Air con, who runs it at home?

[PJ87]

summer is firmly here as we have seen.. I live in a 3 bed 1935 semi in greater london and it does get hot in the summer down here.. my mate from up't north claims its because we are more built up down here

anyways before I moved in I bought a portable A/C unit from comet (old school) for £200.. its one of my best ever purchases.. keeps our room beautiful in the summer.. isnt that energy friendly now days I think though. I have been given the green light by the Boss to start planning our loft extension .. looking for a dormer with an en-suite etc up there.. I said to her from the off I want hard wired air con up there because will be even hotter.. but after this heat wave im starting to think its time to re-consider a bit.. in for a penny in for a pound and all that.. so planning 1 unit in each of the 2 big rooms upstairs.. ignore the box room as im making that a laundry room lol.. then one unit in the living room and maybe one in the kitchen depending what the people say .. obviously with the one in the loft aswell

anyone else got these units? I know they are cheaper to run than the old pipe out the window... safer aswell (because you dont have a pipe out your window!) plus the modern ones can be used in the winter to pump warmer air around to save on heating bills.

I should add that I work nights on average every 7 weeks so the air con unit is used more often at these times as sometimes its so hot to sleep during the day.. plus an added bonus is that the noise from the unit drowns out the noise outside and helps me sleep better

 

[Slab]

Being where I am we run air-con for about 8 months of the year. units only in the bedrooms (posher places may well have a lounge one but not often seen any in a kitchen unless its open plan) Always on timer so that it doesn't run all night

You might have considered already but a good sized ceiling fan makes a huge difference to a room (not a dinky wee one you'd see in B&Q etc) and can cut the air-con use quite a bit

On a bad day i can have ceiling fan, stand fan and air-con all running

 

[PJ87]

Being where I am we run air-con for about 8 months of the year. units only in the bedrooms (posher places may well have a lounge one but not often seen any in a kitchen unless its open plan) Always on timer so that it doesn't run all night

You might have considered already but a good sized ceiling fan makes a huge difference to a room (not a dinky wee one you'd see in B&Q etc) and can cut the air-con use quite a bit

On a bad day i can have ceiling fan, stand fan and air-con all running

We have ceiling fans in the big rooms and the back one (spare room, will be daughters room when she moves out nursery) is much better .. it’s modern .. small and faster and cools ya

Living room isn’t always hot cuz it shaded a bit

Kitchen is a kitchen dinner.. rear extension single story that runs accross entire rear of house .. gets the sun a lot in afternoon so gets hot. Tempted with an unit in there or like you say just a ceiling fan to cool it down for dinner

 

[Hobbit]

We have extended our aircon recently, and replaced some of the older units. We paid €1200(fitted) for two hard wired units. Next door don't run their aircon as often but do have ceiling fans. I was surprised how good the fans are, but next door do run both when its hot/hot/hot.

The new LG units are efficient, and cheaper to run than our old ones. Thankfully they're quiet enough to leave on at night.

As for aircon in a dormer. Dormers are very hot, even in an average summer. I'd say its a must to have them in there.

 

[Slab]

Being in the Kitchen when cooking is certainly hotter than the surface of the sun (so my wife tells me) but whether there's a culinary reason or not I don't see air-con units, but I can imagine your layout and having one in the dinning part would be common enough

We get them serviced annually just because of how much they get used but you do want to make sure they are cleaned just to be more efficient & to make sure you have no dead gecko's stinking the place out! (which reminds me of a good story about the in-laws visiting and one morning he went to make toast....)

 

[Bunkermagnet]

You wouldn’t have one in the kitchen, as the cooking will have a massive amount of moisture in the air, and you would generally have an extractor going. An aircon unit would struggle with the amount of moisture, and likewise the cooler air would be sucked straight away.
Lounges and bedrooms are ideal places for aircon.

