Who's got Air Con in their home?

[bob6600]

One of the things I would like to get in my bedroom is a split air con system. Yes we only live in the UK and it doesn't get 'that hot' but for me it does. I've looked at a few and their are some competitively priced ones out there. I would like to spend about £1k but don't mind a bit more for a better unit. Daikin seem to be preferred from what I've read online. There are also Panasonic and Hitachi which seem to be good. I do know a professional fitter who can fit it safely so supply only isn't an issue.
Does anyone have a unit in their home and any pointers please?

 

[Darrell]

One of the things I would like to get in my bedroom is a split air con system. Yes we only live in the UK and it doesn't get 'that hot' but for me it does. I've looked at a few and their are some competitively priced ones out there. I would like to spend about £1k but don't mind a bit more for a better unit. Daikin seem to be preferred from what I've read online. There are also Panasonic and Hitachi which seem to be good. I do know a professional fitter who can fit it safely so supply only isn't an issue.
Does anyone have a unit in their home and any pointers please?

We’ve got 3 Dailkin units in our place in Greece. They’re very good.
You’ll be surprised how much you will use it.

 

[ChrisEdu]

Suffering from chronic health issues, I'd love home air con, as I really start to struggle when temperatures rise above 20°C.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Suffering from chronic health issues, I'd love home air con, as I really start to struggle when temperatures rise above 20°C.

Yep. Me too. Watching this thread with interest. Can’t wait for winter.

 

[st13phil]

My wife used to work from home for quite extended periods and we set up one of the bedrooms at the rear of the house as an office. The back of our house is south facing and it gets some serious solar gain, and a sunny day with 22-24c ambient would result in 28-30c in the office and our bedroom (also at the back of the house).

We had an LG split system installed with wall-mounted cooling units in what was the office and also our bedroom more than 10 years ago and it’s been faultless. It costs far less to run than people think, and the improved comfort for sleeping is priceless.

Avoid installing the internal air handling unit over the bed, as cold air will “fall” on you, its better to have it on an opposite wall. Daikin, Panasonic and Mitsubishi all have a strong reputation and there’s not much to choose between them. We picked the LG Artcool internal units because they look much nicer in a domestic setting than the standard offerings from other manufacturers. While the LG kit didn’t have the reputation of (say) Daikin, it’s been fine for us.

When needed, I tend to switch it on 30mins before going to bed to cool the room and then leave it on it’s night setting (reduced fan speed so it’s quieter) overnight. Having had it for the time we have, I would not now be without it.

One thing I would suggest is that you go for an outdoor unit that will run at least one more internal unit than you intend to install. That way if you want to add cooling to another room it’s just a question of piping up and installing another internal unit rather than installing another complete split installation.

 

[wrdcc01]

I have a Toyo unit in the bedroom (a well known brand all over nowhere) split which I got new on ebay about 4 years ago, easy to install and works a charm still. Best £200 ever.

 

[alabbasi]

Yeah I have a 5 ton 18 seer unit with a gas heat pump that runs the whole house. The house itself is only 2400 sq/ft so 5 ton is enough.

 

[GP801]

We have Gree units in Malta. Not sure if they exist in the UK. I think they are chinese made but have proved very reliable. My advice would be to find the quietest units that you can. The noise can be quite intrusive especially at night.

 

[bob6600]

Thanks chaps. What's the noise like from the external unit? Mine will likely go on the wall outside the bedroom (solid brick). I expect a small hum at times but I can live with that. I could put it a lot higher up but don't think it's worth plumbing it that high up (bedroom is ground floor). I would be more concerned if it was very noisy for the neighbour but I think they are fairly quiet these days?

 

[st13phil]

What's the noise like from the external unit?

It's a gentle hum unless it's working very hard at which point the fan noise increases a bit, but it's not what you'd call noisy and remember that you'll have the windows closed anyway.

If the unit will be visible from the road, then one reason to mount it high up is that it makes it more difficult for the local "recyclers & tarmac layers" to liberate it.

 

[bob6600]

It's a gentle hum unless it's working very hard at which point the fan noise increases a bit, but it's not what you'd call noisy and remember that you'll have the windows closed anyway.

If the unit will be visible from the road, then one reason to mount it high up is that it makes it more difficult for the local "recyclers & tarmac layers" to liberate it.

