There are many ways of providing air conditioning but please be aware of the difference between conventional air conditioning which recirculates (and cools) the existing air and ventilation which extracts existing air and provides a means for fresh air to come into the room. Some systems are available for combining both but these are really beyond the scope of this site.

Smaller air conditioning systems work in a similar way to the refrigeration systems in coldrooms. We prefer the term ‘comfort cooling’ as it describes what the customer is trying to achieve. A good system will have an outdoor unit connected to the indoor air handler via copper pipe and cable. The indoor air handler can take a number of forms depending on whether it is to be wall mounted, floor standing, mounted under the ceiling or partially concealed within a suspended ceiling. There will normally be a controller which will adjust air temperature, fan speed etc.

One option often overlooked is the heat pump version. This has the facility to ‘reverse cycle’ which means that the outdoor unit will extract heat from the air outside and make this heat available from the air handler inside. It is possible to achieve very low cost heating in this way and it is also very versatile, particularly in Spring & Autumn when it is common to require heating early in the morning and late afternoon but cooling in the middle of the day. It is possible to set the controller to the desired temperature and leave the equipment to decide whether heating or cooling is required in order to achieve this. Most equipment now incorporates some form of filter which can be effective for removing dust etc from the air.