Even down here on the the "Cooler" Welsh coast it is melting. I've got my portable A/C unit blasting away all night. Thankfully quite a drop in temperature forecast for tomorrow.
How is it where you are?
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Currently 32.6 outside - per weather station at bottom of the garden - and 30.1 in my study which is former spare bedroom.
Cooler downstairs I think.
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33c down 'ere in sunny North Cornwall. Should be cooler tomorrow in the west thank gawd!
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Currently 34c here in surrey, yesterday it got to 37c, a little uncomfortable if I'm honest, had a fan running on my marine tank for 3 days now but its still just touching 30c, normally runs at 26c.
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37c yesterday, a mere 33c today, overnight temps dropped to a balmy 29.
Has anyone got any experience of self installing a wall mounted split AC system? It seems easy enough (but your chances of buying an ac system right now is zilch)
It is however winter plan for me, as I think we can expect similar going forward.,
Edit, the dog decided she wanted to lie in the sun yesterday. I popped a thermometer next to her.
51c in the sun. Stupid bitch. She does however have her own fan and cool mat to lie on indoors.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 25 Jun 26 at 17:16
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Phew, what a fuss! Currently 33C outside in North Northants at 1630GMT... it's taken all day to get there, and it won't be there for long. That's the average daily high for summertime Bombay.
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Bombay houses and facilities (and the people) are designed for 33c. We ain't
Oh I did have a curry last night, I guess that helps.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 25 Jun 26 at 17:48
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>>
>>
>> Has anyone got any experience of self installing a wall mounted split AC system? It
>> seems easy enough (but your chances of buying an ac system right now is zilch)
>>
>> It is however winter plan for me, as I think we can expect similar going
>> forward.,
>>
>>
>>
That's on my list of jobs for the winter, though not a self install as it is going to be for the upstairs bedroom. We can manage with the cooling breeze from a fan downstairs, but I can't sleep unless the whole room is cool.
Reckoned to be about £1,800 - £2,500 installed.
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Install an air/air heat pump, its the same thing, and you can maybe get some cheaper heating as well.
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Having not long finished installing his heat pump my next door neighbour (nearly ex) plumber is about to install a split AC in his bedroom. He has it on order, due imminently. Hardly seems worth it to me for the sake of four uncomfortable nights a year but then I have no idea of the cost.
I'm seeing him tomorrow and will I'll ask him how easy he expects it to be, and whteher a skilled amateur should be able to cope.
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>> I'm seeing him tomorrow and will I'll ask him how easy he expects it to
>> be, and whteher a skilled amateur should be able to cope.
Ta. Seems the power feed goes to the external unit and needs an external rotary isolator? be nice if you can confirm that.
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>> Having not long finished installing his heat pump my next door neighbour (nearly ex) plumber
>> is about to install a split AC in his bedroom. He has it on order,
>> due imminently. Hardly seems worth it to me for the sake of four uncomfortable nights
>> a year but then I have no idea of the cost.
>>
>>
But it's not just "Four uncomfortable nights" a year. That might be the number of times we experience extreme heat, but there are plenty of other nights when the temperature is high enough to make for an uncomfortable and sleepless night.
I reckon that last year I ran my portable about thirty times, not all night for most of them, but for a couple of hours before I went to bed to drop the temperature enough to get to sleep.
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>> Has anyone got any experience of self installing a wall mounted split AC system? It
>> seems easy enough (but your chances of buying an ac system right now is zilch)
I've a portable 5K BTU air-con unit that I've had for a few years, it ain't up to this heat. I'll be getting prices for a fixed system this Winter.
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I put a split AC unit in our office cabin. Cost around £750 at the time. Works really well. Currently freezing myself, so occasionally it's quite nice to go out into the warm...
As for installation, it's a breeze (see what I did there?)
mount the internal unit where you want it, drill a hole in the wall and feed the ac refrigerant pipes through. These come pre-gassed and sealed with a valve lever thing to open them. So you feed the free end through the hole which need only be around 4 x 2 inches. Then mount the ac unit on the outer wall within reach of the pipe length and supply power to it using Tuff cable, isolator etc. I used a separate MCU on fuse board for it as that was close. Then insert AC pipes and open the valve. That's it.
