Make better use of the living space in your home

Think air conditioning and we generally think cool yet modern air conditioning systems provide one of the cheapest forms of heating available.

Having invested in what is for many people important extra living space, its essential you create a room that is perfect for relaxing with friends and family regardless of the season. However, all too often, the weather dictates when you use your conservatory, which makes it underutilized all summer and winter.

As with conventional heaters you need the right sized unit based upon the area that it has to heat and cool. Install one that is too large in capacity and you will be forever fiddling with the remote control to maintain the right temperature. Conversely, install one that is too small and you will remain cold in the winter and too hot at other times. Heating a conservatory in most parts of Great Britain is not such a problem but cooling can be.

Calculating the right size unit that will maintain a comfortable temperature is trickier. For example, if you already have blinds in place this will reduce the amount of additional cooling necessary warranting a smaller unit costing less money.

Effectively cooling and heating the room – as economically as possible – makes sense in much the same way you heat and try to keep other parts of the house cool in high summer. A major handicap with conservatories is that they are designed to attract the sun and without air conditioning, the amount of solar gain can render the room unusable on all too many occasions. Air conditioning is the ideal solution for this problem – especially a unique range of air conditioning units suitable for conservatories.
Once you have made the decision to air condition, your conservatory the next task is finding a reputable installer. We’ve all watched BBC’s ‘Rough Traders’ so make sure you do a little bit of home work first before making a decision. As a minimum requirement, the installer should be a member of the Heating and Ventilation Contractors Association (www.hvca.org.uk)

You should not be required to pay for a detailed survey, necessary to estimate the correct size of air conditioning unit. Also, make sure you know the brand of equipment being specified. David Knibbs, Managing Director of Air Conditioning Solutions (UK) Ltd, recommends you stick with products manufactured by the top 5 companies in the UK air conditioning sector. These will include makes produced by Mitsubishi, Daikin, Sanyo, Toshiba and Fujitsu. “Your installer should at least be a recognised and approved business partner for one or more these major companies, as well as being a member of the HVCA and Refcom.”

So there, you have it. The right means to spending more time this summer and next winter enjoying the extra room in your home. Modern air conditioning equipment uses a device called a ‘Heat Pump’ that works by extracting the residual warmth that always exists in the air. This clean, carbon free technology reduces the cost of heating by as much as 40% compared to gas and electricity.