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whole house DIY-ish air con ?
wrote:
Anyone done anything like whole house DIY-ish air con ?
No, one day soon, awaiting round tuits.
For example, air con unit in loft (meaty one), vents in roof,
DIY ducting around house, to air condition the main rooms of the house.
Depends what you mean by "air con".
AC as seen in cars and as delivered by Hitachi split system cassettes
should be more correctly called comfort cooling. Proper AC controls not
only temperature, but also humidity and cleanliness of the air. Mr
Carrier developed AC to control humidity, not temperature. Go google
for more info.
It strikes me this might be easier than those through-the-wall units in
one or two rooms. Bung a duct down unused chimney breast etc.
If you want cooling, and something akin to a conventional AC system
chucking out an icy cold gale, I don't think this is practical. The
duct work needs to be insulated and have a vapour barrier.
Might need booster pumps due to large ducting lengths. Any thoughts?
Fans. I'd suggest you'd need some advice before starting.
IMHO, you can live comfortably without AC in the UK unlike, say, the US
deep south or tropics. It is insidious in that, once you become
accustomed to it in the car or at work, you then start to feel
uncomfortable without it.
If your main aim was warm, clean air & ,possibly, a bit of ccooling, it
is more promising. 'Which' did an investigation of energy savings (I
think, I've been told of this but never seen the report) many years
back & found that whole house ventilation was a major labour saving
device. If the house is supplied with filtered air at a slight positive
pressure, then the ingress of draughts and airborne dirt is greatly
reduced. Routine cleaning is reduced accordingly. You could use a
displacement ventilation system (Google) since these use low velocity
supply air at a smaller differential temperature; this could be
operated to avoid condensation on the ducts, but the ducts should still
be thermally insulated.
Thesw systems are more common in the US, mainly due to more disposable
income I think. Google for "Lifebreath".
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