#cooling

www.powerpage.org

iFixit posts teardown report of iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max units – O’Grady’s PowerPage

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Heating Electrification Workshop, October 20 - 22, Portland, Maine - Green Building Events - Rate It Green

States across the Northeast and Mid‑Atlantic continue to advance ambitious goals for widespread adoption of highly efficient heat pumps by 2030, an essential...

www.bentasker.co.uk

Self Installing a Monoblock Air Conditioner

Summer in the UK was **brutal** this year, with heatwave after heatwave after heatwave. Although somewhat self-inflicted, it didn't help that my office was routinely about 5°C warmer than outside (a combination of having kit running, and having a south facing gable wall). About five years ago, I bought a portable AC unit but it's uncomfortably loud - my office is only 6 square meters - and can be very distracting if I'm on a call. Emptying the condensate is also a pain: in the peak of summer, it happily fills a 5 litre container several times a day. With reports of a super El Nino building, I decided that it was time to invest in a fitted AC unit. This post describes self installing an Olimpia Splendid Evo-F Monoblock Air conditioner. * * * ### Why a Monoblock UK planning law only allows a _single_ outdoor condenser to be fitted as a permitted development - any more, and you need to apply for planning permission. The layout of our house makes it hard to install a multi-split (multi-room AC tied to a single outdoor condenser) so, to use split AC in more than one room, we'd need to go through the planning permission process. Installation of most split systems also requires a F Gas qualified engineer (the exception being things like the ElectriQ easy-fit). The law does not fuck around in punishing those who ignore the requirements. Qualified aircon engineers, though, are both very busy **and** expensive. Self installing something like the ElectriQ was an option, but came with two drawbacks: * The units use R290, which is propane based and highly flammable: making a mistake and causing a leak would be a **very** bad day * It'd still use up the single condenser that we can have without planning permission Instead, I decided to go for a monoblock: these are all-in-one units with outside air drawn over the condenser via two core drills: Cycling outside air over the condenser allows the unit to be much more efficient (and therefore quieter) than a portable AC unit (though not as quiet as the indoor part of a split). It also avoids the negative pressure issues associated with single duct portable units. To summarise then, a mono-block AC unit: * Avoids having to worry about getting planning permission for outdoor condensers * Is quieter and more efficient than a portable AC unit * Doesn't create negative pressure, drawing warm outside air into the room * Doesn't require an F-Gas certified engineer to install It does, of course, require direct access to an outside wall, but my office has two to choose from. A monoblock _seemed_ like a no-brainer: all I needed was to drill a couple of holes and I could have a nice comfortable office. * * * ### Selecting A Unit I shopped around a bit: I quite liked the look of Panasonic's RAC Solo range, but the price per unit is pretty eye-watering. Eventually I settled on an 2.1kW Olimpia Splendid Unico Evo-F, based on 4 main selling points: * Quiet operation: (claimed) 30dB * The heat-pump can run in reverse, acting as an energy efficient heater * The listing and promo video both noted compatibility with a 162mm core drill - _just about_ a diy-able size * Opportunity for later nerdery: "Features an RS485 port for connection to Building Management Systems (BMS) using Modbus RTU communication protocol." An 8000 BTU unit, arguably, is overkill for a room the size of my office. However, because I tend to self-host services, the heat output of this room is quite a bit higher than average and more advanced calculators recommend about that level of cooling capacity. Monoblock units need to be attached to an outside wall, so the positioning would look like this (very much **not** to scale): * * * ### Core Drills Once the unit arrived, I was in for a little disappointment. The unit came with a vent kit for 202mm cores. The references to 162mm turned out to be because older Unico models uses holes of that size - this unit can be used with pre-existing holes, but the recommendation for new installs is a 202mm core (it allows for better airflow, making the unit quieter and more efficient). 