Everyone is discussing weather these days. And, the soaring temperature is really a concern for all. If this is the situation now, the state of hot months of April and May is unimaginable.
Meanwhile, it's hard to miss the fact that the impact of weather invariably reflects on the shopping list and an air-conditioner, which was considered a luxury earlier, is now an essential item.
While planning to purchase an AC for home, keeping in mind the following aspects may be helpful:
Size of the room
The capacity of the AC you intend to buy should be based on the size of the room. This helps efficient functioning of the AC and enables minimum power consumption. For a room having an area of less than 80 sq ft, an AC of 3/4 tonne capacity would be sufficient. If the room has an area of 80-140 sq ft, the capacity has to be one tonne. An AC of 1.5 tonnes may be chosen for a 140-180 sq ft space. Meanwhile, in case the room measures 180-200 sq ft in area, the AC should have a capacity of two tonnes.
Inverter AC and non-inverter AC
In ordinary ACs, the cooling is controlled by the compressor, which regularly switches on and off. Suppose, the temperature of the AC is set at 23 degrees Celsius, the compressor would work till the temperature in the room reaches that mercury level and gets switched off. When the temperature in the room later goes up, the compressor turns on in order to cool the room again.
However, in inverter ACs, the compressor does not switch off when the temperature that was set is reached. Instead, it reduces power consumption and decreases its speed. As a result, the temperature in the room is maintained at a steady level along with minimizing electricity usage.
Star rating
Power bills can be reduced by buying an AC based on the star rating provided by BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency). The more the number of stars, the lesser the electricity use. Most efficient are the models having three or more stars. A customer can calculate the savings that can be made over a year with an AC of a certain number of stars. The extra amount that has to be paid to buy an AC with more stars could be recovered by the savings from the electricity bill.
Other aspects
The gas filled in an AC could be either R22 or R410. ACs fitted with copper condensers have less maintenance expenses. In some cheap AC models, aluminium is used in place of copper. If these matters are also considered while buying an AC, money could be saved in the long run.
