Frequently Asked Questions

The main benefits of air conditioning are mechancal cooling and energy efficient heating which allow you to maintain a comfortable space dispite the season or weather outside. Other benefits include precise control of the temperature, air purification and dehumidification.

We wont go into the complex physics here (for a physics lesson try this!)Basically refrigerant absorbs heat from the air in the room, through the evaporater coil in the indoor unit, then the heat absorbed from your room is rejected onto the condenser coil on the outdoor unit and blown away by a fan. In heating mode the two coils swap roles and heat is pumped into the building rather than out of it.

No, refrigerant technology has come a long way, CFCs are gone and HCFCs are almost gone, we now use HFCs. These modern refrigerants such as R134a, R407c and R410a have zero ozone depletion potential (ODP). However, these gasses do have a significant global warming potential (GWP) but only when released to atmosphere. With good refrigerant handling practice and proper maintenance, this should never happen. When used for heating instead of gas boilers or electric heater elements, air conditioning uses FAR less energy in terms of fossil fuels, this is obviously good for the environment as it lowers the carbon footprint. New refrigerants are emerging slowly and are being used by a small number of refrigeration suppliers, these are the companies who make chiller cabinets for supermarkets etc. The most exciting new refrigerant is ordinary carbon dioxide, which promises better 'heating mode' performance for ac systems in winter, UK conditions. It is just starting to become avialable in heatpump replacement boilers, although some technological advances are still required.

No, air conditioning systems are extremely efficient because they reap energy, that they did not sow - from the sun. For each kilowatt of electrical energy used to run the system, you get around four kilowatts of cooling or heating! see How does air conditioning work, above. Of course, the main argument is that even a small amount of electricity used for cooling in the summer is more than using no energy at all.This is true, but the when comparing air conditioning in heating mode, to a condensing gas boiler and traditional radiator system the results are supprising: the gas boiler is around 95% efficient (Pretty good!- I hear you say) it turns around 95% of the energy put in, into heat in your home. The air conditioning uses a little electrical energy to steal a lot of energy invested by the sun, and as a result the system appears to be 400% efficient!!!!!!

All air conditioning involves moving air, and since sound is basically the movement of layers of air, this intrinsically creates noise. However with the latest scroll fan designs, the sound created is at a minimum. The reallity is that indoor units make very little noise indeed. The noise an outdoor unit makes depends on its size - a very large unit has to move a lot of air across its coil in order to reject the heat, therefore it will have larger fans and create more noise as a result.

If noise is a problem to you, we can often select equipment which is designed to conform to a certain sound level. Or in some cases, we can install accoustic chambers to lower the noise level of very large outdoor units, this would only normally be considered on chillers or large VRV condensers.

This really depends on the number of air conditiong units, the site and the distance between the indoor and outdoor units.For a back-to-back wall mounted system in a consertatory, where the outdoor unit is only 8 inches through the wall from the indoor unit and the power comes from a nearby consumer unit, then this would take 1-2 days.For a ducted system above a shop ceiling, with ductwork feeding condtioned air to grilles, outdoor unit at the rear of the shop we would expect to allow 4-5 days.

We will come to your site to complete a site survey, in order to provide you with a detailled quotation, including an indication of how long we expect the job to take.

Strictly speaking no, to buy or handle refrigerant in the UK, is illegal without specific qualifications, namely CITB Refrigerant Handling or City&Guilds 2078. You can buy small split systems from DIY stores or online auctions, but we would not recommend it - these systems are in general, unbranded low quality imports and there is no guarantee they will perform as advertised.

All our engineers are highly qualified and highly experienced, they will complete the installation quickly, safely and to our very high standards.

Planned preventative maintenance consists of a number of planned site visits per year by a qualified engineer, in order to service the equipment, change certain consumables (such as filters and fan belts etc) and perform a general health check. Major problems can then be reported and rectified. This pre-empts problems which, if not found, would lead to equipment breakdowns. This kind of maintenance optimises the performance of, and maximises the life span of the equipment. The whole package provides the customer with peace-of-mind, in the knowledge that chances of breakdown have been effectively minimised and that the investment is protected.