This summer is sure to go down in the annals of history. It could hardly have got any wetter – or any hotter – depending on which part of the country you hail from or what part of the country you were currently in. The temperatures were so far apart that while in one part of the country it rained so hard and so frequently that residents had trouble remembering when they had borne witness to a more dismal summer, in other parts of the country the weather was hot and oppressive and even those sun-worshippers who normally can never get enough of bright blue skies and soaring temperatures were having to find that too much of a good thing doesn’t necessarily make it better.

So what can you do to stop yourself from despairing the next time the temperatures where you live or work look as though they’re going to hit another all-time high and you still have your whole, perfectly normal day ahead of you?

• In the mornings:
  When you’ve spent a fair part of the night tossing and turning, trying desperately to get a good night’s sleep, you would think that a cold shower would be a good way to herald in a new and hopefully less sweltry day and to wash off the little puddles of sweat that form in the body’s recesses and soak the crisp, clean sheets you pulled over your bed the previous morning. What this would in fact be is your first mistake of the day. Despite the invigorating effect which a cold shower undisputedly has, the drawback is that no sooner have you towelled yourself off and rubbed yourself down than your body works extremely hard at trying to achieve its normal temperature again. And when your body works hard, you tend to sweat – even more.
• At lunchtime:
  The next big mistake you could make (if you haven’t made one already) is to treat yourself to your favourite stodgy food, perhaps to reward yourself for staying focused on your job and because you were able to “keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs”. The reason you really shouldn’t is that on a hot day a big meal is going to be an even bigger challenge to your digestive system than it otherwise already is, and it will prove a monumental task for your body when you should be giving it a chance to cope with the heat around you. Save your reward for the end of the day and do yourself and your body a favour by eating some fresh, vitamin-filled fruit or salad. And there’s no need to skimp on the size of the portions.
• In the afternoon:
  This is when the going gets tough and you could do with something to boost your metabolism. But although you may normally be inclined to wash down your meal with a pot or two of piping hot coffee, this is not generally a good idea when the temperatures outside still show no sign of falling. Try holding your wrists under cold running water (you can roll the sleeves up fist to stop the cuffs from getting wet). This simple but effective technique is astonishingly effective and very refreshing. It’s a bit like cooling off under a cold shower – which you wisely chose not to do at the start of the day.
• At night:
  Have you ever tried going to sleep when you feel like you’re in the middle of the Sahara? (Although at night, when there are no clouds in the sky and the heat that has developed during the day is not reflected back to the ground, the temperature in the Sahara often drops to below zero). Of course you have. And you have probably found that it is almost impossible. But have you ever tried draping a large piece of cloth which you have previously moistened – not soaked – in front of an open window? It’s a trick they already used in ancient Egypt. And the Egyptians should know – after all they were smart enough to build the pyramids.

When the time has come to accept that constantly high temperatures and muggy weather are making your life at home or in the office almost too much to bear, then you have come a long way to realising that a mobile air conditioner can provide you with the indoor climate you need to feel comfortable in.

Mobile air conditioners are in many respects more versatile and therefore more effective than the bigger, bulkier, built-in stationary models. Because the mobile units are so compact, they can easily be moved from one room to another and installed wherever you need them, whenever you need them, so that the next time the temperatures start to soar – and knowing our luck they will – then you can rest assured that the indoor climate in your home or office will remain cool and refreshingly comfortable.

And because the weather is never 100% predictable and the summer we have all been looking forward to is by no means over yet, we have a super sizzling special offer which will ensure that you are more than well-prepared when the temperatures start to skyrocket.

There’s 50% off a PAC 2600 S or a PAC 3500 mobile air conditioning unit until Wednesday, 31.08.2011 – which is just round the corner! So hurry, hurry and go to our online shop to get your mobile air conditioner at a price you wouldn’t have thought possible!

And just to show that we really mean business we are giving away a free AirLock 100 window seal system with each PAC 2600 S or 3500 you buy. The AirLock 100 is a specially designed system that not only ensures that the cool air from your air conditioner stays inside and the warm air out, it also stops any insects or creepy crawlies – and light rain – from getting in!

As you can see – and as we all know from the Scout Movement – it pays to be prepared.

Roll on summer!

We may not have had our fair share of sunshine and hot weather this summer, but in the words of the great Rocky Balboa “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over” so who knows we may be in for a scorcher yet. But what normally happens in many offices and workplaces across the country is that when the mercury starts to rise those who are first into the office – or happen to be nearest to the controls – set the temperature of the air conditioning so that it feels more like Siberia than Streatham Common.

