Air Conditioning System Recommendation - Industrial Unit

Hello,

We are looking to purchasing a Inverter Split System A/C and wondered if anyone can offer advice. Apologies for the bulk of this post, I thought it best to give as much detail as I can;)

The two office rooms in question are in the roof space of a brewery, it is industrial space with the extremes. In winter it is extremely cold and in summer it is ridiculously hot, in last years heatwave the temp reached around 38C to 40C!! The office space is very small a rectangular office 11m2, with a long hall like office adjacent to it of 10m2, see attached 'Office AC Measurements'. We have a mobile AC unit for the summer but as soon as it is turned off in summer the room heats up again v.quick as it has a tin roof and virtually no insulation. See Office Plan, below. Please note due ceiling is low and we only have a few positions to put the units on the wall i.e. AC1, AC2, AC3
OFFICE PLAN

We are looking at inverter split A/C systems. Ordinarily I think one might suggest one indoor unit but as it is like a green house one unit just wouldn’t cut it. Last summer we used a highish spec home mobile AC unit that could not even cope to properly cool one of the rooms 'Office 1' even though it is rated at 12000BTU. Spec of this unit below:
Electrolux EXP12HN1WI - 12000btu

As there is only a four of us in the office and a newish business we are looking at budget options and the two options we are looking at are below:
Option 1
Option 2

Now with Option 1 we would only have 5000BTU more cooling on paper than the mobile unit we already have, but we could put the 2 units in position AC1 and AC2 (see OFFICE PLAN at start of plan). I was wondering though would two units be a lot more effective at cooling than the mobile unit and in actual fact cool the rooms a lot more or would it litterally be just 5000BTU more cooling? The positions would work well for the winter as the offices get freezing so positions would work to warm both rooms. My initial thoughts were that the single units would not have enough cooling power as only 9000BTU's each as the 12000BTU mobile unit struggled to keep 'Office 1' cool during the last years heat wave.

Option 2. As the main room we use is the rectangular office 'Office 1' we would need to have this a lot more powerful unit in position AC1. But would the unit be able to effectively cool 'Office 2' at the same time. Obviously with the door open some cooled air will flow into this room but potentially not enough due to the position and without the guys in 'Office 1' freezing. In winter this might be a issue with positioning as the unit might not push the heat through to 'Office 2' enough.

Can anyone offer any advise please?

Hi Hammer and welcome to the forum.

The best advice I can give you is that you started your quest at the wrong end.
As you are located in UK your AC system will need to be installed by a FGas qualified and registered engineer in order to comply with current legislation.
The trick is to ask neighbouring companies who installed or are servicing their AC equipment and if they can recommend that installer/engineer. Find installation engineers that you can trust.
A reputable company will also carry out a survey, do a heat load calculation for your premises and based on that give you recommendations on what equipment best matches your needs.
In truth, if you look at systems from the main players on the market (Samsung, Daikin, Mitsubishi and so on) more than 90% of issues within the first 5 years of installation is down to the installation. (did I mention how important it is to find an installer that you can trust?)
And honestly, no reputable installer will touch unbranded grey import Chinese units, unless decommissioning and removing them.

:cool:

You would need two room air-conditioners, one for each room.

As a first step I would suggest you look at getting some insulation to the roof/walls of those two offices as these surfaces will give an uncomfortable feel for occupants, particularly in winter: cold walls/ceiling.

Mobile units are very inefficient compared with split-type systems, as portable units discharge (warm) room air out through the hose(window/door) and that missing room air has to be replaced with new air from outside the room. Normally that new air is warm air too (two steps forward, one step backwards).

Suggest you call up 1-2 local aircon installers, ask them to visit site and suggest a plan for your two offices. They will normally do this at no cost on the basis that there is a chance of installing the systems for you. As mentioned above, this is not a DIY project, you will need to get an experienced and qualified engineer to install the systems.

As for style of room air-conditioner, with low ceilings you might find that a floor-mounted unit is best suited for your offices. The installer will confirm this for you.

Hi Good mam, I agree with you. Installation of air conditioner is not a DIY project, you need qualified engineer for installation otherwise system will not give optimum cooling.