With summer well and truly upon us, Australians are searching for the one… and by the one, of course we are referring to the perfect air conditioner!
For those who are looking to guarantee this summer’s forecast as sunny with 100% chance of being cool, The Good Guys appliance experts have pulled together a fail-safe way to help you choose the right air conditioner for you…
Types of air-conditioning:
If you’re looking to keep all rooms of the house cool at once a split system is the way to go. These air conditioners are made up of two parts, with one part attached to the internal wall of your home and the other sitting on the outside to exhaust heat out. These usually cost less to install and provide flexibility as you can choose separate units for each room of the house
A reverse system refers to air conditioners that provide both cooling and heating functions, coming in very handy during the cold winter months
Air conditioners with inverters are your kind of cooling system if minimal noise is important to you – these are often the quietest. They can also vary the temperature of the air they produce, rather than stopping and starting, as well as being cheaper to run and helping you achieve your desired room temperature more quickly – although they can be slightly more expensive
Multi-split air conditioners connect multiple indoor units to a single outdoor condenser, meaning there is usually less work involved in installing them, but a single control station operates the whole system, so individual room temperatures aren’t possible
How big should you go?
When buying air conditioners, a big consideration is how powerful the device needs to be to adequately cool your home, keeping you comfortable throughout the warmest of summer nights. Air conditioner capacity is rated by British Thermal Unit (BTU) and power output in kilowatts. Buying the right size unit is very important as air conditioners that are too big will use more energy, while under-sized ones will not cool the room sufficiently – so think about the size of your room first.
For a living room measuring 30 square metres approximately 3.75kW will be needed and around 125 watts per square metre, allowing a constant level of comfort for you to entertain your friends
For a bedroom, as a rough guide, 80 watts of power per square metre should be enough to keep the room cool enough to allow you and your family to fall peacefully to sleep
Bells and whistles:
Now that you have made the decision to buy an air conditioner, you can’t go past a few extra bells and whistles that will shoot you to the top of the cool list this summer. Even though some features tend to be more expensive, here is a list of common extras that are worth taking a look at:
- Remote control
- Timer
- Sleep timer
- Dehumidifier
- Reverse cycle for heating
- Slide-out chassis for easier installation
- Mosquito traps
- Air filter to remove odours, smoke and germs
Comments
I didn’t know there were systems that could produce both heat and cold air. I’ve only ever had a normal A/C and radiators though. I think it’s important to do your math and research to know what kind of air conditioner would be good for your home. I’ve had one that wasn’t powerful enough for my apartment, and it was a hot summer.
A reverse system sounds like it would be the best if it can provide both heating and air conditioning. We are fortunate to live in an area that gets both really cold and really hot depending on the season. This will save us the most money if we can get this set up in our home. Most of the apartments I’ve had use the same control pad for heating and cooling, is this considered a reverse system?
I had no idea that there were so many different types of air conditioners available. Based on what you said, a multi split unit might work best in my home since I have many smaller rooms. I’ll have to call a contractor and see what my best options are and how to install them. Thanks for the awesome advice and info!
I love how sleek this design is! I am so used to just have the air conditioning unit that you can just stick in your window. It gets the job done though, luckily!
The unit in the image you used looks so nice, such a “designer AC”… We all have very large reverse systems here in Arizona, it’s way too hot in our summers!