Housing for Health – the guide
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    Electrical Safety

    • A1.1 Functioning Safety switches
    • A1.2 Electrical earth connection
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    Gas Safety

    • A2.1 Gas Safety
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    • A3.1 Fire prevention
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    Structural Safety

    • A4.1 Structural safety
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    Washing People

    Washing People

    • B1.1 Wet area design
    • B1.2 Hot water
    • B1.3 Water outlets, valves & taps
    • B1.4 Washing young children ― hand basins, bathtubs, and laundry tubs
    • B1.5 Showers
    • B1.6 Wet area floor drainage (bathroom, shower, toilet and laundry)
    • B1.7 Turning the water off to allow plumbing maintenance
    Washing clothes and bedding

    Washing clothes and bedding

    • B2.1 Laundry design
    • B2.2 Drying clothes and bedding
    Removing waste water safely

    Removing waste water safely

    • B3.1 Flush toilets
    • B3.2 House drains
    • B3.3 Septic tanks, common effluent drains and on-site effluent disposal systems
    • B3.4 Aerated waste water treatment systems

    • B3.5 Dry toilets
    Improving nutrition – the ability to store, prepare and cook food

    Improving nutrition – the ability to store, prepare and cook food

    • B4.1 Quality of drinking water
    • B4.2 Food storage
    • B4.3 Preparing food – sinks and benches
    • B4.4 Cooking
    • B4.5 General issues for kitchen design
    Reducing the negative impacts of crowding

    Reducing the negative impacts of crowding

    • B5.1 Performance of health hardware in households with more people
    • B5.2 Developing the edges of the house and the yard
    • B5.3 Storage areas in the house
    Reducing the negative effects of animals, insects and vermin

    Reducing the negative effects of animals, insects and vermin

    • B6.1 Animals: Dogs, cats and others
    • B6.2 Animals: rats, mice, snakes and birds
    • B6.3 Insects: ants and cockroaches
    • B6.4 Insects: mosquitoes and flies
    • B6.5 Insects: Dust mites
    • B6.6 Insects: termites
    Reducing the health impacts of dust

    Reducing the health impacts of dust

    • B7.1 Reducing the health impacts of dust
    Controlling the temperature of the living environment

    Controlling the temperature of the living environment

    • B8.1 Human comfort and climate
    • B8.2 Passive design in tropical zones
    • B8.3 Passive design for houses in arid and temperate climates
    • B8.4 Active cooling of houses
    • B8.5 Active heating of houses
    Reducing hazards that cause minor injury (trauma)

    Reducing hazards that cause minor injury (trauma)

    • B9.1 Hazardous materials
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    • B9.3 Preventing slips, trips and falls
    • B9.4 Preventing cuts and abrasions
    • B9.5 Preventing burns
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    Water

    Water

    • C1.1 Water quantity and treatment systems
    • C1.2 Water quantity and demand management
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    Energy

    • C2.1 Electricity
    • C2.2 Gas
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    • C3.1 Waste water
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    • C4.1 Household rubbish disposal
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    • C6.1 Landscaping
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Home > Health & Housing > Controlling the temperature of the living environment > Active cooling of houses

B8.4 Active cooling of houses

An active cooling system uses energy to cool the house. Some examples of active cooling systems include fans, evaporative air conditioners, and refrigerative air conditioners such as ‘split systems’ and these systems consume varying amounts of energy, water and money. The examples below assume a house size of 150 square metres and a range of operating times between a low use of 6 hours a day and a high use of 18 hours a day.

While fans do not actually reduce air temperature, they cool the body by increasing the rate of air moving across the skin. Fans are most effective in the tropics (humid environments) and one fan can use between 1.2 kW and 3.6 kW of electricity a day to run. If the house had 5 ceiling fans installed , this would mean the total cooling energy would range between 6kW and 18kW per day.

Fans can be used on their own or in combination with other cooling systems to reduce energy costs and improve the overall efficiency of the cooling system. For example, fans combined with evaporative cooling in desert regions can reduce the number of days when evaporative cooling is used in mid-season periods. Data show that 42% of houses had ceiling fans.

Evaporative coolers blow air across water moistened pads to lower the temperature of the air. The system works best where the air is dry to maximise the rate of evaporation and cooling effect. The systems use low energy fan motors and water. In a desert environment, an evaporative cooler can use from 5 to 25 kW of energy a day and from 250 to 450 litres of water a day. Data show that 11% of houses had some type of evaporative cooling system.

