1. United Arab Emirates, Dubai

The Tallest Building in the World (and in Dubai too)

Whatever the time of year, you’re almost as good as guaranteed great weather in Dubai. In fact, one’s probably better off avoiding this undisputed king of weather destinations altogether in the summer months, where temperatures often breach the 40º mark! But for those who seek beautiful weather from November to March, you’d be hard pressed to do any better. The beaches lining the coastline are stunning and, if shopping’s your thing, the Dubai Mall gathers more retailers within a single mall than any other shopping centre on earth (and don’t worry – it’s fully air conditioned!).

Best Time to Go: November to March

Do: Go to the Dubai Mall, if you like shopping.

Don’t: Go to the Dubai Mall, if you don’t like shopping.

2. Morocco, Marrakech

A bustling souk

Another destination for beautiful weather all year round (and one that’s only a few flying hours from home!) is Morocco’s second largest city, Marrakech. Again, summers should be avoided at all costs by all but the most avid devotees to extreme heat – highs will typically scale the lofty heights of 38º and higher – at all other times of the year, however, it’s any holidaymaker’s paradise. This great weather’s complemented by the city’s truly unique atmosphere and incredible traditional culture. Visit the famed souks by day and ride on a magic carpet by night.

Best Time to Go: January to April

Do: Visit the immaculately preserved Saadian Tombs.

Don’t: Get lost. It’s a challenge to find your way back, and when that kind local offers you a helping hand, there tends to be a prior understanding of remuneration.

3. India, Goa

Some boats and a building under a pretty sunset

Fancy getting away over the Christmas period? Why not try the sublime sunshine coast of Goa in the southwest of India. You can expect average highs of 32º as you traverse white beaches that seem to continue forever and admire the coconut trees. Beach cafes always promise a feast of seafood freshly caught from the Arabian Sea, where you may partake in the latest water sport crazes (if that sort of thing rocks your boat). If a more traditional experience is what you’re after, then you can take a cruise to the colonial Old City and experience a slice of the past.

Best Time to Go: October to December

Do: Visit the Old City for a truly fascinating cultural experience.

Don’t: Drown on the way there.

4. The Caribbean, Barbados

Colourful photograph near the sea

If the UK winter’s getting you down and you can’t wait for spring to come around, perhaps you might consider a February excursion to Barbados. The best known of the Caribbean Sea’s south-eastern islands, you can enjoy glorious weather while lying in a hammock on Paradise Beach or riding the blue waters on a shiny yacht. Nature lovers will be astounded by the undisturbed natural wildlife of Saint Peter – and as for those seeking a little adventure, then the mysterious subterranean hideaway of Harrison’s Cave promises to quench the thirst of even the most curious of minds.

Best Time to Go: February to May

Do: Go to Saint Peter for a feast of wildlife fun.

Don’t: Steal a banana from a monkey, unless you relish the prospect of being pursued for hours by a less than amused troop.

5. Colombia, Cartagena

Nighttime in Cartagena...

The Colombian city of Cartagena, situated in the Bolivar region, is ideal as a summer beach location as, with its average July highs of 31º and its relatively mild rainfall, the temperature doesn’t overwhelm nor will you get too soaked. Travel to the Colonial district to participate in an impressive array of indoor activities should you need a rest from the heat at midday and, if you dare, take a cab to Boca Grande in the evening to experience some authentic Latino nightlife (warning: be well prepared – you’ll be expected to party until dawn and possibly beyond).

Best Time to Go: June to July

Do: Enjoy the parties.

Don’t: Leave one until you are well and truly wasted – it is potentially insulting.

6. Thailand (anywhere!)

Wish I was here right now...

There’s no more popular holiday destination among British holidaymakers than the Land of Smiles, and with virtually unfailing temperatures of 29-32º all year round, there are no prizes for guessing why. Walk along some of the finest beaches on offer in South East Asia and sample the famed delicious local cuisine. At night, … well, you’ve probably heard it all before…..

Best Time to Go: Anytime, really…

Do: Go on an elephant ride. It’s fun. Believe us.

Don’t: Fall off one.

7. The Gambia

Quiet river

If Christmas ended a little too quickly, start your year with another holiday… in The Gambia. Some may be surprised at this as a choice, but it actually makes perfect sense: a mere 6 hour flight from home (with not the slightest possibility of jet lag), and up to 10 hours of pure sunshine in temperatures hitting highs of 32º. View hundreds of species of rare birds, experience the rich history of Jufureh, and walk aside the sand dunes of Gunjur.

Best Time to Go: January

Do: See the Senegambian stone circles near Janjanbureh.

Don’t: Forget your vaccinations.

