It is summer time and Air conditioners are much in demand. This blog will help you decide on the capacity and type of air conditioner to choose from.
Type:
Split and Window:
Keep it simple. The operational efficiency of Window units'used to be' superior to Split. Nowadays, both are equal. Noise of window units are higher than split. Split is safer to be installed as there is a small hole which needs to be drilled on to the wall to connect the outdoor unit and indoor unit. More choice available with Splits.
Conclusion: Splits are better.
Capacity:
A Ton is rate at which an AC can take away the heat equivalent to a ton of ice. Ideally to cool a room with <10ft. height and 110 sq.ft in carpet area, an 1 Ton AC is sufficient.
Note: Make sure the AC is not installed East facing and the room does not have large glass windows permitting too much of sun light inside. Else increase the tonnage by~20% for optimal cooling. Also the doors and windows should have a tight shut line permitting low losses of cool air out.
Other Key Feature:
Copper Coil Vs. Aluminium coil - No matter how advanced the technologies are, if you stay close to coastal area, always choose an AC with a copper coil. This is to avoid corrosion of the coil. Coil helps the AC to transfer heat and copper inherently has much better thermal transfer properties than aluminium. The thickness of copper also helps is durability of the coil in the longer run. If you stay in a location which is away from any coastal area, you may chose an AC with multijet aluminium fins which help in transferring heat thru small pores between the fins.
Star Rating - Unless you are a commercial user, any AC with >=3Star rating is good.
Brand - Try to buy from brands which are having a core competency in AC manufacturing. E.g., Voltas, Blue Star, Carrier, O General, Hitachi etc. This ensure better product quality, technology and wide availability of service centers+ spares. Do Not Buy a chinese air conditioner just because it is cheap. In next 12 months you'd end up spending almost as much to repair it, which would've been the difference in price against a big brand. The chinese products tend to consume more power+ are not compatible to the harsh climate which our country experience.
Inverter AC - Wait until these turn cheap. They of course consume less power, but the initial cost is at least 50% more than a non-inverter AC. If you are buying a 2 ton AC, the difference in cost between a Non-Inverter AC \ Inverter AC can help you buy a sparingly used genset to help you run the AC during power failures.:)
