UK Hot Weather

[mentadent]

Add 14 degrees to adjust how it affects the life of UK people with their insulation, acclimatization and no AC.

 

[kamkar]

Hehe yeah you have to remember, in the EU, rooms with Air condition, that is mainly shops and offices, where people live, even in recent buildings, AC is not really a standard,,,,,,,, yet.
I have personally never been to a home that had AC.

 

[Dashmellow]

Living on a mountain in rural Vermont even the hottest days are reasonably tolerable. It's always at least 10º Fahrenheit (-12.3º C) cooler here than down in the valley. I can feel the air temperature change dramtically when I make the drive home from town as I gain altitude coming up the mountain. Nevertheless, there are some days each year when the hot weather is just intolerable. So, like many people around here I have a small window air conditioner that I can pop into my bedroom (or office window) for relief. I can usually tolerate hot weather just fine with a fan or two but when it comes to getting a good nights sleep on a hot humid night an air conditioner makes a huge difference. You can buy a small unit like mine (5000 BTU) for only about $150.00 USD. It's only 33 centimeters tall.

Perusing Amazon UK, I see nothing like this available, although there are a few portable floor models which tend to be less popular here.

 

[mentadent]

A UK window could not accept a window unit and would be stolen anyway.

Most people don't have the space for a floor unit that will be used once every couple of years.

And electricity is 2x-6x more expensive than the US.

 

[Dashmellow]

A UK window could not accept a window unit and would be stolen anyway.

Most people don't have the space for a floor unit that will be used once every couple of years.

And electricity is 2x-6x more expensive than the US.

I see.

Most people here don't have space for a floor unit either, hence their lack of popularity, although people who own an air conditioner generally do use them more than once every few years even in northern climates.

As for theft, most folks install small air conditioners like mine in bedrooms on an upper floor. To prevent theft of window mounted air conditioners on lower floors people use screws and brackets to install the units which makes them much more difficult to remove from outside the building. On lower floors people often install larger more powerful air conditioning units to cool bigger spaces. These units tend to be rather heavy and awkward to handle and they require more robust mounts and brackets making theft more difficult, but I'm sure that it happens. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that air conditioner theft is more prevalent in hotter US climates than in cooler northern climates.

UK electricity costs (September 2021) were 0.28 (USD) per kwh vs 0.16 per khw (USD) in the US, so definitely a lot higher, but not 2x or more higher.

Electricity prices by country 2022 | Statista

The cheapest electricity in the world could be found in Iran in 2022, whereas the cost of residential electricity per kilowatt-hour was highest in Europe.

www.statista.com

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[mentadent]

They went up a lot this year and more in Germany.

 

[Dashmellow]

They went up a lot this year and more in Germany.

They're about to go up here too, like everything else. Here in Vermont the power company is asking for a 15% hike next year but the regulators will be unlikely to go along with that big a rate increase. Either way it won't be good.

I believe rates in Germany are way up due to their decision to abandon nuclear power.

 

[Dashmellow]

That's nothing for the human race to be proud of.

And here in the US our Supreme Court just recently decided to hamstring our Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from mandating carbon emissions that cause climate change!

One has to wonder what theses justices are thinking considering the crisis we are all facing..........and whether they have grandchildren.

 

[kamkar]

Here we have another AC challenge, in that we Danes in spite of being the world leaders on free wind energy, well we still pay the worlds highest KWH prize

justices are thinking

There are indeed a lot to ponder in this day and age, but fair warning it will drive you mad.

 

[joe384]

Yeah, seems to be mostly portable A/C units available in the UK, along with window seal kits which seal around an open window.
The wattage seems to vary with the size and energy efficency, some are as low as 600W but some are up to 2kW
They are not a big as I thought, average 30cm x 30cm x 70cm so can be tucked under a desk or corner of a room when not in use.

Ironically, my desk fan stopped working this morning, it was just a loose connection at the switch though luckily.

Looks like the temperatures are going to drop quickly after Tuesday though, back to the mid 20s

 

[mentadent]

I am currently in the UK and enjoying the temperature.

Forcing people rather than them being willing to make a change will be as effective as what that did for COVID.

