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Advice on Air con


Walkabout

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Hello people,

 

We arrived last week and are slowly finding our feet. What I would like to know from those of you already here is how essential is air con to have in your home? We are looking at 2 places tomorrow one of which doesnt have air con but is probably a better house and one that does but is possibly not as good (wont actually know until we get in to see them!) so I wondered what people's opinions are on the necessity of air con - would we be completely mad to look at a place that doesnt have it or are we only going to melt for a really short time so it shouldn't be that much of an issue? (we have survived this week without having the air con on in our short term place if that makes any difference, we did try and put it on on Friday, but discovered that it basically just blew hot air around the house and didnt make anything cold!)

 

opinions and advice gratefully received!

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I will get in first and then everyone else can suggest the opposite!! :wink: I certainly would not go to a house with no air con in any of the rooms based on how hot some of the summers here can be but many folk do not have it and use floor and ceiling fans only. Also you will need some form of heating in the winter and so is it air con you mean or reversable air? The latter offers cool in summer and warm heating in winter.

 

Ok here goes though. We have an older style house and only have a reverse cycle unit in our main lounge area and in one bedroom. We have ceiling fans in most other of the rooms. What we think the secret for us is to keep the house as cool as possible and the bricks cool so the thing does not trun into an oven. The hotter the building then the more you will probably feel you need the aircon. What we do when it is hotter is to keep all the windows shut, and the curtains closed, and this cools the house. When the sea breeze comes in, if and when, then we open the windows and let the air circulate through the house. This overall strategy keeps the house cool and we top all that up with short blasts of the air con if needed. The short blasts, plus the fans, allows the cold air to circulate throughout the house. When it is really stinking, and there is little breeze, we just use the air con on longer blasts but never on all the time. For us that is not healthy and certainly not cheap.

 

Then you need to consider what type of air con. Evaporated air is not good in humid conditions and to make it work fully folk tell us you need to keep one or two windows open. Not sure how true that is and sure somebody will come on and advise with that. To us that just seems daft so no evapo for us when we looked at installations.

 

As for heating we have a gas baynot in a few of the rooms and in the early spring / autumn and winter we use gas fires to heat some of the rooms and heat bulbs to warm the bathrooms when we use them. So you need to also consider how to heat any rental. If you go for the one with no air con how do you heat it in the winter?

 

For a lot of folk coming here they rent new properties with fully installed reverse air con systems and then of course the easy thing to do is hit the on buttons. Is it needed long? Again this will be down to debate, what you are like as people and what you can and cannot stand in terms of heat but based on our strategy we hardly use the air con at all in real terms until peak summer temperatures hit. Also our gas and electric bills for a 4 x 3 are very small in relation to what we hear some folk are paying.

 

So where does that leave you? None is a bit severe I guess unless the situation of the house is getting the full brunt of the sea breeze, has a lot of shade and you just use floor and any ceiling fans. For us a mix is the answer. A cooling and heating plan that is topped up with things like access to the sea breeze, shade around the house and some dedication to doing helpful things regularly. Oh and houses with some roof eaves can also help with the cooling. Then at the opposite end you can go full tilt with reverseable units, easy access to on buttons and flipping large bills. Heat to one person is not hot to another so really not sure where you guys will fit in.

Edited by StraighttothePoint
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Thanks people, not sure I am any further forward as it sounds as if we will either be hot in summer or cold in winter - the one with no air con has a slow combustion stove to heat you in winter and the one with air con has ducted air con... :err: so on that basis I appreciate that neither sound ideal, but we need to try and get somewhere pronto and these are the only 2 options in the area we need to be for school! why cant the perfect house just fall from the sky on demand!! :wink:

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Well we are all different and feel heat and cold differently. However I could not live without my evaporative aircon. It is cheap to run and works well for me. I do not like refrigerative airccon (reverse cycle) overly much, and the running costs of it can be horrendous. However, I know others who have ducted reverse cycle and have their house chilled all summer and love it. Bottom line though is that you need some form of aircon in the summer, especially if we have a summer like last year!

