That’s a mini-split, which is technically a heat pump instead of an air conditioner. They can be extremely energy efficient for heating (they can easily reach above 100% efficiency in terms of power usage vs heat production) because you’re not actually generating heat, you’re just moving it around. If you want to cool a room, you pump it outside. And if you want to heat a room, you pump heat in from outside. You can even bury the heat lines if you have the yard for it, and (as long as you bury deeper than the local frost line) you’ll be able to use geothermal to get efficient heating even when it’s frigid outside.
Yeah that sounds right. I’m not totally sure about the UK but in Spain, Italy, and Ireland they have those mini splits instead of air conditioners in a lot of places. I know because it was something I specifically verified they had in all hotels I stayed in as a wimpy American that needs his cold air!
I also owned a condo in Spain for a bit, (lost it in it in a divorce) and we had one installed along with a dryer since those are fairly uncommon in Spain. It’s like a skinny ass thing towards the top of usually high sealing with a small duct installed behind it and much less powerful than your run of the mill window AC in the US. It did the trick when it was around 85 degrees F outside but just barely.
I’m guessing window units are not common then? Or you have different windows.
We have windows that open out.
Nah, they have these skinny ones that are mounted on walls near the ceiling.
That’s a mini-split, which is technically a heat pump instead of an air conditioner. They can be extremely energy efficient for heating (they can easily reach above 100% efficiency in terms of power usage vs heat production) because you’re not actually generating heat, you’re just moving it around. If you want to cool a room, you pump it outside. And if you want to heat a room, you pump heat in from outside. You can even bury the heat lines if you have the yard for it, and (as long as you bury deeper than the local frost line) you’ll be able to use geothermal to get efficient heating even when it’s frigid outside.
Yeah that sounds right. I’m not totally sure about the UK but in Spain, Italy, and Ireland they have those mini splits instead of air conditioners in a lot of places. I know because it was something I specifically verified they had in all hotels I stayed in as a wimpy American that needs his cold air!
I also owned a condo in Spain for a bit, (lost it in it in a divorce) and we had one installed along with a dryer since those are fairly uncommon in Spain. It’s like a skinny ass thing towards the top of usually high sealing with a small duct installed behind it and much less powerful than your run of the mill window AC in the US. It did the trick when it was around 85 degrees F outside but just barely.