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Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

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Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#71

Post by roel_v »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #50
roel_v wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't query those for the current room temp, current settings etc. So then if you mix the OEM app & your home automation app, things get messed up. IR bridges are a hack in home automation, when buying new stuff avoid them.

Just my personal opinion, but the thermometer on an A/C unit is kind of worthless unless you sit within a foot of the unit. I prefer being able to read a sensor on the opposite side of the room, or even several sensors throughout the house, rather than one on the A/C unit. I don't use any OEM app at all, just my own. The OEM ones never do exactly what I want, so I have to hack something additional onto their features…

Of course, and not only that, but very strongly held opinions too :)

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#72

Post by ClumsyPilot »

rsync wrote: post #24

Having individual heating and cooling units ( per unit gas heaters! ) is stupendously inefficient. I travel in Asia fairly regularly so this isn't new to me, but even after all of these years I can't believe I continue to see shiny, brand new "high end" condo buildings in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, etc., with individual AC units hanging out the window. Contrast this with a condo in Minneapolis that I own wher…

When I moved to UK I was shocked that each house amd apartment (!) has a separate gas boiler, a device that need maintenance, takes up space, makes noise and regularly kills people with carbon monoxide. I then met a person who lost a loved one to that thing!

In Russia and Czech Republic we have district heating, you just get billed for the amount of hot water consumed. Some of that heat comes from industrial sources or nuclear power-plants.

Even where it's coming from a giant gas boiler, they can be efficient combined heat and power units. Ofcourse, some of that infrastructure is old, but a rich western country should be able to do even better.

We'd only have a boiler in rural areas, to have them in apartments is just madness.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#73

Post by dpeck »

baq wrote: post #61
dpeck wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as A/C is amazing, it’s the lack of moving air that makes me the most uncomfortable. I’ve always been surprised at how much of Europe seems to have no interest in fans, ceiling or otherwise.

at my latitude wind blows from the west 80% of the time. i can count windless days in the year on my fingers.

That sounds really nice. Which latitude? Most of my time in Europe has been UK/Ireland/Netherlands/Belgium/Austria and in the summers I wouldn’t say I’m often “hot” but it does often feel stuffy. Especially in bedrooms, and sometimes feeing that same way on warmer autumn days as well.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#74

Post by baq »

dpeck wrote: post #73
baq wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

at my latitude wind blows from the west 80% of the time. i can count windless days in the year on my fingers.

That sounds really nice. Which latitude? Most of my time in Europe has been UK/Ireland/Netherlands/Belgium/Austria and in the summers I wouldn’t say I’m often “hot” but it does often feel stuffy. Especially in bedrooms, and sometimes feeing that same way on warmer autumn days as well.

54N. just how the jet stream likes it.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#75

Post by EricE »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #35
rsync wrote: post #24

Having individual heating and cooling units ( per unit gas heaters! ) is stupendously inefficient. I travel in Asia fairly regularly so this isn't new to me, but even after all of these years I can't believe I continue to see shiny, brand new "high end" condo buildings in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, etc., with individual AC units hanging out the window. Contrast this with a condo in Minneapolis that I own wher…

I am not sure that it is true that split system ACs are substantially less efficient than central. And depending on the size of your unit and how much space you can leave unconditioned, it can save substantial energy to use a split solution. For example, we used space heaters during the winter in cali to save substantially on energy. This is because even with much less efficient electric heating, heating just two bed…

Exactly - obviously the larger the home and more uneven the occupancy, the more the individual units make more sense.

And you don’t have to have one indoor unit per outside unit. Systems that can have one outdoor unit with up to four inside units are readily available.

What’s really wild is Mitsubishi’s City system - designed for commercial spaces (or really large homes) you can have dozens of internal units. And more impressively, it can move heat around inside the building. If you were having a party in the middle of winter and all the body heat was heating up the room where everyone was you could “AC” that room and then dump the heat elsewhere in the building.

The key is the per-room zoning. Minisplits are by far the easiest and most efficient way to micro-zone. Also the elimination of loss from ductwork should not be discounted either; it’s often very significant. Especially if you can eliminate ductwork from unconditioned space!

