Air Conditioning for Bungalows UK: A Complete Guide

Air conditioning in a bungalow

Bungalows are among the simplest homes to fit air conditioning in, and that usually shows in the price. With every room on the ground floor, the outdoor unit is never far from the rooms it serves, pipe runs are short, and nobody is working from ladders or scaffolding. An installation that might take two days in a two-storey house is often done in one.

Bungalows also feel summer heat more than most homes. The whole living space sits directly under the roof, so on a hot week the bedrooms are as warm as the loft of a two-storey house would be. That is exactly the problem a heat pump air conditioning system solves, in both directions, because the same unit heats the rooms in winter.

Why bungalows are simpler, and often cheaper

Everything is at ground level.: The outdoor unit sits on a wall bracket or ground stand, and the engineers work at head height rather than from ladders or a scaffold tower.

Short pipe runs.: The indoor and outdoor units are close together, so there is less pipework to buy, run and conceal.

The loft helps.: A bungalow has loft space above every room, which gives a clean route for concealed pipework when a room sits away from an outside wall.

Because the labour is straightforward, bungalow installations tend to come in toward the lower end of our guide prices.

Where the outdoor unit goes

The rear or side wall is the usual choice, positioned away from bedroom windows and the neighbours' boundary, on anti-vibration mounts. On an L-shaped or wide bungalow, a corner position often lets one outdoor unit serve rooms in both wings with short runs each way. A ground stand on a paved base works well where the walls do not suit.

One room or the whole bungalow

A single room: most often the main bedroom, for sleeping in summer, or a south-facing living room. One indoor unit, one outdoor unit, fitted in a day.

The whole bungalow: a multi-split system runs several rooms from a single outdoor unit, with each room keeping its own control. A typical three-bedroom bungalow runs the living room and two or three bedrooms from one outdoor unit, so there is only one box outside.

Heating as well as cooling

Every unit we fit is a heat pump, so it heats in winter as well as cooling in summer. That matters in bungalows, which lose more heat through the roof per room than two-storey houses, and it makes a real difference in homes running on electric heating: a heat pump delivers roughly three to four units of heat for each unit of electricity, where a panel or storage heater delivers one.

What it costs

A single-room installation starts from around £1,500 fully fitted, and a whole-bungalow multi-split from around £3,500 depending on the number of rooms. We survey first and put a fixed price in writing.

Planning permission

With the outdoor unit at ground level on your own wall, most bungalow installations fall under permitted development and need no planning application, subject to the usual conditions on size, position and noise. Listed buildings and conservation areas are the exception. Our planning permission guide has the detail, and we check it on the survey.

Installation

A single room is fitted in a day, and a whole bungalow usually in a day or two. Our engineers are F-Gas certified, pipework runs through the loft or in tidy trunking, and installed Toshiba systems are covered by Toshiba's own 5-year warranty.

If your bungalow needs cooling in summer or cheaper heat in winter, request a fixed-price quote and we will survey it first. Our single-room and multi-room pages explain the options.

Bungalow air conditioning: common questions

Why do bungalows get so hot in summer?

Every room sits directly under the roof, so the living space takes the solar gain that a two-storey house absorbs in its loft. Air conditioning removes that heat directly.

Can one outdoor unit run the whole bungalow?

Usually, yes. A multi-split runs up to five indoor units from one outdoor unit, which covers most bungalows.

Is a bungalow cheaper to fit than a house?

Often, yes. Ground-level access and short pipe runs mean less labour and materials, so bungalows tend to come in toward the lower end of our guide prices.

Can it replace my electric heating?

It can carry most of the heating load at a much lower running cost. Many customers keep their existing heating as a backup and let the heat pump do the day-to-day work.