8. Greece, Paxos

Wild river

Those who regard themselves as people of adventure but who also enjoy baking in the sun will find much to like about Paxos. This often overlooked Greek island offers hard to beat opportunities for exploration with its vast array of caves, grottoes and fortresses. Experience the beautiful gardenesque scenery of pine and olive trees and enjoy the daunting cliffs of the west. Alternatively, go to the east and bask in the sun on the sheltered beaches. August offers a whopping 12 hours worth of sunshine on a typical day, so there’s plenty of it! Add to that average temperatures of 29º, and you have a holiday weather destination that’s hard to rival by any standards.

Best Time to Go: August to September

Do: Check out the Paxos Music Festival if you are there in the early-mid September period.

Don’t: Walk around without money. You won’t get very far.

9. United States of America, Florida

High rise buildings never looked so good

Didn’t manage to get away over the summer or early autumn? If you’re up for a journey across the pond, you might be tempted to go to Florida, where you can still find peaks of 29º even as late as October. Miami’s favoured for its glitzy and glamorous beach culture along with its lesser known architectural landscapes. The food isn’t bad either – be sure not to miss out on Miami’s famed Cuban cuisine. Alternatively, you may prefer Orlando, the home of Disney World and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Best Time to Go: April to May, or October

Do: Go on the “It’s a Small World” musical boat ride.

(but…) Don’t: Expect too much…

10. Indonesia, Bali

Floating pagoda?

No list of best holiday weather destinations would be complete (or even close to complete) without the inclusion of this magnificent tropical island. This getaway, long favoured by honeymooners for its romantic surroundings, is equally cherished for its intriguing culture and its magical, diverse scenery. It makes for a perfect holiday in December, with 6 hours worth of sunshine a day and temperatures of around 31°. Oh, and did we mention the beaches?

Best Time to Go: December

Do: Visit the Tirta Empul Holy Springs – breathtaking!

Don’t: Go into a taxi without small change on you (because the driver will also *coincidentally* have none)

Needless to say, it’s not an easy task to find the right balance. There are a few features every technician must consider: effectiveness, energy consumption, ecology, technology, affordability and design. When one of these factors is omitted, the air conditioner most likely won’t be successful on the market.

Although the revolutionary technology is still in its infancy, there are some interesting concepts that deserve attention. For example, the futuristic looking tree-shaped air conditioning system. Its idea is quite simple yet effective. Basically it uses the ground heat and the Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) system. The natural looking branches control the direction of airflow, spreading the filtered clean air within a wider range than with traditional air conditioners.

The next design is called “Fresco Di Lana” and it was developed by Laura Boffi. This air conditioning curtain is made from wool, which filters hot air and cools it as it enters the house. The water pump next to it keeps the curtain wet when desired, which supports its next function: an indoor vertical garden. It is meant to provide the perfect environmental conditions not only for you but also for plants you can grow in the ‘pockets’ of the wool.

One of the most futuristic designs was introduced in China and named Habitat 2020. This completely sustainable housing suggests dumping the old materials used for houses, and substituting them for highly sensitive skins that act as membranes between the outside and inside environment. So how will the air conditioning work in this case? Simply put, the outside air will enter the skin, travel through its numerous funnels, where it will be cooled, filtered and then evenly spread into the room. Moreover, the skin is also supposed to emit clean and CO2-free air from the building.

Last but not least is the simple design and compelling of H2O air conditioner that ended 3rd on the annual Panasonic Award. Who said that air conditioning can’t be a nice accessory for your house?

Sara Cox - Hot and Bothered

The likes of Chris Moyles, Fearne Cotton, Jo Whiley and Vernon Kay spend hours of their working days down in the basement studio which can get pretty warm, to say the least, and so it’s no surprise that an air conditioning unit sits proudly on the wall.

However, much to Sara Cox’s dismay, the thing isn’t working! Standing in for Moyles on the famous breakfast show this morning, Cox bemoaned her body temperature after consuming one too many hot drinks.

“You know when you’ve had too much hot stuff and it leaves you with hot blood? I think that’s what’s happened here! I’ve had three mugs of tea and some steaming hot porridge and now I’m sweating cobs. And the air conditioning is broken!”

The BBC Radio 1 studios are located in the basement of Yalding House (near to BBC Broadcasting House) which is on Great Portland Street in central London.

Should they require a bit of air conditioning maintenance, we’d be only too happy to help!

However, not every air conditioner meets the basic requirements and may be unsuitable for the office with regards to the size or functions. As employers are responsible for the health of their staff, it is important for them to choose the air conditioning carefully.

As we specialise in air conditioning maintenance and portable air conditioning, here are some valuable tips on how to choose the right air conditioner for your office.