Air conditioners should be a blessing and not a bane. They are designed to keep temperatures at a constantly lusciously cool level so that when the sun is beating down outside and one half of the continent closes shop and takes a siesta, the other half can soldier on and finish the task at hand.

When air conditioners are set to the right setting, they not only create a comfortable and healthy climate they also allow those working in the office or workplace to focus on what they are doing. This in turn leads to an increase in productivity and an overall sense of well-being. If, however, the air is distributed unevenly and directed towards individual workplaces, then there is a danger that draughts will negatively affect the workers causing not only discomfort but also real health problems and people with sore throats and cold symptoms calling in sick for work.

That’s why air conditioners should be set to the right temperature and why it should be ensured that individual desks or workplaces are not subjected to a steady stream of cold air, as this will inevitably result in not only the complaints mentioned above but also others like neck ache, backache or conjunctivitis.

So what can companies, councils and employers do to remedy the situation and determine if workplaces are properly aligned when air conditioners are already installed and running?

Well, if you live in Germany you can consider yourself fortunate! That’s because one arm of our company, VDL, specialises in determining how and where air currents, for example, spread out through rooms or buildings and what measures can be taken to improve a situation as the one described above. In such a scenario, our measuring technicians would use non-toxic trace gas to illustrate clearly and transparently where the air movements are. This would involve feeding white smoke from a fog machine into the air conditioning system which would then clearly show where your desk or work station should be and where it should not.

When such tests are carried out in big office buildings or production facilities, then it not only makes life more bearable for the workforce and increases morale, it also helps reduce sickness absence levels.

If you have any questions in and around air conditioners, contact our team of experts or visit our website to see what else we have to offer.

Trotec. Not just another company.

Air conditioners used to be a luxury. They were the domain of the well-to-dos, the better-offs, people who could easily afford such an outlay and for whom the price of having deliciously cool rooms in which the air remained refreshingly crisp despite the soaring, sizzling summer temperatures outside was also a matter of prestige and could therefore not be high enough.

But that was yesteryear. Many people have discovered for themselves that air conditioners are no longer a luxury as far as the price tag is concerned. And they have also come to realise that in many cases they are an absolute necessity. That’s because they not only monitor and control the indoor climate and ensure that it is kept at levels that have an obvious and positive effect on your health, they also enhance your feeling of well-being and protect both your prized possessions and your property.

There’s a variety of different types of air conditioners to choose from. There are slim, compact models and there are more generously-sized ones. The size depends mainly on the power of the unit and the volume and the type of the room or rooms which you would like to keep the temperature – and equally importantly the relative humidity – at the constant levels you require.

The two main types of air conditioner we differentiate between are the split models and the monoblocs. The type you select depends on your individual requirements – and the location where you wish to install your air conditioner.

Air conditioners that consist of two units – one which is placed on the inside of the room and one which is placed on the outside of the building – are called split models. Such air conditioners are, as a rule, more powerful and more efficient than other models, because they not only cool the air inside the room, they also transport the warm air which is generated by the unit itself outside the room and out of the building. The downside, if you will, is that because they are attached to each other by a flexible air discharge hose which is fed through a hole in the wall between the two units they are less mobile.

Monobloc air conditioners comprise a single unit, hence the term mono. Such models are specially designed for users who are looking for a relatively simple means of maintaining a clean, healthy and cool indoor climate and for whom the added mobility is a valuable feature. These models are light and easy to transport and do not require any prior changes being made to the building. All you need to do is pop the end of the hose out of a tilted window and switch on your unit.

OK, I’ve got that. But what cooling performance? How do I know how much cooling performance I need?

As always, the answer is easy when you know how. And as we have been in the business of providing air conditioning solutions to both private households and commercial enterprises for nearly 20 years now, we do know how. That’s because we have both the know-how and the experience to help you find the right air conditioner for your own individual requirements.

If the rooms are insulated, then you can count on needing 40 watts of power per cubic metre. Multiply the volume of the room you are planning on installing your unit in with this number and you have your guideline on how much performance your dehumidifier will have to bring in a single hour. Simples! You will need a little over 30% more power, ie. 55 watts in all to condition the air in poorly insulated rooms or portable cabin offices and 2½ times as much, ie. 95 W/m³ to treat the air in a tent or pavilion.