202mm is a **big** fucking hole to put in a wall though: 7.95 inches in diameter. I had a quick scout around: * It was possible to buy vent kits for 162mm holes, but they were £100 * There was **no way** that my SDS drill was going to manage a 202mm bit. I looked at renting a core driver, but nowhere local would rent a DIYer a driver capable of that diameter (even with a clutch, hitting a snag could mean a broken wrist) * Getting hold of a core drill bit that size would also cost ~£100 * I _could_ have stitch drilled it, but it'd have made a hell of a mess. In the end I decided that it was probably better to outsource that bit of the job, so I found a local diamond drilling contractor and booked them in. * * * ### Prep The wall that the unit would occupy had a canvas and some (quite hurriedly placed) acoustic tiles on it: I moved the canvas and then got a flat knife under some of the tiles: The side of the box that unit came in had a drilling jig printed onto it, so I lined it up, checked it was level and then stapled it to the wall. I pushed through a small drillbit to carefully mark the various drilling points in the plaster behind the cardboard: Then I took the cardboard back down and used a pen to mark up for the core drills: * * * ### Core Drilling The next morning, the core drilling man turned up with a _big fucking drill_. After a bit of measuring and prep, he set to work and, within an hour, had made two big holes in the side of the house1: Getting a professional in paid dividends here: I don't think there's any way that I'd have managed to drill the holes without blowing the surrounding bricks, whereas his efforts were basically flawless. Happily, the cavity insulation also largely decided to remain inside the cavity. He'd used a good dust extraction shroud, so there was hardly any dust in the room at all - even then it was plaster rather than brick. * * * ### Installation With the two holes drilled, the job became mine to finish. The AC unit comes with 2 sheets which are used to create a sleeve on the inside of the holes so that air flows from outside rather the cavity (in our case, it also helps keep the insulation from being drawn into the unit)2. To allow for the depth of the grill, the sleeve had to be cut 65mm short of the wall's thickness, which meant that I could actually cut both sleeves from a single sheet. I pushed the sides of the sleeve out so that it filled the hole properly and then used some duct tape to help hold the ends in place. There was a face plate for the inside of each hole, so I offered these up and then drilled 6mm holes for their securing screws. One of the holes hit mortar on the edge of the core drill, so I used a bigger plug and screw to ensure that it wouldn't pull out (not that they really come under any tension): The next thing to do was install the external grills. These have been cleverly designed so that you don't actually need external access to install them, first you fit a spring to either side: Then, you attach a length of chain to the end of each spring. The grille itself folds in half, allowing you to pass it through the hole before using the chains to open it back up and pull into place. The end of the chains anchor around little bobbles on the inner ring, so I hooked them over those and then cut the excess off: I did experience a slight headache here: one of the anchor points on the second ring wasn't as well defined and the chain slipped off while I was attempting to cut it off the excess. There's a plastic tab which holds the spring in: the sudden release of the chain caused it to fire off into the garden (thankfully, it didn't go far and I did manage to find it). Next, I needed to drill a 20mm hole for the condensate pipe, so I stuck my dust extractor to the wall: My SDS made quick work of it. A little _too_ quick though: I hadn't expected the drill to get through quite so quickly, and so backed off a bit too late and blew part of the brick out. I pushed the condensate hose through the new hole: A few days later, when the weather was better, I got up there and mixed crushed brick pieces into some mortar to help fill the damaged portion: The last holes to drill were for two fixing brackets. The brackets come with a pair of good Fischer wall plugs: Side note: I was a little disappointed when I first saw the brackets - the drill template had made it look like there was going to be a long bar as a bracket - more holes to drill, but much easier to aim for when trying to hang something off it. With all my hole drilling done, I used the hoover to clear away the remaining dust and debris. The unit came with some self-adhesive seals for the holes so I pushed them into place: These proved to be something of an irritant, they just didn't stick very well and kept peeling