Adding Air Conditioning Unit to Internal Vent System (Home)

Falthyron

Hi all,

Apologies if this is the wrong place, but I have a question regarding A/C and internal vent systems. My house is A3 rated in terms of insulation and (as I understand) it has an internal venting system to allow for fresh air to enter each room and this is a regulatory obligation. Cool/fresh air is coming in through the attic and fed down to the rooms in the house and each vent in those rooms. No problems there. I can close each room vent when I need to. The problem is the summer and keeping rooms cool. The 'fresh air' in summer can be quite warm and with the sun beating in through the windows, the rooms can get quite hot, so it feels like the vent is doing very little.

In my mind (and I could be a mile off here), I was wondering if it would be possible to install an A/C unit in the attic at the intake that would feed cooler air down through the vent system in the house. Is this a thing? Is it possible? What would I be looking for and does anyone know of a company that does this (if it is possible)?

Thanks.

funnyname

Same issue do would be interested to hear anything about upgrading our system to add some AC element during the summer

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058314528/adding-air-conditioning-unit-to-internal-vent-system-home

Do you know the model and or brand of this unit in the attic? And what year is the house from?

Sleeper12

Installing total blackout blinds on the sunny side of the house will keep the temperature down on sunny days. This would be far cheaper than installing AC

Lenar3556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058314528/adding-air-conditioning-unit-to-internal-vent-system-home

I put that to an AC firm in another instance and they didn’t think it was viable - They did offer some explanation why, and it made sense at the time - but I forget.

A proper air conditioning system isn’t crazy money. I saw a 5KW system installed in a house recently, I think he gave €2500 for it installed. Material cost was maybe €1200. It serves the whole ground floor and they were very happy with it.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121137285#Comment_121137285

I’ve seen this mentioned a lot but it didn’t work in our main bedroom. The house is east/west facing so the back of the house gets warm in the afternoon. Even with the blackout blind closed, the temperature in that room hit 27 degrees on some days.

Sleeper12

I'd suggest different blackout blinds then. Total blackout blinds let absolutely no light into the room. With the blinds closed & interior door closed the room will be totally dark. You will see them used a lot in very hot countries like Spain, Portugal etc. I have them myself and they are very successful. Having said that I also have AC but this is used mostly at night

Calahonda52

Overheating through the windows needs to be addressed by stoping the suns rays getting past the glass.

external shutters or

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brise_soleil

The system is a PIV system and it is taking the warm air from the roof space.

A?c with this setup would be woefully wasteful as you will be pushing conditioned air out of the house and chilling the birds

Proper aircon is expensive to run, especially in Ireland in our humid climate as the air has to be chilled down below the dew point for the moisture to drop out, otherwise reducing the temperature only drives up the RH, making it even more uncomfortable.

Perhaps when its warm, turn it off or consider modifying it so as in summer you have an external air intake form the north face of the house.

I have seen in warmer clime where they bury several meters of waving in the ground and pull the air through it

What we do in industry is use what is called night time purge where the aircon system is ramped up to circulate the cool early morning air through the building before it opens

radharc

Don't think those ventilation systems could handle aircon air flows, they give a very gentle waft. Depending on your layout a wall mounted unit could be feasible