Portable air con for surplus

10-10-20 · 13-06-2023 9:19am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120708231#Comment_120708231

It's all about the "thermal mass". You have an inner-leaf block wall of 100mm thickness insulated in the cavity and it heats up to 24 degrees in the midday sun - that block wall will release that heat slowly over the night back into the room (as it can't radiate it into the cavity due to the insulation) and you'll feel it all night. Only by preventing that wall from taking on that thermal load will you manage to have a cool room in the evening and night.

In my bedroom with three external walls I installed 50mm of insulated plasterboard on the North facing block wall. That keeps it from being a thermal store in the Summer and stops the cold coming off it in the Winter. I consider it a good move.

the_amazing_raisin · 13-06-2023 10:14am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120708231#Comment_120708231

Maybe, we've no mechanical ventilation and our house is definitely suffering when there isn't a breeze to circulate air

EDIT: I should probably say the occupants are suffering, the building itself is fine

DC999 · 13-06-2023 11:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120708428#Comment_120708428

Good to know on the insulation. Thermal mass is the exact issue we have with our red brick house - basks in the sun and roasts us at night. Was the insulating on the internal wall?

10-10-20 · 13-06-2023 12:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120709160#Comment_120709160

Yes, internal wall insulated plasterboard. Easier to heat in the Winter and less heat off it in the Summer. The South and E/W facing walls weren't treated the same way, they were left exposed so that we had some thermal mass, but the windows within them were upgraded from double to triple glazed.

DC999 · 13-06-2023 1:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120709279#Comment_120709279

Wow, wouldn't have realised that internal insulation would make much difference. Cheers, helps me a lot to know it can

10-10-20 · 13-06-2023 1:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120709778#Comment_120709778

It can - and there are trade-off's. 👍️

micks_address · 14-06-2023 8:40am

still contemplating options re cooling.. chatted to a friend who had a ceiling fan light installed and he's happy out with its cooling effect.. apparently a great job?

graememk · 14-06-2023 9:31am

offically have a heatpump in the house (screwfix, 12000btu.. about 3.5kw ish) uses about 1.5kw

V noisey as expected, (its being vented out a vent I have in the cupboard originally planned for an external air for the fire but never used)

Moved to the bedroom last night and it was able to precool it from 23/24c to 18 before we shut it off for the night.

micks_address · 14-06-2023 10:10am

yeah thats the approach i used before while in the states one summer.. used to over cool during the day and switch off the units before bedtime so the noise wasnt an issue.

DC999 · 14-06-2023 10:32am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120713205#Comment_120713205

That looks reasonable for the price. This one, €410? Blyss A018I-12CH Reversible Air Conditioner 12,000BTU - Screwfix

I'm deffo anti aircon generally as think it's fine most of the time in Ireland without it. But sleeping in this weather when you can't open windows sucks (living beside a main road)

micks_address · 14-06-2023 11:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120713511#Comment_120713511

Yeah even with black out blinds and a large fan in our bedroom blowing over a basin of ice the temp was still above 22 degrees.. I'm going to try a ceiling fan for the craic and maybe a portable air conditioner if that doesn't pan out..

graememk · 14-06-2023 12:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120713511#Comment_120713511

It hit 27.7 yesterday at my weather station.. I'm about 2 mile from the coast!

DC999 · 14-06-2023 3:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120713726#Comment_120713726

If getting a ceiling fan, get one that blades can be swapped around. So helps cooling in summer and moving heat around the room in winter. No fan reduces the room temp. It cools the body due to more airflow. So if no one is in the room, it does nothing bar waste energy. This is one that the blades retract for months of the year it’s never used. Was looking at something like this but didn’t get approval from the OH 😊 CJOY Ceiling Fans with Lights, 42'' Ceiling Fan Retractable Blades, Ceiling Fans with Lights and Remote Invisible 4 ABS Fan Blades Quiet White AC 220V 50 / 60Hz : Amazon.co.uk: Lighting. No idea if it’s good or not. From what I read, the more blades means it’s quieter as moves more air so can have a slower rotation speed. And reviews of this brand suggested it was quiet enough.

Then screw it into the rafters in attic so it won’t move or vibrate. And get one that has a slow fan speed for night time. So it's nice and quiet.

graememk · 15-06-2023 8:02pm

What we are noticing is the humidity in the house is a good bit lower.

Draws a pretty constant 1.5kw. running for 12 hrs is 18kwh. Possibly even 15 hrs in a day.

With the door open, it is keeping the house lower than what it would normally be.

Yesterday when we turned it off and moved it to the bedroom we really noticed the increase in temperature. Our living room is at the corner of the house so gets sun from early morning to late evening, 2 external walls so plenty of thermal mass.

