Some Useful Air Conditioning Tips

Posted by Peter Brady on Mon 31st July 2006 at 08:29 PM, Filed in Appliances

Air conditioning is becoming increasingly important in an ever changing climate. In particular old people and children are vulnerable in periods of extreme heat.

It may be inevitable that over time we will see all new builds coming with AC as standard - which is great. But what about integrating an AC system into an existing house. Not so easy.

Firstly, it’s always important to study the design of your house, using the structural schematics. Many AC companies can extrapolate a solution from these by looking at wall thicknesses, cavity insulation, heat given off by other appliances etc etc. If any AC engineer is worth his salt he will be able to shape the most appropriate solution for you around these factors.

Secondly, the size and orientation of your house will determine the size of the unit required and by implication the cost.

Thirdly, pushing the cold air through your house can be a tricky business. A certain pressure needs to be maintained within the ducting and this can be achieved by a reduction in duct diameter leading to the extremities of the AC system.

Finally, it is important that the hot air in each room is extracted back into the air handler system. This is ideally achieved with a return duct pipe situated in every room at an optimum height of approx 6 ft. To achieve a draw of air it is important that the air entry and return ducts are placed as far apart as possible.

Not getting some of these details correct can ruin the effectiveness of your AC system, so it pays to keep an eye on the engineer fitting the unit. There are cow boys out there, so watch out!

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