ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Air Conditioning?

Air con is starting to appear more and more in Ireland. Almost every small retailer that does a refit of their store seems to install the cassette units into the ceilings. It's great for the two weeks in the middle of summer where the temp. goes over 25C but for the rest of the year it's a bit of a waste of time.

The only places it makes sense here are offices / public buildings where you've a lot of people although in those cases the air conditioning system's main purpose is to provide good ventilation you'll usually find that the system's coolers hardly ever fire up as the air coming is is about 10-17C to start with. They do keep the air changing though which is always a good thing.

This summer was exceptionally warm though and a lot of small portable air conditioners appeared all over the place. You could hire them out for a fairly reasonable weekly fee. Just pop a duct out the window plug into a normal 230V 13A outlet and you had a pleasant environment again.

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Trumpy:

Coal and other smokey fuels were banned in our urban areas quite a few years ago. I can still remember Dublin with a thick blanket of coal smog hanging in the air it was absolutely disgusting and completely unnecessary. There are plenty of alternative solid fuels that don't create smog.

The policy here was to promote natural gas very heavily there was even tax write offs and grants available to install a gas system to replace solid fuel.

Coal and other smokey fuels were banned from the supply end so they're simply not available anywhere in Ireland.

Pressure Jet oil burners often create particulates too if they're not working correctly. Most of our city councils now require that you have oil fired systems regularly serviced and can check the flue gas for excessive particulates as they can be quite a health hazzard. Again, you'll get a grant if you convert a gasoil pressure jet system to natural gas.
Quite an easy thing to do too, you just replace the burner moduel (almost always bentone or Danfoss)

You just replace something that looks like this:


with something that looks like this:


(basically the same unit with gas control valves rather than a vaporisor nozzle and oil pump)

A typical unit looks like this



A bit of an industrial looking brute compared to what you tend to find in the UK but they last for decades.

You'll usually find these in a small "boiler house" usually located slightly away from the house in the back garden. It normally has a louver door. It normally contains a few circulation pumps and an expansion vessel/pressure vessel. All very industrial looking. These units make a big rumble hence they're located outside

Or:


Modern version of the classic "range"
Typical Gas/Oil range. Heats domestic hot water, 20+ radiators and 2 to 4 ovens and a hotplates. http://www.waterfordstanley.com

expected lifespan is about 150 years


[This message has been edited by djk (edited 10-04-2003).]