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Guest guest9824
Thanks people, not sure I am any further forward as it sounds as if we will either be hot in summer or cold in winter - the one with no air con has a slow combustion stove to heat you in winter and the one with air con has ducted air con... :err: so on that basis I appreciate that neither sound ideal, but we need to try and get somewhere pronto and these are the only 2 options in the area we need to be for school! why cant the perfect house just fall from the sky on demand!! :wink:

 

...It is out there, that perfect house (probably costing the price of a small island in the Indian Ocean) but if I had the choice I would be going for the air con one...you can always put a jumper on in a cold house but a hot house here in Summer is not a very ideal scenario especially as your first summer here. Once you acclimatize which may take several years you might feel less uncomfortable in 40 degree heat, but being here nearly 6 years I can honestly say, the summers would be a lot harder without air con!

 

Pea

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Here's another opinion...

 

If you're saving about $50 a week on rental for a house without air-con (as you should), you could buy a portable unit every couple of months :)

 

BYW Our Aussie born friend (who grew up without air-con) told us that it's more difficult to acclimatise to the weather if you're constantly using it.

 

Since then I tried not to become dependant on air-con, I don't use it in the car and have only switched it on in the house once. The Mrs, on the other hand, has used it as much as possible. Consequently, I'm managing with the heat much better than the wife.

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Some people will tell you they manage fine without, open a window

good luck with that, last Xmas day was 44 in our garden

evaporative will lower the temp by a max of about 10 degrees which is fine up to a point but Is no use in humid weather

the first year we bought this house it was 40 not long after we moved in and we ended sleeping on the kitchen floor as this was the only room with air con, no amount of open windows or fans would cool it down

now have air con in every room

You will suffer without

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Think of it another way......would you buy a home in the UK with no form of Central heating? Either gas,electric etc

 

thought not!

 

We we have a/c in our house in the UK (might have something to do with being in the ref/AC business :wink:)

 

and we have a log burner and gch and I still feel cold - which may be my age!

 

 

Anybody who who says you could cope,sleep or function without AC in 40 degrees is simply wrong. On a holiday you put up with it as the lager and pool/sea usually helps with the sleeping. But everyday when you have to work/study function in it. No way!

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Thanks for all the advice people, I think you confirmed what we really knew any way! Might have a look at portable ac units, but my guess is that they are expensive.

 

(7cbd - we have and would probably again lived in and bought a house with no central heating - in fact only had it in the UK for the last 3 years - It was very chilly with the cold winters that we have been getting! but we did survive)

 

I think if it was just hubby and I we 'might' be able to manage, but I think it would probably be unfair on the kids so will make sure that we have something! thanks again for your input everyone :biggrin:

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I would go with the one with air con if you have just newly arrived. Don't worry too much about which type just get the one with for the moment. Last year we had about 3 weeks where the temps were regularly around the 40's depending on where you are. Down here in Mandurah it's usually cooler in summer than the North. Good luck to you all and welcome to WA.

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Late message but here goes.

 

We decided when we got here not to have aircon. Last summer was tough, but we've very quickly got used to the teamperature, and I can happily work outside when the temp is in the 30's. We have a wood stove for heating in winter, and get our wood for free off Gumtree.

 

Up to everyones taste, but you don't have to have aircon, and we don't miss it. Last Christmas was in the 40's and we sat outside and enjoyed the heat. We have a celing fan in the bedroom, and that is enough.

 

Nick

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BYW Our Aussie born friend (who grew up without air-con) told us that it's more difficult to acclimatise to the weather if you're constantly using it.

 

So true, how are you going to adjust if you live in a fridge?

 

Late message but here goes.

 

We decided when we got here not to have aircon. Last summer was tough, but we've very quickly got used to the teamperature, and I can happily work outside when the temp is in the 30's. We have a wood stove for heating in winter, and get our wood for free off Gumtree.

