Australians have no better friend than their air conditioner. It’s there for us in warm times, and it’s even got our back in the colder months. Air conditioners, we salute you! However, not all air conditioners are as reliable, effective and easy to use as we would like, so you’re advised to do your research before buying – otherwise you might be left feeling a little hot under the collar. So where do you find the best air conditioner? Well, you start by comparing brands with our customer reviews. The ratings table you see above reflects the honest opinions of hundreds of Aussie consumers who have recently bought and used a new air con unit. No one knows better than these people which brands are really delivering on their cooling (or heating) promises. This year we’ve had a changing of the guard, with Panasonic replacing Fujitsu General at the top of the table. Panasonic has been rated 5 stars in Overall Customer Satisfaction for air conditioners, winning the Canstar Blue award for 2016.

On top of this, Panasonic secured a five star rating in every single research category: A pioneer of modern air con innovation, Panasonic is leading the energy efficiency revolution in home cooling. Its invertor operating system allows air conditioners to vary the rotation speed of their compressors, which results in reduced energy consumption without compromising the set temperature. What’s more, Panasonic’s aptly-named ‘ECONAVI’ intelligent sensors monitor the movements of people in the room and can adjust the air conditioner’s output accordingly. So if there is no one in the room, it will reduce its cooling power and stop you wasting money. In addition to awesome energy efficiency, Panasonic’s air conditioners also boast technology that ensures clean and purified air is being pumped through your home, called nanoe-G. The system uses ‘nano-technology’ consisting of ions and radicals to purify the air in the room and help protect against bacteria and viruses.

Of course, air conditioner features like these do not come cheap, but Panasonic has scored a five-star rating on value for money, so we can assume customers think the technology is worth paying for.how to remove ac unit from window You can find out more about Panasonic air conditioners, and the other bands featured in this review, by clicking on their name in the ratings table above.cheap window ac units for sale Once you’re decided on the best air conditioner brand, it‘s time to narrow things down by choosing which type of air conditioner is right for your home. power supply unit ac dcIf you’re not familiar with the different types available in Australia, here is a quick rundown of the most common ones: See our Air Conditioner Buying Guide for a more comprehensive overview of different types of systems and the types of features you should look out.

An air conditioner is likely to be the most expensive home appliance you’ll buy, so you need to understand exactly what you’re getting. Once you have decided which type of system you are going with, your next decision should be around size and power. This begins with determining the size of the room your prospective air conditioner is required to cool. Air conditioner sizes are measured in ‘kilowatt’ capacities. As a guide, these room sizes would require the following size air conditioners to produce effective results: While the brand of air conditioner you buy – and the type of features it comes with – will partly determine how much you pay, the cost of most models will ultimately be decided by their size. As the table above illustrates, the size and kilowatt capacity of air conditioners can vary greatly, which means prices do too. The following table shows what you can expect to pay for each size split-system unit: It stands to reason that the larger your air conditioner and the room it cools, the more you will pay in ongoing electricity costs.

The energy star rating of your unit will also play a big role. As a guide, the following table shows estimated annual running costs for three different room sizes, based on split-system units, 300 hours of usage throughout the year and an electricity price of 28c per kWh. You’ll find more help advice on the South Australian Government website. To make sure you’re getting maximum energy efficiency from your air conditioner, you need to ensure it’s running properly. Our survey of households found that 41% respondents have never cleaned the internal filter of their unit, while 37% have never cleaned the external unit, or even the area surrounding it. Failure to do so will mean your air conditioner needs to work harder to keep you cool, thus using more energy and increasing your power bills. If your air conditioner is long overdue some attention, we recommend our cleaning guide.Energy All-Stars: High-Efficiency Air Conditioners Room • Central • Ductless Split-System Thanks to new technology and new federal standards, air conditioners are more efficient than ever before and will improve further in the coming years.

Of course, bumps in efficiency also mean bumps in price. Email to a Friend I'd like to share an article I read on Consumers Digest with you... The government is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to making sure that you have energy-efficient appliances in your home. For example, in September 2014, new federal energy-efficiency standards went into effect for refrigerators. Now, new minimum requirements went into effect for room air conditioners and in 2015 for central air conditioners. The latest: Department of Energy is considering standards for portable air conditioners—the last vestige of the consumer air-conditioning marketplace that’s untouched by regulation. Today, energy-efficient technology that was used by only one or two manufacturers previously is widespread, and energy-efficiency ratings hit record highs. Air conditioners are getting smarter, too—from being able to sense when you’re in a room to relieving you from making a maintenance call. Contractors tell us that a malfunctioning central air conditioner now can send an email that tells the contractor the problem and which part is required so he/she can fix the air conditioner in one trip, which should cut down on maintenance costs.

That’s a good thing, because more-efficient models will cost you more upfront.In January 2015, DOE minimum-efficiency standards went into effect that divide the United States into three territories: the north, southeast and southwest. Central air conditioners that are sold in the north still must have a minimal seasonal energy-efficiency ratio (SEER) of 13, which has been the national minimum since 2007. However, new central air conditioners that are sold in the southwest and southeast states must achieve a SEER of at least 14. That change pushed several manufacturers to revamp their lineups. Rheem, for example, says that instead of upgrading a few models to achieve compliance, it will roll out an entirely new product lineup for 2015 that meets these new efficiency requirements, some models of which already are available. Trane, meanwhile, is bringing new models to market in addition to upgrading models that already exist in the company’s lineup. Unsurprisingly, these new models come with updated and new (read: higher) prices.

Manufacturers don’t publish MSRPs for central air conditioners, but the four manufacturers with which we spoke all agreed that, in general, the new models are more expensive than their predecessors were. No across-the-board formula determines how much more a 14-SEER air conditioner will cost when compared with a 13-SEER model, says Dave Yates, who is the president of heating-and-cooling installer F.W. Behler. He says that, in some cases, manufacturers simply expand the size of the air conditioner and use a bigger coil to get the extra point of efficiency, which is a relatively inexpensive upgrade. Others invest in new compressors or technology. In general, we found that 13- and 14-SEER central air conditioners typically cost $1,200–$3,800. How New Regional Standards Might Affect You Read Now However, Charlie McCrudden of Air Conditioning Contractors of America, which is a trade association, says making a big air conditioner can have a big effect on pricing. He recalls the last time that minimum standards went up, to 13 SEER from 10 SEER.

“Suddenly, those boxes didn’t fit into trucks the way they used to,” he says. Consequently, transportation and shipping costs went up as a result of units getting bigger and trucks not being able to carry as many in a single shipment. McCrudden says manufacturers are doing more to keep their models a reasonable size, but he and other experts with whom we spoke agree that prices will climb—at least in southern states where higher efficiency now is mandated—as a result of the new standards. Split-system air conditioners, which consist of a compressor and condenser in an outdoor metal cabinet, an indoor cabinet that contains the evaporator coil and an air-handling unit that sends cool air through a duct system, must meet similar efficiency standards—13 SEER in the north and 14 SEER in the southeast and southwest. However, split-system models that are sold in the southwest also must have a minimum energy-efficiency ratio (EER) of 12.2. EER is calculated at a single temperature—95 degrees Fahrenheit.