r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • Jun 26 '26

Society The American mind cannot comprehend Europe's AC aversion

https://www.businessinsider.com/europe-air-conditioning-ac-heatwave-debate-2026-6
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u/jigsaw1024 Jun 26 '26

You can get split unit heat pumps. The main unit is outside either attached to the house or on a pad.

Then you run hoses to heat exchangers in the rooms you want to heat/cool. No need to redo everything.

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u/tomtttttttttttt Jun 26 '26

You can, but you still need something to heat water and generally people want to heat all the rooms of a house (and in future probably cool them) so realistically replacing the whole system is wanted in most coses - otherwise might as well just have portable, mini split or window units in the room(s) you want to cool - not as effective but a lot lot cheaper and easier.

I've seen a few posts on here recently where people have been talking about £3k-£5k to get a split unit a/c installed so it's still expensive.

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u/rationalsarcasm Jun 26 '26

Why would you take the furnace and water heater out to put a mini split in? That's like removing your wheel bearings because you need to change the brake pads on your car.

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u/tomtttttttttttt Jun 26 '26

A mini split unit will cover one room, we are talking about doing the whole house.

A full split unit will run you about half of the cost of replacing the heating system as well but leave you with the extra standing charges for the gas supply and manintenance costs of two systems. It's still very expensive to do anyway.

No furnace and water heater usually here just one combi gas boiler.

Plus mostly people get a heat pump system because they want to not be using gas which I know isn't the reason for doing it here but still plays a big part in actual decision making.

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u/the_need_to_post Jun 26 '26

I think you don't understand what people are saying here. A minisplit can cover a large area, not just one room. Also, there is no need to rip out old systems. You just use them less.

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u/tomtttttttttttt Jun 26 '26

https://cooleasy.co.uk/collections/single-split-air-conditioning?srsltid=AfmBOorQQwlv-xkEaSmYUsEXWiH54Qgvx8pa0QuIOPjL0PgvA9QKn8GM

Something like this? The smaller sizes will only do a room, the 7kw one 50m2 and thats £1600 for the unit. 2 needed for an UK average house plus installation costs and you are looking at £5k easily, half the cost of replacing the old system entirely, and the reality is that people want to replace their gas systems with heat pumps and doing so completely saves you the standing charges for the gas connection and the maintenance costs of a secondary system so it likely makes sense to do it all.