 

[PJ87]

You wouldn’t have one in the kitchen, as the cooking will have a massive amount of moisture in the air, and you would generally have an extractor going. An aircon unit would struggle with the amount of moisture, and likewise the cooler air would be sucked straight away.
Lounges and bedrooms are ideal places for aircon.

That makes sense! I’ll keep the plan to the living area.. 3 bedrooms (including dorma)

Yeah hobbit I’m planning to make the loft my I’m on nights area.: black out blinds.. cool sleeping and kids can make as much noise as they want anywhere else lol

 

[Orikoru]

I have windows and a fan.

 

[PJ87]

I have windows and a fan.

Wife has thyroid issues so her head gets hot (I always said she was a hot head) so our fan is on every night to keep her cool even in blooming winter so fan in summer is like throwing a deck chair off the titanic lol

 

[Orikoru]

Wife has thyroid issues so her head gets hot (I always said she was a hot head) so our fan is on every night to keep her cool even in blooming winter so fan in summer is like throwing a deck chair off the titanic lol

Haha. My missus has problems with insects - i.e. she gets bitten and it swells up loads, presumably allergic reaction to it. So sometimes she insists we have all the windows closed - or if they're open we have to walk round in the dark with no lights on lol.

 

[PJ87]

Haha. My missus has problems with insects - i.e. she gets bitten and it swells up loads, presumably allergic reaction to it. So sometimes she insists we have all the windows closed - or if they're open we have to walk round in the dark with no lights on lol.

Hear your pain! I’m the same I get bitten as does the wife. Whenever we go to my parents she’s bitten a lot by knats in the garden

 

[Orikoru]

Hear your pain! I’m the same I get bitten as does the wife. Whenever we go to my parents she’s bitten a lot by knats in the garden

I never get it for some reason. Haven't done any research as to why. I'll be lying next to her and she wakes up with bites and I have none. I guess I'm not tasty enough. I've bought her some powerful insect spray, but it smells very bizarre.

 

[PJ87]

I never get it for some reason. Haven't done any research as to why. I'll be lying next to her and she wakes up with bites and I have none. I guess I'm not tasty enough. I've bought her some powerful insect spray, but it smells very bizarre.

Nothing proven but my family all get bitten

We always thought that it might be certain people they like or we attract them

For example my dad, myself and sister all get bitten

My mum doesn’t

 

[Orikoru]

Nothing proven but my family all get bitten

We always thought that it might be certain people they like or we attract them

For example my dad, myself and sister all get bitten

My mum doesn’t

Yeah, it must be blood type, or to do with your diet or something.

 

[Slab]

Yeah, it must be blood type, or to do with your diet or something.

I've read that too (I don't get bitten but my wife does in same room)

Turns out I probably do get bitten but less often and generally I don't have the 'itch reaction' she and many others get. Which means I don't scratch and its the scratching that swells the bite area into a bigger wound/unsightly spots etc

Who'd a thunk it!

 

[Orikoru]

I've read that too (I don't get bitten but my wife does in same room)

Turns out I probably do get bitten but less often and generally I don't have the 'itch reaction' she and many others get. Which means I don't scratch and its the scratching that swells the bite area into a bigger wound/unsightly spots etc

Who'd a thunk it!

I think my wife must be very allergic to it. Even before scratching it it swells up on her, into a hard lump which lasts several days.

 

[jim8flog]

Haha. My missus has problems with insects - i.e. she gets bitten and it swells up loads, presumably allergic reaction to it. So sometimes she insists we have all the windows closed - or if they're open we have to walk round in the dark with no lights on lol.

You can buy screens for the windows, varying mesh sizes according to what you want to keep out insects or pollen. My daughter fitted them in her flat because of her hay fever.

 

[MadAdey]

Got 2 air conditioning units, one running the upstairs and one running downstairs. Only gets turned off for about 5 months a year. Even leaving it running through the night for 4 months of the year as at the minute it's still 80+(28*C) through the night most of the time.

My normal summer electricity bill is around $150 a month.