Why Bristol homes get so hot
Much of Bristol's housing went up long before anyone thought about keeping heat out. Clifton's tall Georgian terraces, the Victorian villas of Redland and Cotham, the tight brick terraces of Bedminster and Easton were all built with solid walls that soak up warmth through the day and let it go slowly overnight. That is why a top-floor bedroom can still feel airless well after dark, even once the street outside has cooled. Loft conversions are the worst offenders: a room sitting directly under the roof, often with rooflights and nowhere for the heat to go. Opening the sash windows helps a little on a breezy evening and barely at all on a still one.
For homes like these, the usual answer is a split system: a quiet unit inside, a condenser outside. A modern split also works as an air-to-air heat pump, so it heats in winter as well as cools in summer. We won't quote prices on this page, because cost depends heavily on the property. Our guide to air conditioning costs in the UK sets out what drives the price and what a fair quote looks like.
Conservation areas, listed buildings and old wiring
Clifton has extensive conservation areas, and many of its Georgian buildings are listed. That doesn't rule air conditioning out, but where the outdoor unit goes matters, and it needs checking with the council before anything is fixed to a wall. Flats and leasehold conversions, common across Clifton and Redland, usually need the freeholder's consent as well. A decent installer raises all of this before quoting, not after.
The other thing to check in a period home is the electrics. Older consumer units and wiring don't always have the spare capacity a new system needs, and it is far better to find that out early than on installation day. Our guide on whether your home electrics can handle air conditioning covers what to look for before anyone quotes you.
Where Coolhouse is up to in Bristol
Straight answer: we are not live in Bristol yet. Our vetted installers currently cover Hertfordshire, and we are building the network here now. We won't take your details and pretend a survey is around the corner. If you register your interest, we'll tell you honestly where we've got to, and get in touch the moment we have a vetted installer covering your part of Bristol. Until then, the guides above are the same advice we'd give anyone, wherever they live.