Heats the place in winter and chills it in summer.
The only thing is to periodically clean the filters because when they gum up with dust it seriously impacts performance.
Much cheaper to run than standard electric heaters
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>> feed the ac refrigerant pipes through. These come pre-gassed and sealed with a valve lever
>> thing to open them.
Yeah, it seems to be you need to be careful to get a "diy" one pre gassed, the pro ones are gassed after install.
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Yup my buddy said don't bother getting a pro one, diy ones are easy
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How much is a split air con unit fitted ?
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>>
>>
>> How much is a split air con unit fitted ?
Anywhere between 1800 and three grand. Dependent on complexity.
DIY split units can be bought for 500-800 quid. Dependent on BTUs.
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>> >>
>> >>
>> >> How much is a split air con unit fitted ?
>>
>> Anywhere between 1800 and three grand. Dependent on complexity.
>>
>> DIY split units can be bought for 500-800 quid. Dependent on BTUs.
>>
That's a fair bit of labour. A day per unit?
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>> That's a fair bit of labour. A day per unit?
Depends, but no more. But a: they use more expensive units, b:they will insist on a pro installed and signd off electric installation, so there is that to pay for before they arrive.
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But a: they use more expensive units, b:they will insist on
>> a pro installed and signd off electric installation, so there is that to pay for
>> before they arrive.
>>
>>
>>
What's different to the ones they use compared to diy ones?
Still must be a fair margin in them.
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The main thing I don't like about the DIY unit is that the length of pipe between the units is fixed by necessity. So we have a length outside the building wrapping around on the wall. It doesn't matter in my case because no one sees it as it's up against a fence but you wouldn't want this on your house as it would be a right eyesore If you ran the pipes up in the the loft and back down you might be able to lose them in there, but then they are relatively short so your options are rather limited.
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The EU banned to DIY units with prefilled lines. Dont know if the UK still follows the EU rules, probably. Non DIY ones have the gas in the external unit and need the lines making and connecting, then vacuum the inside unit and lines, then open the taps on the outside unit. Lots of cheap chinese units around with the usual chinese probelms, some work forever, some last a short time, some doa.
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>> The EU banned to DIY units with prefilled lines. Lots of cheap chinese units around with the
>> usual chinese probelms, some work forever, some last a short time, some doa.
You are a little ray of sunshine.
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It is amusing to reflect that when everyone turns on their A/C, that makes the 'outside' marginally hotter, especially if you allow for generating the leccy required ...
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>> It is amusing to reflect that when everyone turns on their A/C, that makes the
>> 'outside' marginally hotter, especially if you allow for generating the leccy required ...
Err let me see. Let me be nice about this in spirit with the site.
Tough.
(if I had one that is)
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I'd like to know how that one works. Sunlight falls on solar panels, panels generate electricity, electricity powers A/C. Had a propane-filled Mitsubishi system installed last autumn. Used a bit for heating up until last week, and for the last few days I have been working from home at a comfortable 24 °C, rather than the low 30s in the office.
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My house and garden keep relatively cool as they are shaded by a 300
year old oak tree.
I recommend planting one now.
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>> My house and garden keep relatively cool as they are shaded by a 300
>> year old oak tree.
>>
>> I recommend planting one now.
>>
Strangely enough I've got 4 growing at the moment, only currently about 6" high, I plan to rewild them in a year or two, my silly little way of paying something back to mother nature, also got some Hazel and blackthorn coming on nicely, there going in the garden....
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It’s perhaps time we thought a little less about how sunny our gardens are and made sure we hav some shade. A few houses down the road they ripped our every bit of vegetation and paved over their South facing rear garden. They don’t seem to be using it much.
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I have a south facing garden, and have two mature silver birch tree at the end. Neighbour hates them, I love em. Nice and shady
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Wednesday was my final full day in Spain…long shady lunch just inland of Ribadesella ( on the Costa Verde) before hitting the beach late afternoon. 1 hour later a big storm in the Picos and heavy drops of rain…I’ve never seen a beach clear as fast, although the local urchins stayed in the sea.