Split system refrigerated air conditioning units will use between 23 kW to 88kW a day to cool a house but require no water.  Data show that 31% of houses had some type of refrigerated air conditioning units, with most (23%) being small window mounted type units.

Cooling the house needs to be taken into account at the design stage to ensure that the most effective and efficient system is installed during construction. This will avoid the need for residents to purchase cheap, poor quality systems that require installation after construction and have high running and maintenance costs.

Given that 59 per cent of houses surveyed are located in areas where summer temperatures regularly exceed 40ºC, survey data shows that only 21% of houses do not improve the inside house temperatures for residents in hot conditions, a significant decrease of 10% since 2006.

Real world examples of problems

  • B8.4 001 Ceiling fans need careful positioning
  • B8.5 002 Airconditioners, often second hand and installed by the tenant, consume power and cost the tenant money - but do little to cool the house
  • B8.5 003 Makeshift stands and old air conditioners reflect the desperation of families trying to cool poorly insulated houses in very hot climates

Design and Specification

Ensure

  • B8.4.1.

    passive design strategies have been incorporated to make the house cooler

  • B8.4.2.

    insulation is installed in the ceilings of rooms that are going to be used as living space

  • B8.4.3.

    that the power circuit for all air conditioning units is on a separate protected circuit and is fitted with no-volt relays to ensure that the air conditioner has to be manually restarted after a power outage.

Consider

For fans, consider:
  • installing fans in all living rooms and bedrooms, even when other cooling systems are also provided
  • installing fans on verandahs and outside living areas
  • making the finished height of blades on ceiling fans not too close to the ceiling where they will stir up hot air but not so low as to be dangerous to people (minimum height of 2350mm above the floor and 200mm below the ceiling)
  • positioning lights around the ceiling fans to prevent a strobe effect; lights need to be well outside of the diameter of the fan and need to be located around the fan
  • selecting robust fan controllers that are resistant to fluctuations in power supply
  • choosing timber or stainless steel blades that are not prone to rust
  • using oscillating fans on walls or ceilings in bedrooms or where the ceiling level is lower, or in larger rooms to direct air movement across the room
  • providing fans in bathrooms to evaporate moisture and reduce mould.
In desert and dry regions, consider:
  • finding out whether the community has enough water available to run evaporative cooling systems and whether the quality of this water is suitable for this type of unit
  • mounting evaporative cooling systems beside the house on an independent stand to avoid:
    • damage to roof sheeting and structure if the unit leaks
    • damage to roof sheeting by service personnel
    • penetrating the roof with ducts and increasing the chance of the roof leaking
    • noise transferring from the unit into the house
    • foul air from the sewer vent pipe being drawn into the house by a roof mounted system
  • directing the ‘bleed-off’ water from the evaporative cooling system away from the house and re-using it in the yard to water shade trees, or disposing of it safely
  • positioning the ducting to deliver cool air to the main living areas of the houses only not in the toilet and shower areas.
  • if using a refrigerated air conditioning system, using a split system with an inverter and fix the fan coil unit on the wall away from young children, water and vermin
  • using vented ridges or ‘whirly-bird’ ventilators
  • draining the condensation from a refrigerative air conditioning unit onto a garden bed
  • if not installing air conditioning units, providing ‘knock-out’ openings in the walls and power points to allow residents to install their own air conditioning units without placing them in windows that would prevent the windows from being opened.
In the tropics, consider:
  • if using a refrigerated air conditioning system, using a split system with an inverter and fix the fan coil unit on the wall away from young children, water and vermin
  • using vented ridges or ‘whirly-bird’ ventilators
  • draining the condensation from a refrigerative air conditioning unit onto a garden bed
  • if not installing air conditioning units, providing ‘knock-out’ openings in the walls and power points to allow residents to install their own air conditioning units without placing them in windows that would prevent the windows from being opened.