 

[Dashmellow]

Here we have another AC challenge, in that we Danes in spite of being the world leaders on free wind energy, well we still pay the worlds highest KWH prize

Yeah, I noticed that in the link I provided and was surprised considering all the wind power in Denmark.

While it is true that the cost of running an air conditioner can be expensive, especially if you live in a location that has high electric rates, it can be worth the expense if you live in a cooler climate where you only use it a modest number of times per year.

For someone like me, there are maybe 5 or 6 days a year at most where it is unbearably hot and I mostly use it at night in my bedroom. Occasionally, I'll use it in my office for a few hours a day.
Even with the relatively high electric rates we pay here in New England, at end of the day, up here on the mountain, the overall cost of using an air conditioner occasionally during the summer season is like spending an evening out on the town with friends having a burger and a few beers. I'm OK with that trade off. I love the feeling of waking up cool and refreshed in the morning rather that spending the night sweaty and miserable.

 

[Dashmellow]

Looks like the temperatures are going to drop quickly after Tuesday though, back to the mid 20s

Hopefully the temperature will remain low. Here we've had lovely blissful weather punctuated with brief but excruciating heat waves.

 

[Dashmellow]

It melted!

Flights briefly disrupted at UK's Luton airport as heat damages runway

Flights to and from Britain's London Luton airport were temporarily disrupted on Monday after soaring temperatures caused a defect in its runway, prompting airlines to delay or divert their planes.

www.reuters.com

 

[Kremmen]

I've had a couple of portable ac units in the past but got rid of them.

As mentioned, awkward to store and for a few days every few years, is it worth it. They are also very (very) noisy.

The other problem is that the door or window has to be partially open to flop the 6" exhaust hose outside and that seems to be self defeating as it lets hot air in.

I'm hoping to move in the next few years and I will get a split unit installed as it's going to get hotter and more frequent.

 

[Kremmen]

 

[Panzer Platform]

Well, tomorrow it is projected to be 111º F (43.9º C) in Phoenix, Arizona which is pretty damned hot but I think I would still characterize what the UK is experiencing right now as hot too!

It's true that everything is relative. Here is an interesting map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showing the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the United States as of June, 2022.

The highest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. (a world record) was 134º F (56.7º C) on the afternoon of July 10, 1913, at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California according to the United States Weather Bureau.

June 2022 was the Earth's warmest June on record. It's looking like July will be the hottest July on record.

View attachment 61091

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I'm in that 134F (61C) State on the left.
For relief from the heat, I just remember how cold my first ex-wife was.
-Chuck

 

[TonyM]

It was too hot indoors (~34C/93F) for comfortable sleeping upstairs last night, so we all slept downstairs in the living room together. I understand it was the hottest night on record in the UK.

I'm happy to be in an air-conditioned office for the first half of today

 

[Nigel]

It was too hot indoors (~34C/93F) for comfortable sleeping upstairs last night, so we all slept downstairs in the living room together. I understand it was the hottest night on record in the UK.

I'm happy to be in an air-conditioned office for the first half of today

Did you not close the doors, windows and curtains to keep the heat out?

It was 37.8 outside here yesterday, but the house managed to stay at 23.1 maximum, no air conditioning, just closed everything to keep the heat out.
(Officially it was only 35 outside, but the met office weather station is in the middle of a field that is currently full of very green grass.)

 

[TonyM]

Did you not close the doors, windows and curtains to keep the heat out?

It was 37.8 outside here yesterday, but the house managed to stay at 23.1 maximum, no air conditioning, just closed everything to keep the heat out.
(Officially it was only 35 outside, but the met office weather station is in the middle of a field that is currently full of very green grass.)

Yes, I had all the doors, windows and curtains closed all day. We live in a dormer bungalow that was built in the 60s. The upstairs rooms are within the roof space and have a thin, dark grey flat roof with very little insulation. There is hardly any external brick wall upstairs - mostly thin timber panels. No cavity wall insulation anywhere. This house is noticeably hotter in the summer and colder in the winter than our previous house that was built in the late 90's.

Not my actual house - but the same construction style further down the street - the front of the house is south-facing: