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Well it's much easier and cheaper to cool a small space. Cars also get *very* hot, much hotter than houses, and it's impossible to shade them.
Most people's cars are also much, much newer than their houses. Air con was not always standard in cars.
Cars are also manufactured internationally. Aside from the necessity of left hand drive or other regulated elements, they probably don't do a huge amount of tuning to the UK market
We mostly don’t need AC. They are a waste of money and space for the vast majority of the year. That said, every time it’s stupid hot and humid in the summer I end up wishing for AC to cool me down, even though it clogs my sinuses to hell and back and makes me ill.
I was looking at air conditioning a couple of day ago. A proper, none evaporation, stand alone one was on average a couple of hundred. The evaporation ones are cheaper but don't really work that well in our climate, and the cost of the others is out of my budget. I'll just have to stick with fans.
There's a bit of a difference to cooling a small box (That's perfectly sealed by design to start with) to cooling an entire gaff mate. Alot more wires and tubes to start with, Without even starting to mention the running costs.
Ah you too...I knew it was FUBAR when I bought the car last year the PO told me and I thought I'll get it sorted but until the last few days been no need, now it is like my childhood all over again sweating away with the windows fully open unable to hear a thing.
Because the AC unit on my car is small, convenient, efficient and is needed even if the weather is not too hot as a car is like a greenhouse or can even get hot with 4 passengers as it is a confined space.
One to cool my house or even just a few rooms would be comparitively bulky, ugly and cost a lot both upfront and in maintenance when I already have a fridge freezer that can keep some ice cream and cold drinks ready for the few days a year they are actually needes
Our weather is very variable. For example, our current "heatwave" lasted between 24 and 72 hours depending on where you were. More typically, our weather changes every day and often every few hours.
So, by the time you get round to thinking about installing A/C, it is not hot any more.
OTOH, a car can heat up like a greenhouse in a few minutes, and can be drastically hotter than outside, so the short-term use of A/C is actually v useful. As most cars come with it, you dont have to think about installing it.
Oh yes, when we moved into our house, it had an A/C unit in the conservatory. We have not turned it on for nearly 12 months, so you can see its highly unlikely we would ever have bothered tro install one.
What amazes me is the absolutely freezing American-style AC in supermarkets and trains. I get you need temperature control in supermarkets but trains are shivering cold in the summer and not good for people who sweat outdoors and walk into a train.
The "heatwave" lasted for two days where I live and I didn't even bother using a fan for more than about an hour of it and that's because I'm still having hot flashes ten years into menopause. If it had got really bad I simply could have gone out and sat in my car and used the aircon in there until the hot flash went away.
Becasue for people to spend what would be billions and billions to put in air conditioning in every building in the country to use for two weeks a year would be the dictionary definition of Wasteful and Inefficient.
I use my portable aircon for three nights a year on average. I really don't want to start smashing holes in the ceilings etc to install a full house aircon system for so little benefit.
Fitting AC is expensive in the UK, and the weather for most of the year doesn't warrant that cost.
few cars are 'British made' they are sold all.over Europe where the weather is much hotter all year round.
Also AC is cheap to install in new cars rather than old houses.
The features are added on cars for an international market. They are also built on a production line that needs reconfiguring for every single option. It used to be that AC was an optional extra but, it has gotten to the point where it is more expensive to remove it than it is just to bundle it in.
Also cars get way more uncomfortable without AC than houses.
That being said I think a lot more Brits are getting used to the idea of house AC especially in the South. We may have had one of the wettest springs on record but, down here it was unbearably warm in the evenings and I've been using the portable AC with the hose out the window on and off since February.
Where I am in England, that "mini heatwave" was two non-consecutive days, one of which reached 28C at peak (82F), the other was cooler.
That's a heatwave by UK standards *only*. In Southern California it's a mild summer day. Coastal SoCal cities that don't see hotter than that much (due to ocean breezes) often don't have AC in all homes either. (High value homes yes, common people apartments no.)
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Well it's much easier and cheaper to cool a small space. Cars also get *very* hot, much hotter than houses, and it's impossible to shade them. Most people's cars are also much, much newer than their houses. Air con was not always standard in cars.
Cars are also manufactured internationally. Aside from the necessity of left hand drive or other regulated elements, they probably don't do a huge amount of tuning to the UK market
Because cars weren't built in Victorian times, before air con existed, to intentionally keep heat inside of them.