themselves loose. Finally, I used tape to mark the location of the mounting brackets * * * #### Installing The Unit Before the unit could be put onto the wall, there were two important things left to do. The first was to break a perforated section off the intake hole - the default setup is for 162mm holes and there's a section you need to remove to open it up to 202mm3: The second thing was to remove the protective cap from the condensate drain outlet. With those done, the unit "just" needed to be lifted onto the brackets. This is a 2 person job: the unit weighs 41KG, liftable by one person, but tricky to safely manoeuvre on your own (and a right bastard to put down safely if you realise this _after_ carrying it up a set of steps). I had Wifey stand and support the bottom whilst I shifted, tilted and swore until the mounting hooks finally found their slots. There's **no visibility** so it involved a lot of feeling for the hook and then for the slot - other than giving a rough idea of location, the tape markings didn't actually help much at all. Once it seemed to be in place, I gave it a good wobble to ensure that it didn't move or drop: One downside of the install: having something large and level highlights just how much of the room (and the ceiling) is on the wonk (it turns out that the floor is too). The brackets _do_ have little adjusters on them, so I could have adjusted the level a little, but there didn't seem to be a way to do that in-situ and I didn't really want to have to take it back off the mounts (especially as taking it out of level might effect the condensate drain anyway). * * * #### Condensate Run-Off The manual says that you should connect the condensate hose once the unit is on the wall and suggests pushing a wedge under the bottom to give room to work. I didn't have a wedge handy but found that the handle of a screwdriver was big enough to rock the unit as far forward as it would go. Our first attempt at connecting the hose turned out to be a dud: it _seemed_ to be on but, later, I noticed water dripping where it had slipped back off. What followed was 15 minutes of trying to get the condensate pipe over the end of a nozzle that I could just barely see. It took _just_ long enough that I'd started contemplating drilling a new hole so that I could switch to the more accessible drain port on the bottom of the unit. There have been no issues since I got the pipe on properly though. * * * #### Power The unit came with a power cable already attached. It's got a moulded European plug on the end, but included a proper screw-together fused adapter for UK plug sockets. I hadn't been sure how long the flex was actually going to be and so came prepared to install a fused spur. However, it proved not to be needed - the flex is a good few metres long and easily reached my floor level sockets. The one critique that I have is that the adapter makes the plug sit horizontally, demanding more space than it otherwise would: This wasn't a major issue: there was room for it and, if there hadn't been, I'd have cut the plug off and attached a UK 3 pin (or perhaps wired straight into a switched fused spur as originally planned). * * * #### Configuration The AC comes configured for floor level operation, so needed to be reconfigured to reflect its raised location (apparently this adds a 3°C temperature correction to heat mode). To do this, I: 1. Plugged the unit in 2. Held `Mode` for about 10 seconds 3. Pressed `+` to go to `P1`, then `-` to get back to `P0` 4. Held `Mode` for about 2 seconds 5. Pressed `+` to switch from `Do` to `uP` 6. Held `Mode` for about 2 seconds to save the setting I had to discover step 3 on my own, entering the menu and then holding `Mode` to go into `P0` didn't work - I don't know if that's a shortcoming in the firmware or if it's just capacitive buttons being shit. The configuration change also caused the outlet flap to point down rather than up, blowing cool air into the room rather than against the ceiling. I don't currently forsee a need to use any of the other configuration options: * `P1` - Enables control via external switch/relay * `P2` - Controls whether the external relay uses an open or closed contact * `P3` - Switches temperatures between °C and °F * `P4` - Sets whether the unit can do cooling, heat or both (the default is both) * * * ### Operation The unit comes with a small remote control: It takes 2 AAA batteries, but none are supplied4. The unit itself has a little LED display, though the lack of contrast does make it a little hard to see in a well-lit room: Operation is pretty simple, though, with 3 modes to choose from: * Cool * Heat * Auto There's also a button on the remote which