air conditioning

lomb

might be embarking on a new project and need some advice on air conditioning. are the split systems b and q do any good like this one http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/product/product.jsp?CATID=8030002&PRODID=8090018&textLocation=top

why are the ceiling mounted (suspended ceilings) air conditioners 6 grand sterling each?when the above is 600 ish quid?

Borzoi

lomb wrote:

might be embarking on a new project and need some advice on air conditioning. are the split systems b and q do any good like this one http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/product/product.jsp?CATID=8030002&PRODID=8090018&textLocation=top

why are the ceiling mounted (suspended ceilings) air conditioners 6 grand sterling each?when the above is 600 ish quid?

Many reasons really:
Product quality - your ceiling cassette is a much better product with more options, similarly with a VRF back end which will save a fortune on running costs. What brand is the 6K version? Is it heat pump as well?

Install costs - commmercial equipment need to be put in by qualified people and commissioned properly, it also offers a lot more options again than the B&Q job with a fixed pipe length

Give me a PM if you've a serious job, or need some help, and I should be able to give you some names for it.

lomb

Borzoi wrote:

Many reasons really:
Product quality - your ceiling cassette is a much better product with more options, similarly with a VRF back end which will save a fortune on running costs. What brand is the 6K version? Is it heat pump as well?

Install costs - commmercial equipment need to be put in by qualified people and commissioned properly, it also offers a lot more options again than the B&Q job with a fixed pipe length

Give me a PM if you've a serious job, or need some help, and I should be able to give you some names for it.

beats me what brand it is, or whether it is a heat pump. what is a heat pump?
whats a VRF back end? how would using peak electricity save heating costs, the delivered cost of peak electricity is more than twice that of oil or gas. storage heaters make sense in that the commercial storage heaters that say dimplex do can store 40000 watts of juice in the 7 hour off peak period and release it during the day, thats 4 kw per hour per heater, thats a lot of heat imho and all at the cost of oil or gas. granted convection is a problem but then again as we are speaking he is putting oil heating into phase 2 of the construction.

Borzoi

lomb wrote:

beats me what brand it is, or whether it is a heat pump. what is a heat pump?
whats a VRF back end? how would using peak electricity save heating costs, the delivered cost of peak electricity is more than twice that of oil or gas. .

AC systems work by removing the heat from the room and dumping it to outside - heat pumps are AC units that can work in reverse, so they can remove heat from the outside air, and put it into the room.

Any AC or heat pump, because they primarily 'move' heat, as opposed to generating heat in a boiler or the like, can deliver roughly 4kW heat for 1kW electrical costs. So even though you're paying full price for the electricity, they're cheaper to run.

A VRF (Variable Refrigerant Flow) system uses several indoor cassettes and one outdoor unit - by means of clever controls and piping - you can improve this efficiency even more, and be using the system to cool one area while simultaneously heating another.

There's a huge differnence in the cost of various AC systems and differnt manufacturers produce similar equipment that could be 2 or 3 times the price