Quality control

  • the finished height of ceiling fans is as specified
    info-icon
    COMPLETED DESIGN & SPECIFICATION
    DURING CONSTRUCTION
    AT HANDOVER
    FINAL COMPLETION
    TRADE TEST
  • the fan is secure and works on all speeds without wobbles or noise and the controller is securely fixed to the wall
    info-icon
    AT HANDOVER
    FINAL COMPLETION
  • the specified cooling system is provided and correctly installed
    info-icon
    COMPLETED DESIGN & SPECIFICATION
    DURING CONSTRUCTION
    AT HANDOVER
    FINAL COMPLETION
    TRADE TEST
  • evaporative coolers:   are not located near vent pipes because foul air can be drawn into the house + are not mounted on the roof because water leaks or overflow may corrode the roof, particularly in areas with high levels of mineral salt in the water + are protected and easy to access for maintenance
    info-icon
    COMPLETED DESIGN & SPECIFICATION
    DURING CONSTRUCTION
    AT HANDOVER
  • cooling air is only ducted to the living areas and bedrooms, not the wet areas
    info-icon
    COMPLETED DESIGN & SPECIFICATION
    DURING CONSTRUCTION
    AT HANDOVER
  • external fan coil units for refrigerated air conditioning are fixed to walls and not placed on the ground
    info-icon
    COMPLETED DESIGN & SPECIFICATION
    DURING CONSTRUCTION
    AT HANDOVER
  • run-off from air conditioning units is directed away from the house to a garden bed
    info-icon
    COMPLETED DESIGN & SPECIFICATION
    DURING CONSTRUCTION
    AT HANDOVER
    FINAL COMPLETION
  • the power is on a separate protected circuit and no-volt relay switches have been installed
    info-icon
    COMPLETED DESIGN & SPECIFICATION
    DURING CONSTRUCTION
    AT HANDOVER
    FINAL COMPLETION
  • ‘knock-outs’, with a power point on a dedicated circuit, have been provided in living rooms and bedrooms without air conditioners.
    info-icon
    COMPLETED DESIGN & SPECIFICATION
    DURING CONSTRUCTION
    AT HANDOVER

Maintenance

As part of cyclical maintenance:

  • inspect evaporative air conditioners before summer, check water flow, and replace filter pads, if necessary.
    info-icon
    Plumber, Local Maintenance Team, Housing Management
    12 Months
  • plant shade trees around houses
    info-icon
    Local Maintenance Team
    12 Months
  • keep air conditioning units, especially evaporative systems, cleaned and fully maintained
    info-icon
    Plumber
    12 Months
  • consider using rainwater in evaporative cooling systems to reduce the effect of mineral salts on filter pads
    info-icon
    Plumber, Housing Management
    24 Months
  • if evaporative cooling systems have been mounted on the roof, take overflow pipes to the ground to stop mineral salts from corroding the roof; also consider soakage beds
    info-icon
    Plumber, Housing Management
    24 Months
  • monitor the temperature in houses and the cost of cooling houses to identify more energy efficient housing designs and cooling systems.
    info-icon
    Housing Management
    24 Months

Standard And References

Australian Council of Building Design Professionals, BDP Environment Design Guide, Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology  web site, <http://www.bom.gov.au>

Australian Greenhouse Office―energy rating, <http://www.energyrating.gov.au>

Building Code of Australia

Far West Area Health Service 2001, Temperature of houses: Data logging Murdi Paaki region Weilmoringle and Enngonia.

Australian Greenhouse Office 2002 Your Home Design for Lifestyle Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney <http://www.yourhome.gov.au>,

Hill, J 2005 Improving thermal performance of social housing for better health of occupants and to reduce costs of temperature control, thesis available through University of Sydney Rare Book Library Masters Theses

Hollo, N 1997, Warm house cool house: inspirational designs for low-energy housing, Choice Books, Marrickville, New South Wales.

Nganampa Health Council Inc. 2000-01, Thermal performance, energy use and water consumption of round 2 health clinics and duplex staff accommodation units during critical winter and summer periods.

Pholeros, P 1997, Energy and Water Use Required for Health in Housing on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands North West of South Australia, for UPK Nganampa Health Council Inc., Alice Springs, pp. 11-12.

Pholeros, P & South Australian Aboriginal Housing Unit 1998, Temperature Control and Health, pp. 1-4.

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  • Controlling the temperature of the living environment
    • B8.1 Human comfort and climate
    • B8.2 Passive design in tropical zones
    • B8.3 Passive design for houses in arid and temperate climates
    • B8.4 Active cooling of houses
    • B8.5 Active heating of houses
of houses provided no improvement on the outside air temperature when outside temperature exceeded 30°C
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