 

Up to everyones taste, but you don't have to have aircon, and we don't miss it. Last Christmas was in the 40's and we sat outside and enjoyed the heat. We have a celing fan in the bedroom, and that is enough.

 

Nick

 

We had evap in our last place, had it on for about an hour and hated it so went through the summer with fans and it was fine but we do have the doctor blowing in every day.

Our current place has no a/c but it is an older, weather board property with deep verandah's and high ceilings so far better equipped to deal with the heat than the modern, concrete cubes. TBH I love the heat and today it feels really cold at 13 degrees this morning, (we even dragged the duvet back on the bed and snuggled to keep warm :wink:).

I'm cold at anything below 23 and up to 37-38 it just feels nice. Above that we fill the outdoor bath and use it as a plunge pool and then have fans at night. A/C makes me feel ill, dries my eyes, throat and skin, costs a fortune, is environmentally very costly and IMHO, in most situations, completely unnecessary.

 

I will get in first and then portlaunay can suggest the opposite!!
Well you'd be disappointed if I didn't wouldn't you? :biggrin:
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Well you'd be disappointed if I didn't wouldn't you? :biggrin:

 

:wink: but sounds as though we are agreeing on, and thinking all similar lines, in relation to some of it. House styles and locations make a huge difference with this as you rightly point out. Living in a brick box, in the middle of a sandy estate, with no trees, no natural shade, lots of concrete and little breeze would drive anyone to the on button of the most powerful, costly and naturally unhealthy cure imaginebale. I blame the developers and the pollies!! Free the dolphins and go the Sea Shepard :wink:

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We bought our house towards the end of Summer last year (Feb) and it was hitting high 30's still around that time. There was one (old and noisy, stuck on one temp) reverse cycle air conditioner in the living room and that was it. We slept the first night in the living room as the rest of the house was stinking hot. On the second night thought this is silly so tried to sleep in the bedroom - we have temperature readers and we recorded a high of 29.9 degrees in our bedroom at 10pm at night - not conducive to a good nights sleep I can tell you! We stuck it out until the end of the summer as we wanted to get it right with what we installed this year and not make do with something we would probably want to replace.

 

We installed ducted reverse cycle air conditioning to the whole house back in August and it was money well spent in my opinion. We haven't noticed a big increase in energy bills as we are sensible with what settings we use it on (if you're going to put it on 18 degrees and high fan speed then of course your elec bill is going to be massive!) but we do use it, it's not just for show.

 

Generally speaking the house is a comfortable temperature during the day, even when it is in the high 30's outside. It's the evenings and trying to get to sleep that we've found is the time we use it. We put it on around 6pm and set a sleep timer so it goes off in the middle of the night - comfortable nights sleep all round, I love it.

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Its called progress

 

Do people still store food in salt instead of refrigerating it

Do people still have provisions delivered by horse and cart

Do people still walk to the fields to work or use one of them combustable engined things

I could go on......

And the more modern reverse cycle inverter driven ac systems are very efficient, and if installed and maintained correctly help clean the air and help allergy and asthma sufferers a lot. But of course some people wouldnt let facts get in the way:laugh:

 

And as for them poor souls having to live in those new fangled boxes in the sand. To them it is there home and maybe they are not snobs and dont want to live in an old house. I have lived in a 200 year old cottage and also a new build with good insulation and an efficient heating/cooling system and I know which I prefered.

Edited by 7cdb
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I love this site...... When have facts ever been relevant :wink: So by twisting your words, folk who live in old houses are snobs.... Love it.... :wink: You are right though progress is what is called cdb and yes of course there are arguements for the new systems. It would be daft not to acknowledge that and you are right to put forward another view point. It is what makes balanced threads and more enjoyable reading / banter on these topics.

 

All through these threads all of us, or most of us anyway, are saying everyone is different and that based on various options it will be up to each of us to do what we can to keep cool / warm and I guess that also menas in the end how we pay for that as well. Unfortunately I earn next to nought so cannot afford a new fangled box in the middle of whoop, whoop but for those that can though, well done :wink:

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