I sat in the car, read my book then returned to the beach an hour later… temp down to high 20s.
Very pleasant temps in Santander Thursday…sunbathing on the poop deck when we departed on the Pont Aven @ 16:00.
Today’s drive home from Plymouth will not be a pleasant experience…Friday afternoon traffic and the M6 northbound could be a real PITA.
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>> Today’s drive home from Plymouth will not be a pleasant experience…Friday afternoon traffic and the
>> M6 northbound could be a real PITA.
>>
If you find yourself stuck on the M25 at any point, give me a call and I will shout words of encouragement from one of the over bridges.
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>> If you find yourself stuck on the M25 at any point, give me a call
>> and I will shout words of encouragement from one of the over bridges.
>>
Docked on time and out of the port in an hour…quickest ever. For some reason the bikers disembarked after cars & motorhomes. In my experience that’s not the norm.
Unfortunately I got well & truly stuck in the M5 closure. I knew it was closed but there was a mile plus tailback in lane 1 of traffic leaving the M5 and it was obvious that the diversion would be gridlocked. That was confirmed on local traffic announcements…took a gamble and stayed on the M5. A spot of sunbathing, ate my empanada for lunch, cold water from the Alpicool car fridge and home 9 hours after leaving Plymouth.
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I have 4 oak trees in my sou'west facing garden which are taller than the owse.
They are a boon in this blimming heat. They have a TPO on 'em but I did get a surgeon to reduce the crown on all of them last year = £900.
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30.1 degrees at my desk right now (8am). No ac. Yuck!
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In Ripon today. Epic thunderstorm and lashing rain at the moment.
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>> In Ripon today. Epic thunderstorm and lashing rain at the moment.
>>
In same area. Got woken by the thunder. It's impressive how accurate the detection and thunder circles are on lightningmap.org.
I had air conditioning put in a couple of years ago so I've been extra smug this week.
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>> In same area. Got woken by the thunder. It's impressive how accurate the detection and
>> thunder circles are on lightningmap.org.
That url throws up a lot of security warnings.
Should it be lightningmaps.org?
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Working towards London, 34c by 11am. Outside in boots, thick jacket and trousers, gonna be a warm one.
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S'nice now in sunny North Cornwall = 26c out, 23c in. 61% humidity. All doors & windows open with a gentle breeze.
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33c out and 30c in here in leafy Warwickshire, and no gentle breeze. Just about managed to wield the watering can at 7am and put the car battery on charge.
A couple of pints of Newcastle Broon in the fridge for this evening.
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Here in Boulogne sur mer it is 24 with a given windspeed of between 13 and 15 mph. Very nice sitting in the old town in the ramparts having a nice ice cream after Blodwen visiting the vet.
She wasn't very happy about having her temperature taken but was good about swallowing the frontal..
And she got a treat after..
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She wasn't very happy about having her temperature taken but was good about swallowing the
Drontal..
But she got a treat after..
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Well that was a hot one, blazing sunshine all day. Time for a cold one. Hit 46c at home in the conservatory.
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8 in the morning here in Boulogne. Thunder and lightning and torrential rain.
Lovely.
Blodwen very happy..
Taken refuge in a local cafe enjoying a coffee and pastry.
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Definitely fresher today.
Wind has swung to SW and there's some cloud cover. Outside temp now 25.3 with a forcest max of 29.
Tomorrow on it's back to close to seasonal norm with temperature in early/mid twenties.
Rain that was showing as expected in next 24-48hours has gone though.
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>> Definitely fresher today.
>> Wind has swung to SW and there's some cloud cover. Outside temp now 25.3 with
>> a forcest max of 29.
>> Tomorrow on it's back to close to seasonal norm with temperature in early/mid twenties.
>> Rain that was showing as expected in next 24-48hours has gone though.
The heat bubble is moving north and compressing in the east. I am off to Northest Norfolk for a week on Monday, currently at Sandringham its 30+. Monday it will be 24c. YAY
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Forecasters are predicting that a couple of more spells of very hot weather are likely in July and August. This will likely become the new norm, and before next summer air con will be installed at chez O'Reliant.
