County wide
Air conditioning in East Sussex
From the High Weald towns of Crowborough and Wadhurst down to Lewes and Hailsham, we install and service air conditioning across the western side of East Sussex.
East Sussex is a county of ridgetop market towns, hung tile and timber framing, with the High Weald National Landscape across its northern half and the South Downs National Park wrapping around Lewes. Much of its housing was built long before anyone thought about keeping a bedroom cool in July. Arctic Cool Ltd is an air conditioning installer based in Storrington in West Sussex, working across the South East. For much of western East Sussex, from the Ashdown Forest fringe at Forest Row down through Crowborough and Uckfield to Lewes, and across to Heathfield and Hailsham, we are within sensible reach for surveys, installation and servicing.
Our engineers are F-Gas qualified and we install Daikin and Mitsubishi Electric equipment, chosen because it runs quietly and keeps working year after year. These are heat pump systems, so the unit that cools a bedroom in August can heat a home office in January from the same wall. Wherever you are in the county, from a cottage in Mayfield to a new build on the edge of Hailsham, call us, describe the job and the rooms that suffer, and we will tell you honestly whether we can get to you.
The buildings
Building stock across East Sussex, from Wealden cottages to new estates
The north of the county is classic High Weald. Crowborough, the highest town in the High Weald, grew through the Victorian and Edwardian years, and its older streets are lined with tile hung terraces and villas, joined later by post war estates. Wadhurst, named the best place to live in the UK by The Sunday Times in 2023, is timber framing and hung tile deep in the High Weald National Landscape. Mayfield keeps a conservation area High Street with listed buildings running back to the medieval period, and Heathfield grew quickly after the Cuckoo Line railway arrived in 1880, which gives its centre a strongly Victorian and Edwardian character. None of these houses were designed for hot summers.
Lewes is different again, a county town of Georgian frontages, steep lanes and hundreds of listed buildings inside the South Downs National Park. Villages such as Ringmer, gathered around its green a few miles east of Lewes, mix older cottages with post war closes. Uckfield and Hailsham are growing quickly, with estates such as Ridgewood Place off Lewes Road at Uckfield and Swingate Park at Hellingly adding highly insulated modern homes. Period and modern housing overheat in completely different ways, which is why we survey before we quote. A loft conversion under clay tiles needs a different approach from a plasterboard new build with wide south facing glazing.
The work
Air conditioning work we take on across the county
Most of our East Sussex work is domestic. Loft conversions and attic bedrooms under clay tiles hold heat late into the evening, and a wall mounted split with the outdoor unit tucked on a flank wall usually sorts them. Home offices are the other big one. Wadhurst and Uckfield both have direct trains towards London, so the towns round here are full of people working from home part of the week. We also fit multi split systems covering several rooms from one outdoor unit, cooling for garden rooms and annexes, and systems for shops, cafes and small offices, along with servicing and repair of equipment other firms installed.
- Wall mounted splits for overheating loft rooms and attic bedrooms in Crowborough
- Discreet installations at listed and conservation area homes in Lewes, Mayfield and Wadhurst
- Cooling and heating for highly insulated new build homes around Uckfield and Hailsham
- Home office and garden room systems across the Wealden villages
- Multi split systems serving several bedrooms from a single outdoor unit
- Air conditioning for shops, cafes and small offices in Lewes, Uckfield and Heathfield
- Servicing, repair and refrigerant checks by F-Gas qualified engineers
Nearby
Towns across East Sussex we cover
These are the East Sussex towns where we most often quote and install, running from Forest Row in the north down through the High Weald ridge towns to Lewes, Ringmer and Hailsham. If your town or village is not named here, call anyway. We work from our Storrington base, cover a wide stretch of the South East, and will say honestly on the phone whether the distance works.
Postcode districts we cover here: TN5, TN6, TN20, TN21, TN22, BN7, BN8, BN27, RH18.
Our own work
Photographs from recent jobs.
Questions
Asked before most jobs.
How much of East Sussex can you realistically cover from Storrington?
We are straightforward about this. Storrington is in West Sussex, so the western side of East Sussex suits us best, roughly the country from Forest Row and Crowborough down through Uckfield and Heathfield to Lewes, Ringmer and Hailsham. Further east, towards the Hastings side of the county, it depends on the job, and a larger installation can justify the extra travel where a single service visit might not. Call and describe what you need, and we will tell you straight away whether the distance works.
Can we have air conditioning in a listed building or a conservation area?
Often yes, but the outdoor unit is the sensitive part. In places like Lewes, Mayfield and Wadhurst, where much of the street scene is listed or sits inside a conservation area, listed building consent may be needed and planning rules can restrict where the condenser goes. We look for positions that keep equipment off the principal elevation, a rear wall, a side return or ground level behind planting, with pipework routed tidily. We advise confirming consent with the council’s conservation team before any drilling starts.
Our new build near Uckfield overheats upstairs every summer. Is that normal?
It is very common. Modern estates like those going up around Uckfield and Hailsham are built airtight and heavily insulated, which is excellent in winter and unforgiving in a heatwave, because heat that gets in cannot easily get out again. South facing bedrooms and landings with large glazing suffer most. A wall mounted split in the right room, or a multi split covering the bedrooms, brings temperatures down quickly, runs quietly enough to sleep under and doubles as efficient heating in the colder months.
Which makes do you install, and will you service a system someone else fitted?
We install Daikin and Mitsubishi Electric equipment, and our engineers are F-Gas qualified, which is the legal requirement for anyone handling the refrigerant these systems contain. After installation we look after what we fit, and we are happy to take on servicing and repair of systems installed by other companies, whether that is a single wall unit in a Heathfield bungalow or the air conditioning keeping a shop or cafe in Lewes comfortable. Regular servicing keeps a system efficient, quiet and reliable.
Next step
Book your free survey.
Arctic Cool Ltd is based in Storrington in West Sussex and works across the South East. Call us, tell us whereabouts in East Sussex you are and what you have in mind, and we will say straight away whether we can get to you, then arrange a survey at a time that suits.
