Beware of air conditioner scams

martin butler said:

What's the old saying? If it sounds to good to be true, it often is, these fake air conditioners for example, are just cheap fans, no heat exchanger, no ducting etc, all proper air con systems create heat, that needs to be vented out of the building, and are very expensive the best way to stay cool is to shield the heat source and have a cold towel and a fan to circulate cold air. I have a smalll portable unit that has a water tank, with elements that the air goes through i use chilled water from the freezer to cool the air,

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What you've described here is essentially how air coolers work. Latent heat energy evaporates the water and cools the air as a result. The limitation here is that it increases humidity which means it's only really ideal in hot dry climates. You would also need to ventilate the room which means you'll end up with more hot air getting in and reducing the cooling effect, so I personally wouldn't say it was the best way to stay cool. Air conditioning is expensive because you're essentially getting what you pay for, which is proper adequate climate control.

mikeg said:

Actually it is. Whilst I don't expect people to know the details of how an air conditioner works, conservation of energy is basic GCSE stuff. If it doesn't dump heat outside it can't do its job as it's impossible to destroy said heat. That should go without saying. Do you really think most people are that stupid/uneducated? I suspect it's a minority of uneducated people who fall for these scams, but then again I could be wrong...

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Given that lots of people throw open all the windows when it's 30 degrees outside to "let in some fresh air," I wouldn't be too hopeful. I keep my house locked up like a fortress on hot days. It's notably cooler inside than out. In my experience, the window openers refuse to be told. Their loss.

Bikeman78 said:

Given that lots of people throw open all the windows when it's 30 degrees outside to "let in some fresh air," I wouldn't be too hopeful. I keep my house locked up like a fortress on hot days. It's notably cooler inside than out. In my experience, the window openers refuse to be told. Their loss.

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I would argue this depends on how the house or room is built. For me the indoor temperature never drops below the outdoor temperature in summer and therefore closing a window just increases humidity, CO2 and stuffy stagnant air. At the very least opening a window can offer some ventilation and the occasional breeze that's about as common as water in the Sahara. Otherwise Britain just isn't culturally equipped to deal with hot weather otherwise we'd know how to live with it instead of making outrageous suggestions like smearing yoghurt on your windows.

Sorcerer said:

I would argue this depends on how the house or room is built. For me the indoor temperature never drops below the outdoor temperature in summer and therefore closing a window just increases humidity, CO2 and stuffy stagnant air. At the very least opening a window can offer some ventilation and the occasional breeze that's about as common as water in the Sahara. Otherwise Britain just isn't culturally equipped to deal with hot weather otherwise we'd know how to live with it instead of making outrageous suggestions like smearing yoghurt on your windows.

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I'm curious as to what your house is built of. I live in a 1950s prefab which is is basically a corrugated tin shed upstairs. I've had insulation installed which makes a massive difference. Even pre insulation, the inside temperature was cooler than outside until late afternoon.

Sorcerer said:

I would argue this depends on how the house or room is built. For me the indoor temperature never drops below the outdoor temperature in summer and therefore closing a window just increases humidity, CO2 and stuffy stagnant air. At the very least opening a window can offer some ventilation and the occasional breeze that's about as common as water in the Sahara. Otherwise Britain just isn't culturally equipped to deal with hot weather otherwise we'd know how to live with it instead of making outrageous suggestions like smearing yoghurt on your windows.

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Wasn't that a French suggestion, and they're very used to it in theory?

I sense a bit of a turning this year tbh. It's been obvious to me for years that people should get air conditioning if they're in a position to, at least if they live south of Darlington. I think that now the populace in general is beginning to wake up.

Bikeman78 said:

I'm curious as to what your house is built of. I live in a 1950s prefab which is is basically a corrugated tin shed upstairs. I've had insulation installed which makes a massive difference. Even pre insulation, the inside temperature was cooler than outside until late afternoon.

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I couldn't really tell you to be honest, all I can tell you is that the attic almost turned into a tropical sauna during the May heatwave with 35c at 64% humidity, and it releases it rather slowly into the night. The benefit of an open skylight is that the heat can actually rise out of the room at least.

Egg Centric said:

Wasn't that a French suggestion, and they're very used to it in theory?

I sense a bit of a turning this year tbh. It's been obvious to me for years that people should get air conditioning if they're in a position to, at least if they live south of Darlington. I think that now the populace in general is beginning to wake up.

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I only really heard it from a BBC article, and for France I think it depends. South of France is very used to a Mediterranean climate, but more northern cities like Paris are oceanic and even rainier than London. I think both countries are now slowly accepting air conditioning will have to be a part of life along with new building standards to reduce heat gain, but not even that could escape the culture war nonsense unfortunately.

That'd have to be it's own discussion though. But on this subject I can also be confident in saying is that none of these scam products will bring the attic room down to Arctic temperatures with a simple USB wire and 5-10w power output unless some genius inventor manages to break the laws of thermodynamics.

Sorcerer said:

but not even that could escape the culture war nonsense unfortunately.

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If people understood just how incredible solar is now they would have a sea change in view. They haven't caught up. They think we should conserve energy cause they picture coal fired power stations etc.

I go to literal mud hut villages in Africa with no running water and see solar panels. It is so cheap now. We need to stop bloody nimbies preventing us from paving over the country with panels.

Egg Centric said:

We need to stop bloody nimbies preventing us from paving over the country with panels.

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While that's absolutely a part of it, we've got millions of roofs ripe for solar panels.
If we owned this house instead of renting it we'd've installed them years ago, as several of our neighbours have done.

pokemonsuper9 said:

While that's absolutely a part of it, we've got millions of roofs ripe for solar panels.
If we owned this house instead of renting it we'd've installed them years ago, as several of our neighbours have done.

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It's a thorny issue cause the Landlord probably doesn't want to install them as they're not paying the bills, and the tenants (you nonwithstanding) probably don't want to invest in something they won't get the benefit from. There's a big problem in this country with far too much housing being rented but that's a different thing I will try not to rant about

It would be possible to introduce some sort of shared-ownership scheme for solar panels I guess, but if doing that you're kinda missing the point of shared-ownership on the whole property...

Bikeman78 said:

Given that lots of people throw open all the windows when it's 30 degrees outside to "let in some fresh air," I wouldn't be too hopeful. I keep my house locked up like a fortress on hot days. It's notably cooler inside than out. In my experience, the window openers refuse to be told. Their loss.

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At work I’ll routinely come in to lock up in the evening and find all three pairs of air conditioners left on with the windows open. People really don’t understand how these are supposed to work!