Very unlikely to be able to get it done this summer.
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I'd have a couple of self installs if it wasn't so fugly - probably lounge and bedroom. She won't be persuaded. It was all I could do to get solar panels back in 2011 (when of course they were a rarity), but now she's seeing the benefits
Given the not unreasonable price, and while my neighbour is still handy with tools, I may work on it a bit more..
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Yeah they do make a house look a bit industrial.
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Not sure about the planning aspects if the unit is too close to a neigbour. I know a bloke down the road had to move his heat pump. Silly man put his solar panels and heat pump in, then decided on a side extension, the planning permission picked up on moving the heat pump and rejected the whole plan.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 27 Jun 26 at 13:30
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Have you upgraded to batteries Smokie. If so any recommendations?
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Nah, batteries go on and off my wishlist fairly frequently but I really don't think it makes economic sense. I only use c 10kWh a day (less in the summer, unless charging the car) and I'm on Agile so can often keep unit prices low so the only potentially tricky bit ss not using much between 16:00 and 19:00 which we do quite easily (- that went over 80p pkWh the other day!)
There's a rather geeky forum where that sort of thing is discussed at length and in depth, i think you'd be able to browse but not sure how you'd join... forum.octopus.energy/latest
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Currently pondering over batteries.
Do however have a solar diverter which channels exporting electricity into the immersion heater until it gets up to temp. So its a sort of battery.
We normally run on oil so there's a saving to be had.
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Yea I have a solar iBoost to use excess leccy to heat the water with spare solar. No gas used for a couple of months now, shame the standing charge is quite so high!
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Well last night was slightly cooler but at 10pm it was still 30c inside. Still uncomfortably hot for sleeping.
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Last night was our choral society concert. Quite pleasant outdoors, but singing for two hours in a building which hadn't had time to cool down was pretty exhausting - not helped by having erected some staging in the morning, rehearsed in the afternoon, and then dismantled staging again after the concert .....
A pleasant 20 deg this morning.
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I played in an orchestral concert yesterday down here in Hertfordshire which involved a three-hour rehearsal in the afternoon, followed by a performance in the evening of about two hours.
I managed hydration OK in the afternoon, but somehow got to the end of the evening and realised I was dried out. Having to wear long trousers and a shirt, with everything sticking to me with the sweat, including my instrument, made for one of the most unpleasant experiences ever. With so many people in one space the evening was even more unpleasant than the afternoon, when at least clothing could be informal.
We're still cooling down the house, which reached over 29C despite our best efforts with closing and opening windows and curtains at the right times. It's still over 26C.
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Inside my house was like an oven when I returned after several weeks away.
Immediately fully opened my large tilt & turn windows allowing a through draft, being on a slight hillside helps. Back to almost normal within 60 minutes, summer duvet on and very pleasant for sleeping.
I do wonder if the new windows, 18mm argon filled gap, are keeping heat out ?
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>> I do wonder if the new windows, 18mm argon filled gap, are keeping heat out ?
What is the argon intended to do, which nitrogen wouldn't do cheaper ?
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You cant make Nitrogen light up.
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Well, not in the same way ..
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'with everything sticking to me with the sweat, including my instrument'
Don't go commando, then.
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>>Don't go commando, then.
Way to go in a heat wave. Shorts, loose T shirt not tucked in - hang on in there!
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>> I have 4 oak trees in my sou'west facing garden which are taller than the owse. They are a boon in this blimming heat. They have a TPO on 'em .....>>
But brief boon, measured in hours rather than days. So many residential estates in this country, especially older ones, are blighted by trees planted decades ago which have been allowed to become forest monsters (IMHO Mr Leyland deserves a posthumous prison sentence!). You can see this in most of our city's Victorian/Edwardian 'residential areas'. Some, like common ashes and sycamores are merely arboreal weeds which have no place in suburban gardens, yet are unduly sanctified by zealous TPO officials. Houses can be rendered almost unsellable by these protected giants.
We are fortunate that from dawn to dusk the sun shines on the walls of our unshaded house because every little photon helps to keep it warm in the non-summer months. On a clear day there is a surprising amount of heat from January sunshine.
