> Most ordinary working people can't afford the cost of installing a system. Even a portable one.
I just watched a video where a person bought a £200 portable unit. He was using it in the UK and said he spent about £0.89 / day. And I'm assuming they won't use it for that many days a year.
Seems affordable enough for "most ordinary working people"
As a side note, it's nearly impossible to buy a dual-hose portable AC in the UK and Europe. For whatever reason, the market has converged on inefficient single-hose portable ACs.
As an oblivious Europian I was breaking my head on how the design with a single hose could be considered good enough.
Other funny stuff:
- I haven't seen a single portable AC with a hose long enough to reach the window. Some come with tents and plastic things to seal the open window. The machine blows hot air out of the tube and air from outside is inevitable sucked in. If you could only hang the tube a few feet out of the window it wouldn't be sucking in the exhaust hot air back in.
- I've seen dozens with barely readable labels on the buttons in poorly contrasting colors. Some also have bright glowing leds next to the illegible text. Even if I switch on the lights (in the middle of the night) I cant read it because the leds are to bright. The buttons are spread out in some artistic arc with a nearly invisible fine line and lack a bump in the sticker they are made from.
- People here seem to love swamp chillers, some wet sponge or fabric with a fan pointed at it. Not sure what the ratio is, I think they roughly increase humidity by 10% for each 1C in temperature reduction with some favorable sweet spot above 90% humidity.
Then I see a video from an Amish dude hanging soaked bed sheets in front of the window explaining they don't have AC, they don't even have electricity, the wet sheets cut the temperature by 10 degrees apparently.
It's not that expensive. There are other reasons why people can't install one in Europe than money. Mostly for people living in apartments. In an apartment building you need the approval of other apartment owners to "modify the building facade". And some people have terrible neighbors. Another thing that happens in Europe is that if the building is 100+ years old, it's facade may be protected as a "historic building" and then you need another approval from some bureaucrats which are responsible for protecting historic buildings. And of course if you're renting, you need to convince your landlord if you want a proper AC not a portable one.
If the bottom of the window is 80cm or less from the floor you need safety glass. Therefore most windows are much further from the floor than that tube can reach. We also have very few sliding windows that allow such neat finish. A lot open at the top. Many turn left or right and are half the size of a door (because there is no AC) Running a crappy tiny portable single hose AC with the window open doesn't do much. Extra fun if you have roller shutters (for shade) with windows that open outwards.
The tube for my portable AC unit would quite easily reach the ~250cm to the tops of my windows and it is not unusually long. I'm not sure what makes you think that would be a problem.
I have one like that and so do my parents. But they're much less effective than classic split AC with an outside unit. A regular split can cool a bigger room to 24 even when it's 38 outside and is basically completely quiet. A portable AC cools down smaller rooms to ~27 when it's 38 outside and is noisy (50-60 dB).
That's cause you got the cheapest one and think all of them are like that. They come in different power levels and you can in fact find ones that are quiet.
People don't know which to buy. I got a really big one that doesn't make a lot of noise. I think on dehumidify it can suck 1.5 liters per hour out of the room. I think this because with 98% humidity the 0.5 liter tank is full in <20 minutes. The tank isn't removable, it has a lid 3 cm above the floor. Just low enough that one cant leave a large enough container under it.
Some of them use the waste heat to evaporate any accumulated water and have it come out of the heat exhaust as slightly humid air. The one I got when I lived in Hawaii had a hole where water would drip out of and you could attach a hose to it.
you don't need that on balcony, most of the apartments have balcony, stupid excuse, same applies for historical buildings with balcony
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
If there is a balcony and you install it there, so nobody can see it from the street, is there an AC installed? Can you even use your balcony the way you want and place there big cardboard box if you need? Same thing. Facade is a one thing, balcony is something completely different, if you can't even use it, what's the point in having it.
Realistically a decent mini-split that won't break in a year and won't make too much noise starts at ~€600-800 + €400 installation in a low-labor-cost country (Latvia), in high-labor-cost countries such as Germany the installation bit might be twice-thrice as expensive.
From what I understand, windows in Europe are very different than in the US - they don't slide open but swing, like doors. So an American window unit, which seals the window opening, is not feasible. They have portable units with air hoses, but I am also not sure how you can get such a hose out of a swinging window without leaving a big gap for the hot air to come back.
I see, all I found is a piece of cloth you tape around window opening though. I don't think it's doing a great job of insulation, and, paired with an inefficient portable unit, what kind of temperature difference can you get inside vs outside?
It's not the money. In many places you need to go through permitting to get it and they do not want to give it to you. Often you also need a signed approval from every person in the building.
There is something very wrong in the EU if installing a life saving window air conditioner requires a permit or signed approval from every person in the building.
This is true. In many places you can't install the outdoor unit on the street-facing side of the building without approval, and you won't get it in most cases, and this is indeed in addition to getting approval from your building's residents association if you live in a flat.
Bulgaria is one of the poorest EU countries and I have seen there way more ACs than in much richer Czechia or elsewhere, this is not about price at all
heck, even in Czechia I find much more ACs in some poor cities compared to the richest Prague, I've seen bigger AC ratio per apartment in my small poor ~40K hometown than in Prague, in our 40 units building in Prague I was the first one to have AC, after many years now followed by neighbor under me, 2 out of 40 units in relatively rich Prague, crazy (though it's true our top corner of the building is warmest from all apartments)
But in Bulgaria you need one during at least the whole summer and I suspect also a bit longer, while in Czechia you could have gone without one the whole year and really need one only for a week or two in the summer. So most people didn't think it was worth the expense. Now that's changed and the attitude will change too.
In my newish (25y old, well insulated) flat we really started to feel the need to get one only 2-3 years ago. Until then it was nice to have but not necesarry.
More precisely, it’s the poorest country in EU and ~80% of households (highest share in EU) have _at least_ one unit (mini splits). Most households use them for heating also during the cold season.
There are no subsidies and/or regulations around this at all. The downside is that it doesn’t look pretty most of the time (unless it’s a new build with infra for multi-split traces).
In that context, this whole “europoors” narrative feels like some weird psyop to me.
>The downside is that it doesn’t look pretty most of the time
Neither does Paris with all those white hoses coming out of the windows and windows with tin foil glued to them. At least the Bulgarians have the sanest and most energy efficient option.
My multisplit system costs <€60 a month to run even during the hottest months, which is way below heating costs during winter. And that's keeping entire apartment at constant 22ºC - people with higher "comfort temperature" can keep the bill significantly lower.
I got a 7000BTU one last week. One of cheapest I could find (I suspect some price gouging given the timing of my purchase). Very small, works in one small room. It was about £400. None of my family or friends have £400 sitting around that they can spend on a whim to save them a few weeks of suffering. A huge number of people live paycheque to paycheque and have no savings or credit lines available to them.
I just watched a video where a person bought a £200 portable unit. He was using it in the UK and said he spent about £0.89 / day. And I'm assuming they won't use it for that many days a year.
Seems affordable enough for "most ordinary working people"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOmzVWTH3xo