For some reason, it’s seen as a completely unethical use of electricity, which is weird because we use electricity for way dumber reasons.
Because up until the late 90s Brits/we were notorious for not even leaving a single light bulb on in a room you weren’t using, not leaving appliances on standby, and only got takeaways once a week.
The entire generation/population would never have even considered spending the money on aircon bills.
(Edit – For the record / honesty, I actually do have a portable AC now. No regrets. Although it still is imo a luxury item.)
air cooling in my apartment is very expensive to use as usual as its charged by a community energy company
Because it’s only essential for a few weeks a year at most.
It’s the same reason Londoners don’t own snow shoes.
Well… the British don’t know how to build houses/flats. And there is a snobby attitude towards air-con.
I have a free-standing air con unit. It was expensive to buy, it’s expensive to run and it’s only useful two weeks out of the year, but during those two weeks it is a lifesaver.
Every year when the heat wave arrives there’s a bunch of articles and though pieces about central air conditioning, which distracts from a number of other more pertinent questions about why so many UK homes have such poor insulation, why the government subsidises heat pumps that warm a house but not ones that cool it too, etc.
I get it’s London centric media but it’s such an odd way to phrase it considering it will be the same answer across all of England if not the UK.
Bit like saying why West Yorkshire homes don’t have air con
Whatever about central / building AC, I can understand older buildings not being easy to retrofit – but I’ve wondered why those window AC units you see everywhere in the US aren’t used here. They aren’t expensive to buy, and while they obviously use electricity – it’s only going to be used for a few weeks in the year.
Because most London homes were built long long before Aircon was invented and it never used to be this damn hot.
Sash windows in older homes are actually designed to create passive air conditioning. You should open both windows top and bottom so that the panes meet in the middle. Also close the curtains on the sunny side with the windows open this will help slow the build up of heat in the home. You are screwed with modern builds.
I have Aircon in my house. 5 bedrooms.
It cost £8500 to have it installed running off two compressors.
Much cheaper than the quote for a heat pump.. why do I mention heat pump.
They have heating coils in them. So when I’m home alone in the winter, I can just heat the one room.
electric costs are brutal though if I was to run all 5 units at 18c. Very seldom need to. 1kw a unit… About £15 a day.
My 5ft reef tank at home drinks about.. 1200w in the depth of winter.. I thought that was expensive to run.
Until electric prices are sorted.. they are probably totally unviable for a lot of people.
Cost to install isn’t much on the grand of schemes. £600 for a single room unit with external compressor made by LG. With heater coils. But it saps 1kw.
Retrofitting into flats.. well.. issues with installation height, so probably expensive, landlord permission.. neighbours above and below likely moaning about the noise, even if they aren’t actually noisy compared to most streets in cities. But hey.
Our building won’t allow us to install ac. Which infuriates me. I have a medical condition that makes high temperatures dangerous for me. We make do with a portable unit. These regulations need to change it is dangerous for vulnerable members of the community.
The density of housing would mean everyone’s bedroom ends up next to an external air con unit. They’re loud and people would run them at night.
UK is not used to weather like this. Properties built to keep the heat in.
Over 50% of UK homes were built before 1970. Flats and tight terrace homes make split system
more difficult to retrofit
EPC design favours the colder months, double- and triple-glazing, loft and cavity insulation, and airtightness improve EPC scores but worsen summer overheating. Mechanical cooling (AC) is penalised with preference instead, under the new building regulations for passive systems such as ventilation and shading
And don’t forget the ridiculously high price we pay for energy
We do, best thing we ever did 5 years ago, it’s had a lot of use since. Also doubles up as a heat pump that we can use on cheap tariffs. As a nation we’ll spend a fortune to keep warm, but for some reason refuse to spend to keep cool. I am seeing more and more AC installs though.
17 comments
For some reason, it’s seen as a completely unethical use of electricity, which is weird because we use electricity for way dumber reasons.
Because up until the late 90s Brits/we were notorious for not even leaving a single light bulb on in a room you weren’t using, not leaving appliances on standby, and only got takeaways once a week.
The entire generation/population would never have even considered spending the money on aircon bills.
(Edit – For the record / honesty, I actually do have a portable AC now. No regrets. Although it still is imo a luxury item.)
air cooling in my apartment is very expensive to use as usual as its charged by a community energy company
Because it’s only essential for a few weeks a year at most.
It’s the same reason Londoners don’t own snow shoes.
Well… the British don’t know how to build houses/flats. And there is a snobby attitude towards air-con.
I have a free-standing air con unit. It was expensive to buy, it’s expensive to run and it’s only useful two weeks out of the year, but during those two weeks it is a lifesaver.
Every year when the heat wave arrives there’s a bunch of articles and though pieces about central air conditioning, which distracts from a number of other more pertinent questions about why so many UK homes have such poor insulation, why the government subsidises heat pumps that warm a house but not ones that cool it too, etc.
I get it’s London centric media but it’s such an odd way to phrase it considering it will be the same answer across all of England if not the UK.
Bit like saying why West Yorkshire homes don’t have air con
Whatever about central / building AC, I can understand older buildings not being easy to retrofit – but I’ve wondered why those window AC units you see everywhere in the US aren’t used here. They aren’t expensive to buy, and while they obviously use electricity – it’s only going to be used for a few weeks in the year.
Because most London homes were built long long before Aircon was invented and it never used to be this damn hot.
Sash windows in older homes are actually designed to create passive air conditioning. You should open both windows top and bottom so that the panes meet in the middle. Also close the curtains on the sunny side with the windows open this will help slow the build up of heat in the home. You are screwed with modern builds.
I have Aircon in my house. 5 bedrooms.
It cost £8500 to have it installed running off two compressors.
Much cheaper than the quote for a heat pump.. why do I mention heat pump.
They have heating coils in them. So when I’m home alone in the winter, I can just heat the one room.
electric costs are brutal though if I was to run all 5 units at 18c. Very seldom need to. 1kw a unit… About £15 a day.
My 5ft reef tank at home drinks about.. 1200w in the depth of winter.. I thought that was expensive to run.
Until electric prices are sorted.. they are probably totally unviable for a lot of people.
Cost to install isn’t much on the grand of schemes. £600 for a single room unit with external compressor made by LG. With heater coils. But it saps 1kw.
Retrofitting into flats.. well.. issues with installation height, so probably expensive, landlord permission.. neighbours above and below likely moaning about the noise, even if they aren’t actually noisy compared to most streets in cities. But hey.
Our building won’t allow us to install ac. Which infuriates me. I have a medical condition that makes high temperatures dangerous for me. We make do with a portable unit. These regulations need to change it is dangerous for vulnerable members of the community.
The density of housing would mean everyone’s bedroom ends up next to an external air con unit. They’re loud and people would run them at night.
UK is not used to weather like this. Properties built to keep the heat in.
Over 50% of UK homes were built before 1970. Flats and tight terrace homes make split system
more difficult to retrofit
EPC design favours the colder months, double- and triple-glazing, loft and cavity insulation, and airtightness improve EPC scores but worsen summer overheating. Mechanical cooling (AC) is penalised with preference instead, under the new building regulations for passive systems such as ventilation and shading
And don’t forget the ridiculously high price we pay for energy
We do, best thing we ever did 5 years ago, it’s had a lot of use since. Also doubles up as a heat pump that we can use on cheap tariffs. As a nation we’ll spend a fortune to keep warm, but for some reason refuse to spend to keep cool. I am seeing more and more AC installs though.
…For two weeks of the year.
Comments are closed.