Do we need it. No. But I have the spare power and it's nice to come in from outside to a less warm house

DC999 · 16-06-2023 11:51am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120719968#Comment_120719968

How do you vent it when it moves rooms? I was thinking I could use the wall vent as the vent. But then I can't easily move it between room.

micks_address · 16-06-2023 11:56am

Picked up an AEG unit from adverts last night.

Had on for a few hours before bed and made a considerable difference.

Definitely to loud to run over night.

This model

https://amzn.eu/d/5W12hju

Vented out window which was ok, ordered a window seal kit from Amazon.

I know it's power hungry (close to 1kw) but I'd be ok with that for few hours over summer nights.

graememk · 16-06-2023 1:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120722038#Comment_120722038

In the living room its vented out the pipe, a 4" one though, whereas the one coming from the unit is 5ish? pushed over with a rag filling the gap.

I think I might try and design some sort of adapter plate and 3d print it.

in the bedroom, Just out the window and just closed the curtains. Closed the door and came back a few hours later.

In the evening the outside temperatures were about 14-15c, when going to bed, so kept the window open.

overnight temperature curve.

Was out with the doggo last night, and if I stood close to the house I could feel the heat radiating off the walls when i stood beside them

micks_address · 20-06-2023 9:59am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120714735#Comment_120714735

got the ceiling fan installed last night (electrician).. bit fiddly but we lucked out having a timber support where the existing light fitting had been so it didnt need additional timber in the attic.. i was pretty sceptical about it but on lowest fan setting it has a lovely effect... its very quiet on the low setting.. it just sort of brushes air over you which even though its not cool air definitely has a cooling effect.. i guess there's a proper explanation of that somewhere! on the highest setting its like a prop plane.. would lift papers and anything lying around the room!

took a while to get it wifi connected - the instructions in the box said to use the smartlife app (which we have for the weekit kettle) but couldnt get it to see the fan - looked on amazon and the notes there said to use a 'carro home app' downloaded that and got it connected and integrated with google home.. nice thing in home is you can say turn on the light, and it does that, or turn on the fan and they are independent.. that along with the portable air con should do us for this year at least.. all these apps seem to be pretty simillar.. tuya, smart life, carro etc..

Glaceon · 20-06-2023 10:27am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120708231#Comment_120708231

I'm in an A2 new build and it has been almost unbearably hot for the last few weeks. One evening last week we slept in the spare room because it was 27°C in the master bedroom, and that was with a blackout blind pulled down all day. It's an east/west facing house and the master bedroom is on the west facing side, so plenty of time for it to heat up during the second half of the day. I don't yet have solar or air conditioning but I can see both being in my future.

DC999 · 20-06-2023 10:36am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120738423#Comment_120738423

Class. Seems we can tolerate a room a few degrees warmer with a good fan blowing air over us to cool us down. Won't change room temp at all but changes temp of human.

Could u pop in link for model you got?

graememk · 20-06-2023 11:05am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120738423#Comment_120738423

Term your looking for is the skin effect, as air is an insulator, it makes you feel warmer, a breeze disturbs this making you feel cooler

micks_address · 20-06-2023 12:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120738627#Comment_120738627

apologies thought i had put the link up in a previous post.. went for this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PLS25HD?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

was a bit on the expensive side but im a sucker for app control

graememk · 20-06-2023 12:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739269#Comment_120739269

What's the light on it like?

Tuya/smartlife/carro are all the same back end, the smarts are all made by the same company in china.

micks_address · 20-06-2023 1:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739406#Comment_120739406

yeah its actually pretty decent.. can go cool/warm and dim.. im not sure its replaceable though which might be a pain..

what would folks think of this strategy re cooling - during warm days, run the air conditioning unit in the bedroom as close to the landing as possible (piped out the window - sealed pretty well).. close all the upstairs windows and whack on the ceiling fan to push cool air out to the rest of upstairs? Trying it out today to see what happens..

graememk · 20-06-2023 1:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739530#Comment_120739530

Give it a go,

The air con will be extracting the hot air, and then also cooling the remaining air.

What I'm really noticing is the reduced humidity, and I already had a dehumidifier running before this. Doesn't feel as "dead" or stuffy in the house when it's running.

DC999 · 20-06-2023 1:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739671#Comment_120739671

No way, I'll try the dehumidifier so. Never thought about that.

DC999 · 20-06-2023 1:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739269#Comment_120739269

Good news is it uses as low as 1% of the energy or an a/c unit. 24w and a/c is anything from 1.5kW-who knows what. So cheap as chips to run forever more

micks_address · 20-06-2023 2:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120739788#Comment_120739788

the aeg unit i got is 9000 btu and uses a constant 687 watts when cooling (from energy monitoring plug)

Portable air con for surplus

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