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Our previous property at Bolventor on the Bodmin Moor was south east facing and had full-width windows which was fine in winter watching the sunrise over the tors but, boy were the lounge and 2 front-facing hot in the summer!
The Oak trees here are an absolute curse, especially last year which was a mast year.
Don't mention the leaves (I said not to mention them!) I've never seen so many - too many for the garden waste bin in Autumn, Just as well I have 3 garden vacs, a fairly useless B&D, an Einhell, and an old mains Bosch which could suck up a small dog :)
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Our previous neighbour had a large oak tree in her garden. The blasted thing was a real nuisance,
every autumn the leaves would fall off in droves and no matter how much I tried to cover the drains they would invariable get blocked, needing a session with the rods every year. The first job the couple who bought it about seven years ago did was to have the thing cut down, no problem with the drains since and no piles of leaves congregating in every corner.
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I think most people prefer a leafy suburb to a concrete desert.
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A neighbour ar the side of our house,but bottom of his garden has an apple tree (discovery ) and we can help ourselves to what overhangs our garden and a Damson tree as well. Free fruit.
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We've got a apple tree in the front garden, lovely thing, full of fruit this year, its a greensleaves, been in three years now.
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Two apple trees in our garden.
Some years a bumper crop but little or no fruit this year.
Next door has a Walnut tree. Birds love them and either crack them on roof ridges or drop them.
Picked up literally hundreds of the things off the patio in the last few weeks as we've tried to tidy the garden a bit.
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Apart from two oaks on the boundary I have an Acer, a Holly, and a Hawthorn. November does bring a lot of leaves - 20 to 30 large plastic sacks usually depending on which way the wind is blowing. I compost them in a couple of metre-cube leaf bins. They take a couple of years to decompose but make great leaf mould which goes back on the garden. The Oaks do bring a lot of wildlife, squirrels, various birds including owls and pipistrelle bats which I love to watch in the evening. Not so welcome are the muntjac deer who have just eaten all my geraniums in the front garden. Live and let live I guess
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>>I have an Acer, a Holly, and a Hawthorn
Loads of Hawthorn around here, I make a tea with the dried berries + a tbsp of dried Hibiscus flowers for my HBP.
I also do some Qigong (8 Brocades) every morning, lift weights 3 times a week, and walk 5 times per week.
I'm still waiting for my vouchers.
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Hawthorn berries are OK but don’t chew the seeds. Like apple pips they contain cyanide. Don’t want lose you Dog :-)
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>>Don’t want lose you Dog :-)
Cyanide can be used in cancer treatment. I remember reading about this decades ago.
The cyanide came from Apricot kernels I believe.
Also: www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/sep/07/timradford
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Yes apricots like apples plums hawthorn cherry and almonds are all members of the rose family and many have poisonous seeds. Cyanide gas is said to smell of almonds but probably best not to check.
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>> Hawthorn berries are OK but don’t chew the seeds. Like apple pips they contain cyanide. >>
What daft scaremongering. If you look into this further you find that a person would need to eat (and crush) at least 150 apple pips to be in any danger at all.
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You seem to have missed my smiley at the end of my post, Don't take everything so seriously.
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I don't. I thought your smiley (only one) was a private one for Dog.
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We have three trees.
A weeping silver birch betula pendula youngii which we carefully chose
for its size , the movement of the foliage and beauty .
I have planted three Victoria plum trees ( two died of brown rot ) but we love the fruit hence replacing it.
Our third tree is in our front garden in the worse possible position over the sewer next to the brick wall and next to the pavement. It is 45 years old and has a trunk girth of 60 inches.
It was self seeded and was just a single small stick that I allowed to grow.
It is a Mirabelles de Lorraine (a yellow cherry plum )
I love it.
I was not aware of such a tree but now Waitrose sometimes sell the jam.
A long read about it.
frenchmoments.eu/mirabelle-of-lorraine/
Some years I have to scrape buckets full off the pavement other years nowt due to some bug.
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Phew, What A Scorcher! - Bromptonaut