It's at the back so no issues with that. Time to up the search, knowing my luck my installer will be flat out due to the nice weather lol

 

[st13phil]

Time to up the search, knowing my luck my installer will be flat out due to the nice weather lol

Yes, the first spell of hot weather is when all the air-con installers get busy because people switch it on for the first time in months and find they have a fault...

A couple of additional points:

• The installer will be able to size an appropriate system for your needs and will probably have a preference for one or two brands, so I'd suggest talking with them and following their advice
• Most (all?) proper inverter split systems will work in reverse as a heater too, so attract a lower VAT rate (Edit: sorry, just realised that has been discontinued by HMRC)
• The electrical installation work will need to be carried out by a registered installer (or will have to be separately inspected and certificated)

 

[GP801]

The copper pipe to go to the external unit can be pretty pricey so you don't want a very long run if you can avoid it.

 

[bob6600]

Yes, the first spell of hot weather is when all the air-con installers get busy because people switch it on for the first time in months and find they have a fault...

A couple of additional points:

• The installer will be able to size an appropriate system for your needs and will probably have a preference for one or two brands, so I'd suggest talking with them and following their advice
• Most (all?) proper inverter split systems will work in reverse as a heater too, so attract a lower VAT rate (Edit: sorry, just realised that has been discontinued by HMRC)
• The electrical installation work will need to be carried out by a registered installer (or will have to be separately inspected and certificated)

Exactly this ^^. He does commercial fridges, freezers and air con etc and the summer is quite busy for him. On the electrical side, I spoke to him when I was doing the bedroom and he said I would need an electrical outlet (spur) outside so that was put in place at that time. It should be fine but I'll go with whatever advice he suggests as I want it done properly. Time to measure up and see which unit I need, I'll post some on here and see what the panel think

 

[Meldrew2]

Aside from the cooling action, my Toshiba (inverter type) also can blow heat - which came in handy a couple of months ago when our boiler failed!

 

[Darrell]

Aside from the cooling action, my Toshiba (inverter type) also can blow heat - which came in handy a couple of months ago when our boiler failed!

Ours do the same and we’ve used them in the winter if we’re too lazy to do the open fire.

 

[MercedesDriver]

Another vote for LGs here when talking about split systems. Frozzini is also very good but not sure it is available here in UK. Point to make is that most of the components are made in China so don’t be dazzled by branding as they are all probably coming from the same place. As others have said look for the most silent external unit and 12btu will be strong enough to cool one floor of standard semi detached house if the internal unit is well positioned. What you want to avoid is to have it blowing straight into you or a TV (it will stop working). Piping should be shortest possible. The ideal would be to have both external and internal unit on the same wall but on opposite sides of it. Not sure if you’ll need a building permission for placing the external unit on the front wall of the house and if there are any building regulations regarding it. Think where you’ll feed the condensed water from the unit. If on the side of a garden water can be used for watering plants. Needs to be serviced ones a year and filter from internal unit should be washed (showered actually) once a month. Oh, and the prices here are insane, if possible buy it on the continent and import it here.

 

[John]

We're looking at this right now.

Considering an external unit that can handle multiple blowers so we can add to the system later if we don't do them all in one go.

Although it doesn't get that hot in this country, it's the humidity that screws us over being surrounded by water in the UK.

And hot air can hold a lot of water - far more than cold air.

Even when it's mid 20s upwards and higher humidity, it's rotten trying to sleep.

We have a portable unit but it's a faff to setup and requires a bit of engineering with a few pillows to get the hose out the window but stop the hot air coming back in.

That, however, used surprisingly little electricity even running all night.

These systems and newer refrigerants have got a lot more efficient over the years thankfully.

Being in IT, I've seen many units over the years and they've all been reliable.

 

[st13phil]

Considering an external unit that can handle multiple blowers so we can add to the system later if we don't do them all in one go.

That’s exactly what we have: a 4-channel outdoor unit to which we initially piped two internal units.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Get someone that knows what they are doing.

We had a system installled in the Lab. of the factory when we built it using a local firm that was doing the heating. Think it cost close to £10k about 20 years ago.

Straight away we had problems, firm could not fix it or get it to cool properly.

In the end we got a specialist in, they told us the system installed was simply not capable of doing the job as it was designed to be installed above a bedroom for domestic use.

Firm that installed the system point blank refused to do anything about it.

New firm ripped everything out and charged close to £40k for massive LG units outside and in ceiling heating/cooling units. Worked a treat even with lots and lots of equipment on in the Lab.

Wish we had used the specialist to start with.