5 things you need to know (and no one told you) before buying an Air Conditioner. With this summer heat waves, thousands of customers rush into the stores to buy an Air Conditioner. But, what do we need to consider before purchasing? Users tend to look at the price, the amount of “+” of the energy label, the brand, design, etc. But there are other things to keep in mind that no one usually explains and we want to share them with you. Before buying you Air Conditioner, you should consider where the indoor and the outdoor units will be placed. Remember that the best option is always to ask for advice from a climate professional. Air Conditioner units from 2KW to 3,5KW have an installation distance (tube length between the indoor and the outdoor unit) that varies from 3 to 15 meters approximately. That is enough for the vast majority of installations. Do you know that the longer the distance between the indoor and the outdoor unit, the lower the performance of the system?

Compared with a 5 meter installation, a 10 meters installation has a performance loss of between a 3 and a 5 % and a 15 meter installation between a 7 and a 10 %. Do you think a 5% is not that much? What if you consider the 10-15 years of your AC lifetime? Location for the outdoor unit is another important factor to consider for the AC system performance. Having proper ventilation is essential, so if it is installed near a wall, remember to keep enough distance between the wall and the outdoor unit for the air to flow easily. If we foresee that the system will work in cool mode, we need to avoid direct sunlight to our outdoor unit. Therefore, we need to install it in a shady location. The temperature difference between being under direct sunlight or being in the shade may be from 5 to 10ºC and we need to consider that this 5ºC difference may imply up to a 20% of over consumption. Regarding Split units (the ones visible hanged on the walls), usually users determine their location based on esthetic as, although their design has been improved a lot, they are still bulky devices which usually brake the room or space design line.

If we think about energy savings, the best location is the one where the air can reach us directly. We know most of you reading this article may be thinking that this is Too cold and very uncomfortable! But think it twice: if the air is annoying you because you have too much cold, you will turn the AC unit off as you don’t need it anymore and talking about energy savings, what saves the most is something which is not on. Let’s see it from a technical point of view. Imagine a living room where the air temperature is about 30ºC and in this same room we have heat walls (those exterior walls where the sun hits directly). These walls, as per radiation effect (the same as a heating radiator on winter), are emitting heat constantly. Therefore, if our unit is on, but the air flow is not reaching us directly, the only effect we will see is that the AC unit will cool down the air slowly and even if the ambient temperature reaches 25ºC, we will still have the feeling of being hot as per the heat emitted by the walls.

That will make you turn down the set point temperature, which implies higher energy consumption. Letting the air flow reach us directly reduces the heat sensation and, therefore, we can increase the set point temperature reducing the energy consumption. Another advantage is the use of the AC unit as a traditional fan using the fan function (yes, like in the olden days!), so if there is not too much heat, simply using this function we will have a comfortable sensation at a very low cost.what to do when window ac unit freezes up Have you ever been commenting and sharing the set point values for you AC system with your friends? cost of replacing a air conditioning unitWell, we are sorry to inform you that those comparisons are useless. about air handling unit

Because, in order to compare them, they need to be under the same conditions. Temperature probes for indoor units are not identical and you can’t compare different rooms either as per their shape, isolation, orientation, windows, curtains, electric devices present, etc. On the other hand, it is also obvious that the temperature feeling for each person is different. Usually, when we think about temperatures, we think on a number, what does cold and hot mean, or what it is comfort and what is not… Please, forget about numbers and what do they mean to you! We propose you an experiment. Take a piece of paper and stick it on the set point temperature indicator of the remote controller. Turn the AC unit on and wait for a few minutes (10-15 minutes). If you are hot, reduce the set point temperature; if you are cold, increase it. Repeat this action as many times as necessary until you fill that the room is at the comfort temperature you desire. Ready to see which is the current temperature set on the remote controller?

From now on you can start using this temperature as your ideal one. Remember that this temperature will only be valid as long as: you wear the same cloths, the outdoor temperature is the same and also the same amount of light is passing by the window. You can repeat the experiment and determine the ideal temperature for different scenarios, such as day or night. Finally, let us remark that considering health advises, it is not recommended to set temperatures 10ºC higher or below the outdoor temperature. 5. Take all the control of your AC unit. With the Internet and technologies improvement, a wide range of new possibilities is now available. One of these new possibilities is the opportunity we have to control certain devices from our smart phone and Air Conditioners are one of those. If you are interested in buying a new AC system, keep in mind to include a control solution, such as IntesisHome, so you can get the most of it. The main advantage of IntesisHome is that it is a multi-brand solution, so you could control from the same application different Air Conditioners from several brands and several facilities.