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Публикация

Ed Conway

🥵Why are so many Europeans/Britons unnecessarily sweating through a heatwave without cooling? Why are portable AC units so crap? The answers are both interesting and maddening. My latest on air conditioning👇 edconway.substack.com/p/the-missin...

The Missing PipeA short history of how Britain chose the wrong heating system a century ago, and why we are unnecessarily sweating our way through a heatwave in 2026edconway.substack.com
Обсуждение

18 прямых ответов · 34 сообщений

Показаны не все ответы

Публичный счётчик показывает 19, а источник передал 18. Остальные ответы могли быть удалены, скрыты или не выданы публично.

Sarah H

I shall read this when my brain isn't being cooked.

Blackbeardsghost

I will not have shade thrown at portable AC... I love my little AC unit with all my heart. Valiant little trooper

Ответ для Blackbeardsghost
EagleOwl

Seconded!

Cat Thompson

Fascinating as always, and filled in some of my ignorance. But so many questions. Chiefly, how is water heated in an air-to-air system? The house has never had a hot water tank (it had a back-boiler before a combi). Installing one means losing a bedroom.

Ответ для John 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🔴👹
Howell Harris

You can understand why we decided on "wet" CH systems, cos in the beginning (1) they wd have been coal-fired (I had coal-fired CH from a stove with back boiler until late 80s), & (2) original large-pipe systems circulated water safely & effectively by convection. Handy if you don't have electricity.

Ответ для John 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🔴👹
Roxydog

In a few days you’ll be wondering we’re that nice warmth went 🤣

Ответ для Roxydog
John 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🔴👹

I can absolutely assure you, after the last 3 days, and much more importantly nights, I will not be missing the current temps

Ответ для Roxydog
Roxydog

Where

Sustainable Us

The Midea PortaSplit probably solves a lot of the portable issues. However it uses R32 refrigerant which is being phased out in the EU. Will it be replaced by R290, in a flexible hose?? Not sure I would be happy with that, but in the meantime the R32 units are available.

Sean W

I’m all for it, but let’s be pragmatic - A2A outdoor units have max ~5 heads for mini splits. That’s not a lot of rooms (inc. hallways etc) before you need a second outdoor unit. Whereas we could have an A2W doing the heating and hot water utilising existing plumbing (with possible minor upgrades)

Ответ для Sean W
Sean W

and A2A doing cooling in the most appropriate parts of the house. Then you get the best of both worlds, also the efficiency difference between the two versions (A2W & A2A) is small in reality.

HT4Ecosocialism

What devices do you recommend - brand names?

mmcg1957

Some foresight 100 years ago..what about winters?

edg59

A century ago - even 20 years ago - we didn't have the heatwaves we have now. The current discussion around aircon is because rapid climate change hasn't given us time to adapt.

tallest-paul

Blows my mind that we pay thousands on coal, oil and gas to heat our homes in winter yet balk at the idea of burning some electricerky to run AC to cool it in the summer. Madness.

anomander73

Wait ...don't the rest of you have staff you pay to stand their fanning you all day? How do you train up your butler and other staff? You need an entry level position for them It's the modern world so you can't call them a certain term anymore but I still love my Air Distributor Assistant

Shreyas Sudhakar

“the problem with an air-to-water heat pump is twofold. First, it’s actually less efficient than an air-to-air system which puffs out that multiplied heat in the form of air” Is this actually true? I’ve generally seen higher COPs for A2W than A2A

Ответ для Shreyas Sudhakar
Shreyas Sudhakar

COP being coefficient of performance. A COP of 4 means for every 1 unit of electricity used, you get 4 units of heat from the heat pump

Ответ для Shreyas Sudhakar
Andy

Surely the same with this bit “and, critically, another to suck in air from outside” I don’t want to cool the world!

Ответ для Andy
Adam McMaster

I don’t think the article explains it properly, but the outside air is to cool the unit itself, rather than taking the nice cold air from the room and sending it straight outside through the exhaust

Ответ для Shreyas Sudhakar
Sean W

Technically yes - but the margins are teeny tiny and shouldn’t even be brought up as a thing as it’s so marginal nobody would care.

Ответ для Shreyas Sudhakar
Elliot Firestone

Air to water systems are slightly more efficient, but the high COPs of HeatGeek installs in the UK are due to climate. Check out heatpumpmonitor.org for an efficient system in cold weather, they aren't THAT much better than "our" best systems.

HeatpumpMonitor.org - Heat Pump Performance DataAn open-source initiative to share and compare heat pump performance data. Join our community of heat pump owners sharing real-world performance data.heatpumpmonitor.org
Ответ для Shreyas Sudhakar
Elliot Firestone

It's technically quite possible to design an air to water heat pump that uses existing radiators and provides cooling with one or more fan coils. Fan coils aren't as efficient as radiators for heating because they require higher water temperatures use electricity for the fan.

Andrew Kerr

This I found useful too. There is the downside that a home conversion may invalidate the warranty. www.woolie.co.uk/article/conv...

Single hose air conditioners can't cool a room: Convert them to dual hoseSingle hose air conditioners are ineffecient by design, but are the only portable type available to purchase in the UK. Convert them to dual hose for lower energy bills and drastically better cooling ...www.woolie.co.uk
Andrew Kerr

This video also talks about how single hose portable air con is inherently inefficient. tl;dr: as heated air is ejected, air must be sucked into the room to replace it. This can only be hot outside air. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mB...

Portable Air Conditioners - Why you shouldn't like themYouTube video by Technology Connectionswww.youtube.com
lizziec

@plaidcymru.bsky.social @rhunapiorwerth.bsky.social @benlake.bsky.social Worth a few minutes of your time!

Fionna O’Leary

Hard agree @edconway.bsky.social But THE PLANNING HURDLES ‼️ See my experience. Try and find an A2A heat pump that’s below the 37DB MCS limit for properties in (eg terraced homes) It feels just too difficult and expensive for too many with quite likely refusal bsky.app/profile/fasc...

Fionna O’Leary

🇬🇧 inc is not installing heat pumps fast enough according to the Climate Change Committee Gas boilers are now being exchanged for gas boilers at the rate of about 1.3 mill to 1.5 mill a yr thus ensuring that we will be tied into fossil fuel for a decade ahead until that changes I have thoughts

Ответ для Fionna O’Leary
DBurx

Yeah, the planning system means I would fear even to try: it is the likely outcome to mean £1,000+ thrown away on paper nonsense for a 'No'.

Ursula Hofer

Really enjoyed this. Was just saying to my husband that what we need is an air-to-air heat pump.

Laurie Dunkin Wedd

My mother’s house had blown air central heating. It was filthy dirty and caused dreadful draughts. Not enthusiastic!

Ответ для Laurie Dunkin Wedd
Paulb

I suspect that technology has moved on.

Ответ для Paulb
Laurie Dunkin Wedd

I hope so!