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Summer heat is becoming the new winter cold in the UK. What are you doing about it?

Mars · 2026-06-26T09:47:56Z

With the UK heatwave in full swing (and it's probably not the last one this year) I wanted to open up a conversation about what people are actually doing to stay cool at home. Most of our homes were built to retain heat, not manage it. That's fine for 10 or 11 months of the year. It's increasingly not fine for the other months, and the irony of a community dedicated to keeping homes warm now having to think seriously about keeping them cool isn't lost on me. There's no silver bullet here and every house is different, but I'm curious what's actually working. Dyson or Vortex fans, do they make a meaningful difference or are they just expensive air movers? Blackout blinds, wet towels over windows, opening up at night and sealing the house through the day? What are you actually doing and what's had a genuine impact? My own conclusion after this week, we're going to install a small fixed AC unit in the garden room. It's our biggest heat contributor and it becomes genuinely unbearable in weather like this. I've tried the portable AC route and I'll be honest, they're pretty useless in serious heat. You need windows open to run the ducting out, which completely defeats the purpose. What have you done this heatwave? What's worked, what hasn't and what are you planning before the next one?

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Batpred

(@batpred)

Noble Member Member

Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 1161

08/07/2026 7:54 pm

At the moment, we rely on blinds/curtains.

I am looking forward to get the heatpump to cool. Perhaps run it as cold as possible in the large rad (in the part of the house with pipework hidden under concrete floor). Place a bucket to collect the water from under it + we may need a de-humidifier...

We are also planning an awning to reduce solar exposure in the south facing side.

Perhaps the other tactic will be shutters on the windows.

And of course fit an a2a system for the bedrooms...

8kW Solis S6-EH1P8K-L-PLUS hybrid inverter; G99: 8kW export; 16kWh Seplos Fogstar battery; Ohme Home Pro EV charger; Vaillant Arotherm Pro 7kW; 100Amp head, HA lab on mini PC

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EtchedPixels

(@etchedpixels)

Estimable Member Member

Joined: 4 months ago

Posts: 152

08/07/2026 7:57 pm

Take care to measure humidity in any small spaces or walls and the like. If your pipes are exposed in rooms it's not so bad but the point at which your cooling causes interstertial condensation and it obviously drips are far apart. If it's all buried in concrete or all visible on walls sounds like you are onto a winner.

Really interested to find out how far you can get effectively with the A2W and cooling.

This post was modified 3 months ago by EtchedPixels

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Judith

(@judith)

Prominent Member Member

Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 554

10/07/2026 10:24 pm

Our ashp service is booked for a couple of weeks from now and we’ve ask our installer to do the modification to allow it to cool. He reckons it might manage to reduce the temp by up to 2C, I was hoping for closer to 4C, but it’ll depend on the dew point and how low we can push the water.

I know there’s info on line for how to DIY but this way there’s no debate on warranty.

2kW + Growatt & 4kW +Sunnyboy PV on south-facing roof Solar thermal. 9.5kWh Givenergy battery with AC3. MVHR. Vaillant 7kW ASHP (very pleased with SCOP >4) open system operating on WC

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