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#76

Post by OnACoffeeBreak »

lxe wrote: post #62

I just did a DIY install of a mini split AC, including running electrical and the refrigerant lines, having never done so before. There was a whole "hidden side of the iceberg" to learn besides just the controller parts of how it works. The unit cost was ~600 while the install would have been ~1500, so I was betting that if I mess up catastrophically I could replace the whole thing once or even twice.

Did you have to get your work inspected? Where I live in the United States, the electrical lines would have to be inspected for compliance with building code, and I am not sure about the HVAC lines.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#77

Post by bserge »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #72
rsync wrote: post #24

Having individual heating and cooling units ( per unit gas heaters! ) is stupendously inefficient. I travel in Asia fairly regularly so this isn't new to me, but even after all of these years I can't believe I continue to see shiny, brand new "high end" condo buildings in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, etc., with individual AC units hanging out the window. Contrast this with a condo in Minneapolis that I own wher…

When I moved to UK I was shocked that each house amd apartment (!) has a separate gas boiler, a device that need maintenance, takes up space, makes noise and regularly kills people with carbon monoxide. I then met a person who lost a loved one to that thing! In Russia and Czech Republic we have district heating, you just get billed for the amount of hot water consumed. Some of that heat comes from industrial sources…

Yeah but there is no such infrastructure in most of the UK, so it would be a big and expensive undertaking to build it.

Individual gas/electric boilers are a pretty good solution. Maintenance isn't that hard, though legally you need a Gas Safe certified technician to do everything, and they're smug, expensive, slow, and not all that smart tbh. But because there's no competition you have to put up with that :D

That was the most frustrating thing for me - I could do everything myself, but wasn't allowed to.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#78

Post by bserge »

vyrotek wrote: post #59
dpeck wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as A/C is amazing, it’s the lack of moving air that makes me the most uncomfortable. I’ve always been surprised at how much of Europe seems to have no interest in fans, ceiling or otherwise.

In Italy many are worried about "colpo d'aria" (blast of air) which they blame for all sorts of health problems. They also dislike ice in their drinks and think eating/swallowing some will hurt you too. I'm not certain whether the current generation of youth believe it or not. Source: Mother is Italian.

Ah yes, the draught, the European version of fan death :D

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#79

Post by ClumsyPilot »

bserge wrote: post #77
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I moved to UK I was shocked that each house amd apartment (!) has a separate gas boiler, a device that need maintenance, takes up space, makes noise and regularly kills people with carbon monoxide. I then met a person who lost a loved one to that thing! In Russia and Czech Republic we have district heating, you just get billed for the amount of hot water consumed. Some of that heat comes from industrial sources…

Yeah but there is no such infrastructure in most of the UK, so it would be a big and expensive undertaking to build it. Individual gas/electric boilers are a pretty good solution. Maintenance isn't that hard, though legally you need a Gas Safe certified technician to do everything, and they're smug, expensive, slow, and not all that smart tbh. But because there's no competition you have to put up with that :D That wa…

For apartment blocks it's particularly silly because you can install a single device in the basement at the time of construction. Some newer blocks have it.

UK housing stock is in desperate need of upgrades, most houses are literally bleeding money through the walls because of poor insulation, and because heatpumps are much more efficient that boilers.

Consider that they are more economical when supplying several houses, pay for themselves over time and that interest rates are zero. It becomes obvious that we need a large-scale program of energy efficiency upgrades, it would create jobs during a recession and help address climate change.

Re: Home Office Projects Series: Air conditioner setup

#80

Post by criddell »

L_Rahman wrote: post #63
rsync wrote: post #24

Having individual heating and cooling units ( per unit gas heaters! ) is stupendously inefficient. I travel in Asia fairly regularly so this isn't new to me, but even after all of these years I can't believe I continue to see shiny, brand new "high end" condo buildings in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, etc., with individual AC units hanging out the window. Contrast this with a condo in Minneapolis that I own wher…

This examples fails to account for the fact that radiant floor heating is a default feature in all new Korean homes.

The examples seem to mostly be looking at cooling and dehumidifying. What do radian floors for heating have to do with that?
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