Air Conditioning for Home Offices UK: Boost Productivity

Why temperature matters when you work from home

When you work from home, the temperature of the room you sit in all day makes a real difference to how you feel and how much you get done. A home office that climbs into the high twenties on a summer afternoon leaves you tired and restless, and a cold spare room in winter is just as distracting. A home office is often the smallest and most awkward room to heat and cool, whether that is a box room, a converted loft or a garden room.

Air conditioning deals with both ends of the problem from a single unit on the wall.

One unit, comfortable all year

The systems we fit are air-to-air heat pumps, so the same wall unit cools the room in summer and heats it in winter. For a home office that matters, because you use the room every working day through the year. In summer it holds the room at a steady, comfortable temperature whatever the weather is doing outside. In winter it warms the room quickly in the morning, without waiting for the central heating to reach a room the boiler struggles with. It also takes humidity out of the air as it cools, which is what makes a warm room feel stuffy.

Quiet enough for calls

A fair question for a home office is whether the unit will be heard on video calls. In normal running, and especially on the lower fan settings, a modern Toshiba unit is quiet enough not to intrude on a call. The louder setting is there to cool the room down quickly, which you would use before you start rather than mid-meeting, and the outdoor unit, the noisier part, is outside and away from your desk. If calls are a big part of your day, the Toshiba Shorai is the one to look at for its quiet running.

Where the unit goes in a home office

In a small room the position is worth a moment's thought, so the unit is not blowing straight onto you or your desk all day. We usually mount it where the air is directed across the room rather than at your chair, and the airflow can be angled and set to a gentle mode. We work the best position out on the survey, along with where the outdoor unit goes.

Sizing a home office

Home offices tend to be small rooms, so they usually take one of the smaller units, often in the region of 2.0kW to 2.5kW. A loft office, or a room with a lot of glazing facing the sun, needs a little more because of the extra heat coming in. Rather than guess, we size the unit on the survey based on the room, the glazing and which way it faces, so it is neither underpowered on the hottest days nor oversized.

What it costs to run

A single-room installation for a home office starts from around £1,500 fully fitted, with the final figure fixed in writing after the survey. Running costs are modest, because you are only cooling or heating one small room and only while you are working in it. In practice that is pennies per hour, and the timer means it is never running when you are away from your desk. Our guide to running costs goes into more detail.

Is it worth it?

For anyone who works from home regularly, a comfortable room through a heatwave or a cold snap is worth a great deal, both for how the day feels and for how much you get through. The same unit earning its keep in summer and winter, in the room you spend most of your day in, tends to be an easy decision once people have sat through one bad summer without it. It is also a tidy feature if you come to sell.

Choosing a Toshiba unit

All of them cool and heat, carry high energy ratings, and come with our 5-year warranty.

If you want a comfortable home office all year, request a fixed-price quote and we will size it and price it after a survey. Our single-room installation page explains the process, and if your office is in the loft, our loft conversion guide covers the extra bits to think about.

Home office air conditioning: common questions

Will it be too noisy for video calls?

No. On its normal and lower settings a Toshiba unit is quiet enough not to intrude on calls, and the noisier outdoor unit is outside.

Can it heat the office in winter as well?

Yes. The same unit runs in reverse to heat the room, which is handy for a spare-room or loft office the central heating struggles to reach.

Can you set it so it is not blowing straight at me?

Yes. We position the unit and set the airflow so it moves across the room rather than onto your desk.

My office is a loft or garden room. Can you still fit it?

Yes. Both are common home-office installs. Lofts need the outdoor unit at a lower level, which our loft guide explains.