Solution to cool this single room?

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BLazeD

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#311475 19-Jan-2024 08:45

I have a small room (my office) that get boiling. Fans don't work. We already have sun blinds. It's just very stuffy and hot.

Is a heat pump the best option for this or is that overkill? I ask because the room is small. It's not connected to any other room in the house.

The heating factor would be a bonus in winter, but it is 100% the cooling factor I need.

Thanks!

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#3183803 19-Jan-2024 08:57

Yeah I'd opt for a heat pump, even the lower powered ones can likely keep this room cooled.

Dynamic

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#3183804 19-Jan-2024 08:57

Options I see...

active ventilation. Something like an extractor fan to draw air into the room, ideally passing where you are sitting so you feel the breeze.
evaporative cooler. I've used these successfully for short periods. A guide on evaporative coolers (mitre10.co.nz)
heat pump aircon unit. I consider this the gold standard, though it is also the most expensive solution.

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timmmay

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#3183809 19-Jan-2024 09:01

I have a small Daikin heat pump in my home office, it works great. Cost about $3K installed but not a simple back to back install. Given how much power I was using in winter it will eventually pay back it's cost, no idea how long though.

johno1234

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#3183817 19-Jan-2024 09:20

Small heat pump - total no brainer. It will chill or heat that room in minutes and cost peanuts to run.

Senecio

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#3183847 19-Jan-2024 10:13

If its a room that you are going to be working in all day (office), then its well worth the investment of a correctly sized heatpump for all year comfort.

mudguard

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#3183882 19-Jan-2024 11:40

Might be similar to our bedroom size (hard to tell). We have a heat pump in almost exclusively for cooling (we are in Auckland). It comes on at 9pm and turns off just before 6am. We run it on cool even in winter as I tend to run a little hot.

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wellygary

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#3183907 19-Jan-2024 11:58

As with others as small heatpump will solve your problem,

But where is the heat entering from, - solar gain from windows?, internal transfer of warm air from elsewhere in the house?

You either need to move the hot air out by ventilation- or by cooling it with a heatpump.

BLazeD

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#3183938 19-Jan-2024 13:04

Thanks very much everyone, seems like a heat pump is the go.

When you say small, I assume you mean like the 2.5KW ones here? https://affordableenergysolutions.co.nz/our-specials-heat-pumps-auckland/

I havent seen any smaller heat pumps at least.

richms

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#3183940 19-Jan-2024 13:07

Probably not that small for the size space, remember if you have a PC kicking out 600w of heat, that also needs to be counted in the cooling load needed.

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

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#3183954 19-Jan-2024 13:26

I have a heat pump that is somewhere between 2.5 and 3 KW, it is easily powerful enough for my office which is a similar size to yours. Get a good brand, Daikin works well for me, Mitsubishi has a good reputation, Panasonic can be loud.

In Wellington today it's 24 or 25 degrees outside and sunny, here is the power consumption (not the cooling output) for my office heat pump. It's sitting on about 150W of power being used, which is around 500 W of cooling.

Business computers do not use 600 watts. I measured my old i7 2600K around 120 w when it's working extremely hard, less than half that most of the time, and laptops use less power than a desktop. You have to take into account monitors or other electronics.

rscole86

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#3184101 19-Jan-2024 15:54

I have a MSZ-AP20 (Mitsubishi electric) for my home office (~23m³), more than sufficient for two of us to work in for the day.

However we're South facing so no direct sunlight coming through the windows or onto the walls.

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tweake

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#3184114 19-Jan-2024 17:05

BLazeD:

Thanks very much everyone, seems like a heat pump is the go.

When you say small, I assume you mean like the 2.5KW ones here? https://affordableenergysolutions.co.nz/our-specials-heat-pumps-auckland/

I havent seen any smaller heat pumps at least.

panasonic do a 2kw heatpump. mitsi make the same size but sadly do not sell the smaller overseas models here.

but as someone suggested, where is the heat coming from. if the rest of the house isn't cool then you tend to get a lot of heat from the rest of the house.

for a home office or bedroom, you will not regret installing a heat pump.

BLazeD

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#3184130 19-Jan-2024 18:32

It’s not connected to the house it just has a small ensuite too.

The heat comes from between 12 and 6pm when the sun is shining directly in through the sliding glass doors that I took the photo from. Full on blast. We have blinds but they don’t work. Fans have no real effect.

tweake

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#3184132 19-Jan-2024 18:38

BLazeD: It’s not connected to the house it just has a small ensuite too.

The heat comes from between 12 and 6pm when the sun is shining directly in through the sliding glass doors that I took the photo from. Full on blast. We have blinds but they don’t work. Fans have no real effect.

there is nz site with heat load calc that you can use to tell you what size heatpump you need. catch is i can't remember which one i used.

otherwise its a bit of a guess based on location and room size.

rscole86

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#3184133 19-Jan-2024 18:41

Mitsubishi Electric have a calculator on their site.

Not checked energy wise, but they might.

As per the other recent thread you really need to have external shades stopping the sun/heat from even reaching your property..

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