Type
Portable, fitted, cooler, fan; there are many types you can pick from. The important thing you need to consider is how, where and for how long you want to use it. If you need a temporary cooling system, you can just hire one for a limited period and save money.

Size
Contrary to the common belief, bigger is not necessarily better. Oversized air conditioning unit may consume more energy than it actually needs, which will reflect on your next bill. Nevertheless, if the unit is too small it will not be able to cool the room properly. The best thing to do is to seek an advice of a specialist.

Maintenance
A lot of people neglect the maintenance and thus considerably shorten the air conditioning’s lifespan, not talking about increasing its consumption of energy. Professional maintenance not only saves you money but also makes sure the unit works well for longer period of time.

Action, adventure, horror or a comedy movie; all follow the same pattern of easy-to-do air duct escapes where the villain is utterly surprised by the foxiness of his hostages that just shimmy free through that oh so ambiguous air vent. You would have thought they’d have figured it out by now…

It seems so effortless and ingeniously simple. Want to get out of prison? Use the vent! Do you need to spy on somebody? Use the vent! Looking for a perfect hideout from your mother-in-law? Use the vent! However, how many times have you read in newspapers about someone escaping from a prison via a ventilation vent?

Ok, so there is just one real life incident when prisoners got out of Alcatraz by using the vent duct. Although it’s more of an exception that proves the rule, the scriptwriters hang to it like to the Holy Grail. It may be just their laziness or lack of creativity that forces our typical movie heroes to throw themselves into the strangely clean, shiny air vent over and over again.

Let’s have a look at the most famous vent scenes…

Die Hard

Who wouldn’t adore the superhuman strength of Bruce Willis in Die Hard, when he climbs up and fits his muscular body into a narrow ventilation vent polished better than a mirror in a luxury hotel suit? Although he gets really dirty in the end, which just adds to the American hero character.

Red Dwarf

Take for example the Red Dwarf. One whole episode (Duct Soup) takes place in ventilation ducts when the whole crew has to crawl through them in order to reach the engine room. Although some fans were pleased to see Kochanski, the attractive heroine, suggestively wiggling her way out of the endless corridors, it still was far from being realistic.

Mission Impossible

It’s true that Tom Cruise is a tiny man so the chances of him squeezing into the air ducts are slightly higher. Anyway, he does more impossible throughout the movie so the ventilation trick just blends in.
Fifth Element

Bruce Willis passes his air vent hobby with Milla Jovovich, the beautiful fairly dressed leading actress, who gracefully jumps to the ceiling duct just before the villain pierces it with loads of bullets.

Resident Evil

Surprise, surprise, Milla has taken a liking to hiding in vents! Anyway, it is a similar case as with Kochanski: good-looking girl sweating and crawling in a tiny space guarantees that majority of men audience will be glued to their TV sets. Nobody really minds that it’s not realistic at all.

Men in Black II

Air ducts have a real importance here as the alien worms used them to get to the power control of MIB headquarters. Sneaky, isn’t it?

So it looks like air vents have dominated the movie industry. Whether you mind it or not, there is one lesson you should take out of this: do not ever try to duplicate some scenes from these movies, you may kill or seriously hurt yourself (or somebody else). Why? Usually, real air ducts are much smaller than those in movies and are not designed to carry a weight of an average human body. So, even if you managed to stuff yourself into one (I would love to see that), you would probably end up falling down together with the whole air vent. So much for a silent escape…

Drop us a comment if you think we’ve missed off a Hollywood blockbuster that love a bit of air vent action…

In the previous post, we highlighted some main points why using the air conditioning is good for you. Now, we bring you several suggestions how to use it while saving your money and the energy at the same time.

Choose your air conditioner carefully

Not every air conditioner is the same. When you decide to buy one you should consider what size and type you actually need. A bigger unit is not necessarily the better, depends on how large the area you want to cool is. The basic rule to remember is that an average air conditioner needs 20 Btu for cooling each square foot.

Simple maintenance can boost effectiveness

Don’t worry; you don’t have to have any special technical skills to do that. If you just check the filter once in a while and change when it’s too dusty, you can save up to 15% of your energy consumption.  Also, make sure nothing blocks the vents and they are clean without any unnecessary dust on them. For any other problems, our air conditioning maintenance can always help you.

Isolate, isolate, isolate!
Again, simple yet effective. Close all that can be closed: windows, doors, draw drapes, storm windows, blinders, and fireplace dumpers etc. It helps the air conditioner to work much faster and thus it consumes less energy.

What else can help?