makes the outlet flap oscillate. I don't have a noise meter, but the manufacturers claim about noise level seems about right: If I listen, I _can_ hear it running, but even with the fan set to maximum it barely registers above the sound of the other things running in the room. There's very little noise outside too: if I climb a ladder I can hear that the vents blowing, but it's subtle and completely imperceptible from the ground. * * * #### Power Consumption To help measure power consumption, I plugged the unit into a Tapo P110 smart socket and then turned the target temperature down so that the heat pump would kick in. The consumption is pretty light: There's a startup surge, but consumption soon backs off to around `300W`. Once the target temperature is achieved, consumption drops to just 12W - at that point, the unit's still circulating air but the heat pump itself is no longer active. Because it matters for heat pump energy consumption, the temperatures during that test were5: State | Outdoor | Outdoor Humidity | Inside | Inside Humidity ---|---|---|---|--- **Start** | 20°C | 50% | 23.1°C | 59% **End** | 19.5°C | 50% | 22°C | 50% The last run of my portable AC unit, for comparison, looked like this: The continuous running is partly a result of the negative pressure that portable ACs create when blowing room air across the condenser: my office door is quite well sealed, so air was getting drawn in around the board that I used as a window seal instead. So, the new unit peaks at about half the power, and more reliably backs off to a lower steady state. The catch, of course, is that I'm likely to use it _much_ more frequently - so I'm not expecting any real energy savings. * * * ### Conclusion The unit turned out to be **much** more of a pain to install than I had envisaged when I ordering it. The hefty 202mm core-drill requirement meant that I still needed to get a professional in (although, round here, core drillers _are_ generally cheaper and much more available than F-Gas engineers). I think I'd pay a professional again though: it was quick, relatively dust free and resulted in a **much** tidier finish than I'd likely have achieved. Most of the install process was a one-person job, and the inclusion of a jig was a welcome touch. But, it's also a pretty hefty unit to lift, so installing high up required a second set of hands. Getting the condensate pipe attached was also a real faff. That said, even _with_ the cost of core-drilling, we've come in at a little less than half the price offered by a local mini-split installer **and** haven't burnt our one permitted-development condenser install. This install was also intended as a guinea pig: our attic room, in particular, has a real need for AC. Having a condenser mounted three stories up makes maintenance more difficult (ergo, expensive), so I wanted to be able to make an informed decision on whether a monoblock was a viable alternative without risking having to repair masonry 3 floors up. Assuming that there are no chimneys in the way5, I think it probably is the right choice, though we'll probably go for a slightly cheaper, floor level unit, avoiding some of the hassle experienced during this install. * * * 1. Wifey was not _particularly_ impressed when she saw it... ↩ 2. For those who smirked at the idea that a UK summer might feel hot, this is also part of the reason it can be so unbearable - houses are made to retain heat: we've got 2 skins of brick with insulating material in between. Once the sun warms all that, the house itself radiates. ↩ 3. See how I got such mixed signals about the size of the hole needed? ↩ 4. I know it's a small thing, but grrrrr... even my cheap zigbee sensors come with batteries ↩ 5. The outside temperature is measured a bit further down the garden. I'm trying to resist the temptation to slot a temperature and humidity probe into the core drill vent ↩↩ 6. Actually checking is on my list ↩

managenergy.ec.europa.eu

Cooling strategy: design first, technology second

Care homes, schools and public buildings should be the priority for cooling interventions in Southern Europe, according to Joana Fernandes of ADENE, who explains how Plan4COLD helps municipalities…

computeforecast.com

QTS Pledges $1 Billion to Rethink Data Center Water by 2035 - COMPUTE FORECAST

Data center water pledge strategy is changing as QTS commits $1 billion toward stewardship, cooling efficiency and watershed resilience.

buff.ly

Heat Pumps 101 - Comfort, Health, Savings, Energy Efficiency, and Lower Emissions

If you’re even thinking about energy efficiency, or if you’ve been considering HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning system) improvements