sides 3. Replenishing its own party coffers….etc. I’m pretty sure that is not the right or proper way to go about tackling climate change but this happens everyday on multiple levels. And this is just the climate. There’s a lot of hot air circulating in the corridors of power but there’s very little actually on the ground.

 

[MikeMorrell]

Thanks for this discussion!

I live in a small (rented) 1st floor apartment which gets full-on sun both mornings (kitchen/hall) and afternoons/evenings (living room/bedroom). I have internal blinds on both sides which I keep closed but they don't help as much as I'd hoped. They keep direct sunlight out but they also act as 'heat radiators. I keep my back door/windows open at night and early mornings but the living room temperature doesn't drop much more than a degree or 2. So during recent heatwaves, my living room temperature has reached 30C. And it takes days to drop back down to 24-25 degrees C.

So for the first time ever, I looked on-line into buying a portable airco which would have the capacity to cool down my small apartment. I haven't bitten the bullet yet, due to conflicting 'recommendations' from different websites, notably:
- portable airco's are much less effective than 'real airco's' that blow hot air out of a window seal
- cheaper portable airco's are noisy (60-65 db) which can cause health risks over extended usage periods
- portable airco's are costly (and bad for the environment) in terms of energy use; 'environmentally friendly' websites suggest a combination of 'blocking the sun' during the day, cooling the flat down at night/mornings and using fans to keep my living room environment 'liveable' even at high temperatures

I'm lucky in the sense that I'm retired, live alone and I can just laze around at home in a pair of shorts when my living room temperature reaches 28-30 degrees C. But I'm still tempted!

 

[Jeanette]

@MarkSax no problem going off topic slightly but don't let it get political 😉

My thoughts re some global warning issues and solutions are probably best not aired.

Jx

 

[mizmar]

But that should not stop you from doing what's right

Me to...
... But not because

If enough people make the right steps, things...

At home I have a plastic cup and a bit of card in many rooms so if an insect flys in and gets trapped, I can safely escort it outside. Not least of all bees... Sure bees are under stress, we have bee friendly plants, governments should do more. Would the bees be ok if everyone looked after them? Probably not. Is my care of trapped insects an political stand? No.
I do this - and minimize my carbon footprint - because it is, as you say, the right thing to do.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Buy an aircon unit.
Contribute to global warming.

Not necessarily. If the aircon is run from solar (and you don't waste it by opening windows at the same time hence cooling the outside) then it's not necessarily contributing to global warming.

One problem is slightly narrow minded thinking whereby you are encouraged to install heat pumps ( instead of gas boilers ) to run water based central heating (radiators) whereas with an ir to air heat pump it's also aircon.

And, when you need air cooling it is at the best time for solar generation. So provided your aircon / heat pump is driven from solar, you are actually helping the planet.

There are also some great ventilation system that are integrated. For example solar panels generate heat beneath the panels. There are systems that connect this to ducts so that the excess heat draws cooler air up from below ground level into the building. Genius.

 

[mizmar]

...to run water based central heating (radiators) whereas with an air to air heat pump it's also aircon

It's what I thought - and have.

Apparently, however, some air to water (and I assume ground to water) heat pumps will also cool... I don't know how common that is, if it's extra cost / complexity etc.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Apparently, however, some air to water (and I assume ground to water) heat pumps will also cool... I don't know how common that is, if it's extra cost / complexity etc.

Our air source heat pump is capable of cooling, but we were told it's only worth it if you have an underfloor system. Just cooling radiators will maybe not do a lot. Who knows though with changing technology?

 

[mizmar]

told it's only worth it if you have an underfloor system .. Just cooling radiators will maybe not do a lot

That seems reasonable.

(Aside: next door is having ground to underfloor installed, along with a general upgrade. It's terrifying! Norway has virtually no installed base of water radiators)

 

[Targa]

Not necessarily. If the aircon is run from solar (and you don't waste it by opening windows at the same time hence cooling the outside) then it's not necessarily contributing to global warming.

One problem is slightly narrow minded thinking whereby you are encouraged to install heat pumps ( instead of gas boilers ) to run water based central heating (radiators) whereas with an ir to air heat pump it's also aircon.

And, when you need air cooling it is at the best time for solar generation. So provided your aircon / heat pump is driven from solar, you are actually helping the planet.

There are also some great ventilation system that are integrated. For example solar panels generate heat beneath the panels. There are systems that connect this to ducts so that the excess heat draws cooler air up from below ground level into the building. Genius.

There is the big 'if' there of run from solar power.
Of course pedantically there is also the environmental damage caused by manufacture of the units to be considered.
Heat pumps are yet another juggernaut disguised as a bandwagon for the government to jump on whilst throwing the public beneath the wheels.

 

[Pete Thomas]

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[Targa]

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[Pete Thomas]

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[thomsax]

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[Pete Thomas]

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