Who's in the UK and has caved in and bought air conditioning?

I seriously consider it every year but the costs for what is typically a few days a few times a year puts me off.  Our house is timber framed and well insulated so he typical temperature inside has been around 30c consistently for some time now; the bedroom gets up to 32c.  Opening windows does nothing, neither does closing curtains.  Jokingly I say ‘you can have it hot or you can have it hot with bugs” in reference to opening windows at night where it might be a bit cooler outside.  Anyway opening windows does very little.  However, having a timber framed house I’m very worried about letting people punch ducting holes through the external walls as most/all tradies seem to have little to no knowledge of how to deal with this type of construction.  Bizarrely, as it isn’t new; I’d assume it would be better in Scotland.

We were on a road trip in Europe from 10th June to 4th July.  First 3 days were 18c/19c and drizzly; 4th day was the right side of hot; 5th day onwards was blazing hot and we were unable to do very much as we really struggled with the heat.  Unfortunately, the heatwave reappeared in the UK when we got back so we’ve not been comfortable since something like the 14th June.  It’s very wearing trying to sleep in 30c-32c temps.  Definitely back to seriously thinking about it: best would be ceiling mounted units that could be ducted in via the loft and thus pipework is outside the protected timber frame.  That worked great for installing the ASHP.  Speaking of which, I would seriously recommend people consider an air-to-air heat pump if they are looking to move in that direction as that does cooling and heating, potentially at 400%+ efficiency.

Andrew J said:

Opening windows does nothing, neither does closing curtains.

I'm experiencing the same here. Ideally need window shutters on the outside that can be closed during the day.

I conducted a crude airflow observation test yesterday evening as the bedroom was back up to 30C at midnight with windows open and the forecast suggested it should be a more pleasant 23C outside.

Even though I could hear a stiff breeze outside, there was surprisingly little noticeable movement of air by the open window. Very occasionally the tell-tale tissue indicator would be sucked outward and then return to vertical. 

I was thinking that perhaps an 8" air mover something like:

https://cpc.farnell.com/clarke-international/3230442/cam200b-8-ventilator-blue/dp/HG01469

or a fan tray using something like:

https://cpc.farnell.com/sunon/a2259-mbt-tc-gn/fan-ac-230v-254x89/dp/MF67639

attached to a window vent might be enough to get some air exchange happening.

Andrew J said:

Jokingly I say ‘you can have it hot or you can have it hot with bugs” in reference to opening windows at night where it might be a bit cooler outside.

A mosquito mesh over the window opening might help reduce the number of bugs on the inside.

Something I've been considering is a design of hooking fans into the window opening to either force air to move out of the room or suck air in.

I've seen designs for this for american windows, but nothing for the typical swing out english windows.

beacon_dave said:

These will sort of fit UK style casement windows

Almost there but not quite right.

These will sort of fit UK style casement windows:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reversible-Punch-Free-Installation-Ventilation-25-6-27-6in/dp/B0GV41GRCJ/ref=sr_1_6?th=1

Had been thinking of doing something similar but with a better fixing arrangement. 

These will sort of fit UK style casement windows:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reversible-Punch-Free-Installation-Ventilation-25-6-27-6in/dp/B0GV41GRCJ/ref=sr_1_6?th=1

Had been thinking of doing something similar but with a better fixing arrangement. 

beacon_dave said:

These will sort of fit UK style casement windows

Almost there but not quite right.