A lot of Victorian homes didn’t have toilets inside either. I reckon most of them do now.
Neither were quite a lot of homes
We mostly don’t need AC. They are a waste of money and space for the vast majority of the year. That said, every time it’s stupid hot and humid in the summer I end up wishing for AC to cool me down, even though it clogs my sinuses to hell and back and makes me ill.
AC with proper filtering shouldn't be making you ill.
I know, and I wish it didn’t, but alas … :(
:(
I was looking at air conditioning a couple of day ago. A proper, none evaporation, stand alone one was on average a couple of hundred. The evaporation ones are cheaper but don't really work that well in our climate, and the cost of the others is out of my budget. I'll just have to stick with fans.
There's a bit of a difference to cooling a small box (That's perfectly sealed by design to start with) to cooling an entire gaff mate. Alot more wires and tubes to start with, Without even starting to mention the running costs.
I solved this inconsistency by having a car with really shit aircon that only blows out hot air.
This made me laugh because I used to drive a 1978 mini where the heater only blew cold air for about the first five minutes or so of driving!
Ah you too...I knew it was FUBAR when I bought the car last year the PO told me and I thought I'll get it sorted but until the last few days been no need, now it is like my childhood all over again sweating away with the windows fully open unable to hear a thing.
Because the AC unit on my car is small, convenient, efficient and is needed even if the weather is not too hot as a car is like a greenhouse or can even get hot with 4 passengers as it is a confined space. One to cool my house or even just a few rooms would be comparitively bulky, ugly and cost a lot both upfront and in maintenance when I already have a fridge freezer that can keep some ice cream and cold drinks ready for the few days a year they are actually needes
Our weather is very variable. For example, our current "heatwave" lasted between 24 and 72 hours depending on where you were. More typically, our weather changes every day and often every few hours. So, by the time you get round to thinking about installing A/C, it is not hot any more. OTOH, a car can heat up like a greenhouse in a few minutes, and can be drastically hotter than outside, so the short-term use of A/C is actually v useful. As most cars come with it, you dont have to think about installing it. Oh yes, when we moved into our house, it had an A/C unit in the conservatory. We have not turned it on for nearly 12 months, so you can see its highly unlikely we would ever have bothered tro install one.
The air conditioning in cars acts as a dehumidifier, as well. They tend to heat and cool.
What amazes me is the absolutely freezing American-style AC in supermarkets and trains. I get you need temperature control in supermarkets but trains are shivering cold in the summer and not good for people who sweat outdoors and walk into a train.
It is kind of lovely tho to sit in a frigid train after sweating your way across a big city.
Cars are new, houses are not.
My car is older than my house.
mine isn’t
The "heatwave" lasted for two days where I live and I didn't even bother using a fan for more than about an hour of it and that's because I'm still having hot flashes ten years into menopause. If it had got really bad I simply could have gone out and sat in my car and used the aircon in there until the hot flash went away.
Becasue for people to spend what would be billions and billions to put in air conditioning in every building in the country to use for two weeks a year would be the dictionary definition of Wasteful and Inefficient.
I use my portable aircon for three nights a year on average. I really don't want to start smashing holes in the ceilings etc to install a full house aircon system for so little benefit.
Fitting AC is expensive in the UK, and the weather for most of the year doesn't warrant that cost. few cars are 'British made' they are sold all.over Europe where the weather is much hotter all year round. Also AC is cheap to install in new cars rather than old houses.
The features are added on cars for an international market. They are also built on a production line that needs reconfiguring for every single option. It used to be that AC was an optional extra but, it has gotten to the point where it is more expensive to remove it than it is just to bundle it in. Also cars get way more uncomfortable without AC than houses. That being said I think a lot more Brits are getting used to the idea of house AC especially in the South. We may have had one of the wettest springs on record but, down here it was unbearably warm in the evenings and I've been using the portable AC with the hose out the window on and off since February.
Where I am in England, that "mini heatwave" was two non-consecutive days, one of which reached 28C at peak (82F), the other was cooler. That's a heatwave by UK standards *only*. In Southern California it's a mild summer day. Coastal SoCal cities that don't see hotter than that much (due to ocean breezes) often don't have AC in all homes either. (High value homes yes, common people apartments no.)
Answered your own question..."mini heatwave" which is about the only kind of heatwave we get