I read that fewer than 5% of British households have air conditioning of any sort. The reason given is that it simply isn’t needed under most circumstances. Central air conditioning aside, I’m curious, though, about simple window units. Are they an item that are just not routinely available in the UK, or the European countries in general? Not carried in stores because few people buy them in ordinary weather conditions? I’d imagine they’d be pretty hard to find about now.
Have we any European Dopers who can enlighten us on this? And how are you coping where you are?
I can only speak for Norway, which is still saved from deadly heat waves by being so far North, but the path to air condition there will be increased adaptation of air to air heat pumps for winter heating that are reversible and cool you down in summer. We have completely different window designs from the US so window units just wouldn’t work without a whole lot of duct tape and tarp to block the rest of the window.
there is a free-standing alternative to a window unit. It has a duct that goes to any type of window. I keep one as a spare in case the central unit goes out. Just had to use it last month for the office. Also nice to have if the grid is stressed and they ask people to conserve energy. I can turn off the central air and just cool 1 room at a time.
The problem with any portable unit is that you have to buy it ahead of time because the supply of them won’t cover demand during a heat wave.
The problem is that Norwegian windows are all hinged or pivot around the center. So using one for an air-condition duct means blocking off a whole window, and having the window permanently open and exposed to wind and the elements.
Not that these windows don’t exist in the US as well. As the matter of fact I live in a house where no window opens by sliding. But they are terrible for putting in a portable AC no matter where you live.
Here’s a page at a Norwegian home-owner portal showing “different kinds of window”. If you scroll through and check out the images you’ll see that the sliding style window doesn’t even make an appearance. Ulike typer vinduer | Hus.no
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the window style of portable AC unit for sale here in the UK, but they appear to be designed for a sash window, which is not a popular type of window in modern UK houses. Freestanding portable AC with exhaust hoses are not uncommon, but most people make do with simple fans, in conjunction with cold drinks etc. It gets cold enough for long enough to justify the expense of domestic heating, but historically, it doesn’t get hot enough for long enough to justify much expenditure on cooling.
There is no ‘Europe in general’. In Italy, you can buy a wall mounted aircon unit in supermarkets, because everyone has/needs them. In the UK we (currently) require aircon for approx 3 nights a year, but of course, if we want them, we can buy them. All sorts are available. I could have one delivered tomorrow by Amazon. I had a free standing unit when I had a garden office which got hot. My office is fully air conditioned. Most hotel rooms are. It’s just that private homes just don’t need them. Yet.
I use to live in an area like that. It was almost always cool/cold at night. If it was going to be hot the next day we just kept the windows open and cold-soaked the house.
The first 23 years I lived in the Bay Area we did exactly that, helped by lots of fans. It worked until you had 3 hot days/not so cool nights in a row, which almost never happened. Now it does all the time. That’s why we finally got central A/C.
I know all about window units from living in the East, and none of our windows support them. Our houses are just not built for them.
Many houses in Spain have AC installed like this:
It is not energy efficient or nice, can be loud, but it works and is badly needed several months a year.
That is almost completely unheard of in Germany. Modern offices and hotels do have central AC, as do department stores. But private houses? Some modern ones that have installed heat pumps for heating can reverse the process and use it for cooling, but those are few and far between. The rest usually do not. They didn’t need them for more than a couple of nights a year. Well yesterday we had a minimum temperature of 26°C not for the first time this year, we had a full week like this in June, and more such nights are expected in August.
We manage with a ventilator and closing the windows during the day and letting fresh air in during the night. That does not work for long when the night temperature is simply not cool, soon our appartment will be hot like the street and sleeping will get harder.
German meteorologists speak of “tropical nights” when the temperature does not fall under 20°C / 68°F (other countries have other parameters and thresholds). Munich used to have less than two such nights per year between 1982 and 2002, now they have had more than five on average between 2003 and 2018 (cite: German Wikipedia).
In Switzerland there are portable AC units available for sale. Some people will buy them, but most will do without. The buildings here are made of concrete block, so the apartments on lower floors stay cooler.
And even if I did buy an AC unit, I would need someplace to store it. Most apartments are around 1000 square feet. Not a lot of room for storing something which might be used a few days a year, and fans are more useful.
Last year the summer was so cool we never changed to our summer duvet.
I’ve got a small house (a bit under 1000 sq ft) and bought a plug-in dehumidifier that I put basically in the center of the house. Helps a lot. I turn it on and push the thermostat up a few degrees higher. At night I usually only run the dehumidifier.
I have both. the window unit is a flaming PITA to put in and take out if it’s just used for emergencies. The free standing one I have isn’t noisy and does a better job directing cold air where needed. It’s much easier to install and move from room to room. What it needs is an insulated hose which I remedied by wrapping it in a blanket.
I have a floor standing Dyson fan which is amazingly effective. I have it pointed at the bed most nights in summer, and it is super quiet (just a tiny bit of white noise), and feels like fresh, cool air wafting over you, as opposed to being battered by standard fans. It was pricey for a fan but well worth it.
European houses are built to retain heat. FME this is unique, most places are the opposite, even those which get much colder than Europe, dwellings are designed to reject heat.
That I think has more of an impact than lack of an A/C.
Plus a lack of understanding as to just how heat is dealt with.
From Armenia to Portugal? Svalbard to Sicily?
We build the same in all? And in all, we build to retain heat, because we don’t understand how to deal with heat? The Greeks and Italians don’t have a couple of thousand years experience in building in a hot climate?
Would you care to elaborate on how you came to these (frankly astonishing) conclusions?
We have a very hot house, so we bought a free-standing aircon unit that also works as a dehumidifier since we have some damp problems too. It was relatively expensive to buy for what it is, and expensive to run as it’s been on all night every night for the past week or more, and of course electricity costs are spiralling too.
It was a real pain to fit the vent part but that got sorted out in the end and now vents through one of the larger bedroom windows, with a kind of mesh pocket that is attached to the window frame with velcro so we can remove the vent and close the window during the day.
It’s noisy but it does a good job, and when you’re menopausal and overheated, it’s an absolute blessing.
