15 Sep How Air Conditioning Reduces Summer Overheating

The cooling of rooms in hot UK summer weather is becoming an increasingly familiar problem and needs to be addressed by a suitable air conditioning solution rather than being moved from one part of the room to another.

Why Rooms Overheat Quickly

Solar gain through glass is one of the biggest contributors to a heated room, and once the building has absorbed that heat it can take a long time for it to cool down. However, heat is also produced by appliances such as computers, lights and other items in the room. As can be seen from the UK summer temperature trends, peak summer temperature has increased over the past few decades.

How Air Con Actually Removes Heat

A fan simply moves hot air around within a room whilst an air conditioning unit removes heat from the room as part of its refrigeration cycle and releases it outside of the room, thus cooling the room.

Matching Capacity to the Room

The capacity required for a typical room would be around 100 watts/sq m. A unit with insufficient capacity can only run continuously and never do enough to cool the room.

Positioning the Unit Well

Mount your indoor unit up high on a wall and away from direct sunlight. Make sure it’s not near a doorway as cooled air needs to fall to floor level and mix with the room air to achieve good circulation.

Pre-Cooling Overnight

If you run your air conditioning overnight for an hour or so it cools the walls and floor of your room so that they will keep your room cool for the rest of the afternoon. This is particularly noticeable in the summer evenings in Gloucester when it can still be quite warm outside. A useful reference for Air con Gloucester is https://acecc.co.uk//.

By choosing the correct air conditioning unit and using it sensibly, most rooms can be kept at a comfortable temperature throughout the hot British summer.