If you have fans do not be afraid to use them.  Although they cannot replace air conditioners they may help to speed up the process which results in less energy consumption.  Plus, by using passive cooling techniques, such as ventilation or shading, you can be sure that the number on your next energy bill will be considerably lower.

We hope that these tips will help to save both the energy and your money. If you need more information all you have to do is to head right to Airconco.com. Whether you need one or 1,000 air conditioners delivered in just hours to your offices, shop, school or hotel – call us for a worry-free, competitive, tax-efficient and friendly service.

AIR CON EQUALS GOOD HEALTH

Invisible particles, pollen, and stale, languid air can make respiration more difficult, effectively reducing the amount of air inhale with each breath, leading to added stress on your respiratory system. A good air conditioning system can greatly enhance your air quality.

AIR CON CAN HELP YOUR BODY

The human body suffers when subjected to excessive temperatures, at either end of the scale. There are some real risks in hot temperature situations, notably dehydration, and you can burn up calories at a very high rate. If it’s too cold, the loss of heat makes your body work harder to maintain temperature levels, causing progressive loss of energy. Air conditioning gives you added control over these situations.

AIR CON ISN’T JUST A LUXURY COMFORT

The “comfort zone” is no myth. The temperatures at which you’re most comfortable are your environmental optimum range. People’s comfort zones tend to vary slightly, some preferring a little extra cool, some happier with a few degrees extra warmth. Comfort zones can be helped by air conditioning. You can customize your environment to suit your tastes, creating your own optimum conditions helping to reduce bodily stress.

For more information on air conditioning, head to Airconco.com. Whether you need one or 1,000 air conditioners delivered in just hours to your offices, shop, school or hotel – call us for a worry-free, competitive, tax-efficient and friendly service.

After studies revealed that R22 refrigerants have a negative effect on the ozone layer and contibute heavily on the natural environment, a new law was brought in from January 1st 2010 stipulating that no more virgin refrigerant R22 can be used in existing systems. The extended legislation says that after 2015, no more recycled refrigerant R22 can be used in existing systems.

That means if you have recently installed an R22 air conditioning system the phase out dates should make you sit up and take notice. Though it is worth bearing in mind that your air conditioning system will only require additional refrigerant should a leak or major repair is required and this can be effected within current legislation until 2015.

While the public should be aware that prices of R-22 may increase as supplies dwindle over the next 20 or 30 years, it is believed that consumers are not likely to be subjected to major price increases within a short time period.

In the meantime, homeowners are being urged to consider the environment by opting for a highly energy-efficient system which can be far more cost-effective. Today’s best air conditioning units use much less energy to produce the same amount of cooling as air conditioners made in the mid-1970s. Even if your air conditioner is only 10 years old, you may save significantly on your cooling energy costs by replacing it with a newer, more efficient model or opting for an in-depth air conditioning service.

Around nineteen people have been linked with the outbreak and all have needed hospital treatment. A further four more cases have been invested, with two of the four – a 70-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman – having died.

All of the 10 companies with registered cooling towers and evaporative condensers across the Merthyr Tydfil, Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney area have now been inspected.

Since the outbreak three of the companies have been served improvement notices. A further three premises with non registered cooling towers and/or evaporative condensers have also been identified and visited.

One company – who cannot be named – voluntarily shut down its cooling tower in order for it to be disinfected.

These series of cases are precautionary actions by Public Health Wales after microbiological results on samples taken from the cooling tower proved that legionella bacteria is there. This cooling tower has been confirmed to be operating in accordance with the Approved Code of Practice.

Cooling towers in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil were not operating in accordance with the Approved Code of Practice. Since this report, the tower has been cleaned and disinfected and is ready to start work again.

Environmental Health Officers working on the case have ensured local residents that samples have been taken from a number of sites to see where the legionella bacterium is present. At the moment not all of the results are in for each of the sites.

Further workplaces have been visited by the officers who are eager to find the source of the spreading bacteria.

Dr Gwen Lowe, head of the outbreak control team and consultant in communicable disease control for Public Health Wales, said, “Our investigations show that there is no single building visited by all the people linked to the outbreak. The sources, or source, are therefore likely to be industrial processes such as cooling towers.

“Environmental health officers and Health and Safety Executive officials have visited and checked all the registered cooling towers in the area under investigation. They have also visited unregistered cooling towers. These investigations continue.

“We have no evidence that the cooling tower is served with a prohibition notice is linked to any cases of legionnaires’ disease. We also have no evidence that the cooling tower which was voluntarily closed on Saturday is linked to any case of Legionnaires’ disease.”

If you are looking to implement air conditioning units into your company or need air conditioning service and maintenance for your systems, visit Airconco.com today, the UK’s leading aircon installers.