But beware! You might end up getting very annoyed with yourself if you buy a model that is not powerful enough to cool and clean the air in your office or room by choosing not to err on the side of caution. It’s always a good idea to doublecheck your calculations and to allow for other factors like exposure to sunlight, the heat that radiates from other people’s bodies or electrical appliances, like computers for example. So better safe, than sorry!

Go here to our online-capacity calculator to work out the capacity you need. It really is quite simple. Honestly!

But because we want you to feel comfortable both before and after you have selected your own individual air conditioner, here’s a link that will take you to our team of expert advisors.

Trotec24: We have the air conditioner you are looking for.

Air conditioners for an old rebuilt sightseeing bus? Last week we rose to this challenge…

The bus is owned by All-4-Event, an event service company, that rents out promotion vehicles for trade fairs, road shows and other events. Right now the bus is being prepared to go on a road show for the Microsoft Developer Network this summer. It holds the latest state-of-the-art technology of Microsoft and guests can get information about new software trends and hardware.

The problem though is that the temperature inside the bus gets uncomfortably hot when it is sunny and warm outside. Among other things it is planned to give lectures inside the bus. So, occasionally it may occur that there are more than 20 people at a time in there – and that would definitely hot up the party… Unfortunately, the antique bus doesn’t have a built-in air conditioning and that’s why it should be equipped with portable air conditioning units, so hopefully everyone will keep cool…

So when the bus arrived, our experts first checked how much cooling power is needed and of course how to position the air conditioners in the best possible way regarding the limited space inside the bus. With our MultiMeasure instrument T2000 we gauged the indoor temperature and the level of relative humidity. The results were not surprising because it was a warm and sunny day: inside the bus it was 34°C and the relative humidity was about 43%.

In the course of the afternoon several different air conditioning options were tested and demonstrated to the customer regarding the narrow space and the noise level in the bus. Of course in the end it’s up to the customer to weigh up the pros and cons of each solution. Our suggestions surely guarantee that the interested Microsoft guests won’t work up a sweat – at least not because of a maddening heat inside the bus. Yet on the contrary, at the sight of the latest Microsoft software developments and marvelling technology devices we can’t guarantee that you won’t start sweating… but that’s something even our air conditioners can’t prevent.

You may not have a sightseeing bus, but you still need an air conditioner? Check out our wide range of air conditioning units in our online shop.

And if you’re not sure how much cooling power you need, have a look at our rule of thumb.

PAC 3500 air conditioning unit for everyone who would normally have to sweat it out! Your thermometer is the key to success: save as you sweat!

Following our highly-successful early-bird discount which we introduced for the TTK 100 S dehumidifier, we now have another amazing savings campaign waiting in the wings. This time we decided to focus on the PAC 3500 air conditioning unit in order to offer you premium performance and quality but without the premium price tag.

The idea: we pay special attention to the needs of all our unfortunate customers who normally have to sweat it out when temperatures start to soar. Some offices and apartments are really starting to hot up now, especially those in converted lofts or studios.

But help is at hand! Because from 17 July to 17 August 2009 everybody whose thermometer rockets skywards can get a PAC 3500 air conditioning unit at a price which will make you to melt: a 20% discount on the original price if your thermometer hits 20 °C, and an astonishing 30% off when the temperature in one of your rooms or your office reaches 30 °C. But only on one condition: go here to upload your photographic proof in our specially designed hardship application form.

We are really looking forward to receiving thousands and thousands of super photos, one or two nice little hardship anecdotes and also to helping all those concerned in keeping a cool head with our compact and now even more favourably-priced PAC 3500 air conditioning unit.

Click here to go the campaign and get your free application form: PAC 3500 air conditioning unit with guaranteed hardship bonus

By the way: the idea for our new campaign came from an e-mail which one of our customers sent to us. Yet another demonstration of how big a part customer service and satisfaction plays for Trotec.

Go here and get your share of Trotec service and support …

Air conditioning unit PAC 3500

Air conditioning units don’t have to be electricity gobblers. The best example is the mobile air conditioning unit PAC 3500 of our latest generation of devices. This monoblock device awarded energy efficiency class A. So the PAC 3500 has got a very high cooling capacity and a very low energy consumption.

But listen up…

The efficiency of a PAC 3500 can be increased by an AirLock 100, our latest product. It’s a window seal with a gap where the exhaust hose has to be put. So the window is sealed and hot air and insects have to stay outside.

More information on the mobile air conditioning unit PAC 3500