What is the Best type of Air Conditioning for your Office?

AC for office. British heatwaves make it notoriously difficult to focus on tasks and be productive at work. Heat is both physically exhausting and mentally taxing. Likewise during winter, that same draughty office makes it harder for employees to get into rhythm and instead take multiple trips to the coffee machine (and the loo) just to stay warm. Accordingly, business output dwindles. In our opinion, the easiest way to maximise workplace productivity is to have office air conditioning installation. No need to crack the whip. Just install it once, let it run in the background, service it twice a year and watch your business grow.

More reasons to get AC for the office:

• Upgrading comfort helps workplace culture, employee satisfaction, and makes your business a more desirable place to work
• Leave more positive impressions on your clients
• Impress potential investors and business partners in board meetings
• Slash number of sick days attributable to heatstroke, common colds, the flu, etc.
• Save on winter energy bills (especially if premises have electric heaters or an older boiler)
• Improve air quality via built-in filtration capability

Wall units are the most energy efficient … so it’s worth investing in the top spec considering they’ll be in use for most of the time

Why does the office feel so much warmer?

More people and more computer equipment (printers, projector bulbs, servers) means more heat and humidity generated. How fast do the windows fog up while sat inside of a parked car? Respiration releases water. Multiply that by the number of employees and both these factors make your office workers feel the mugginess even more.

Unfortunately neither windows nor fans cut it: they cannot circulate 22°C cooled, dehumidified air throughout a whole office.

So which air con is most suitable for my office?

A proper commercial air conditioning system must be quiet and energy efficient – it should not distract or interfere with day-to-day business operations. The 3 main candidates suitable for office environments are wall mounted mini splits, ceiling cassettes, and under the ceiling units.

Wall mounted: usually seen in a domestic setting, starting from 2kW, best for small to medium spaces (e.g. accountant’s office). Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ models are available in white, titanium and black & white (up to 6kW) if you wish to compliment your business branding. The Diamond series 10kW model (SRK100ZR-WF) has an impressive 20m air throw and autoswing function for even air distribution. Wall units are the most energy efficient by design and easiest to install so it’s worth investing in the top spec considering they’ll be in use for most of the time.

Ceiling cassettes: these are bulkier units that are best suited for enterprise-level, open plan offices. Despite their size, they are more discreet as they sit flush in suspended or false ceilings. Cassettes installed centrally (as opposed to on walls) are powerful enough to cool areas over 1000sqft with 4 way multi-directional louvres to aid airflow. Draft Prevention Panels available on Mitsubishi Heavy units further elevate end user experience. Ceiling cassettes are the more expensive installation here (but not by a mile) – despite this they are worth the investment for how effortless they can heat or cool a large space.

Under ceiling: great for premises that lack a suspended or false ceiling but still need more power than wall mounted units. Not as popular of a choice but way easier to install than a ceiling cassette and just as quiet and efficient. One potential downside is that they can be less aesthetically pleasing (although this is of course subjective).

Get Expert help with Air Conditioning for Offices

In this article we’ve hopefully elucidated how something as trivial as an office that is too hot or too cold can snowball into tasks getting delayed, deadlines being missed, and the business ultimately suffering. We also showed you the downstream effects air conditioning can have beyond just boosting employee productivity.

If you’ve decided you want a ceiling cassette for your board room and are planning an install, you’ll need a qualified engineer to help. Call us for our free site visit to help determine the right size AND type of air con system for your office. We’ll consider solar gain, heat produced by electronics, heat loss during winter, etc. Or if you already has air con but it doesn’t always run smoothly, we can help with that also.