There is no denying that the installation of an air conditioner in your property, whether it is in your place of work or in your home, is a wise investment. They can help you to control the quality and temperature of the air in your property much better and therefore improve the level of comfort you and those who work or live with you experience.
However, although it is a wise investment, it is also one that shouldn’t be decided upon without proper thought given into it first. In the following post we will look at some of the most important considerations you should give to air conditioners, before deciding to go ahead with the installation.
Although it would be unwise to decide on whether an air conditioning installation was right for your property or not just on the price; it obviously needs to be factored in. The thing about air conditioners though is they vary considerably in price. While smaller, window-style units may only cause a couple of hundred; larger-scale systems can cost thousands.
However, it is not just the cost upfront that you need to consider though. You need to think about how efficient the air conditioning system you choose will be. For example, a unit that has a higher price tag, might in time give a better return on investment, as it uses less energy to do its job and does it better than a cheaper model would.
Single unit air conditioners are from the get-go, less efficient because the condenser and evaporator coils sit next to each other, meaning the heat transference that occurs between the two is obstructed and interfered. Therefore, it follows that air conditioners that have two different housings for the two sets of coils, are more efficient. This means even if a single unit may appear less costly, it still may be worth paying extra for the more complex system, especially if you are looking for a unit that will air condition larger spaces.
The Size
From the above, we are sure you will agree that bigger air conditioning units offer greater efficiency than smaller ones. Further to this though, it is important that you think about the space you are looking to cool. It would be a waste of energy and money, for instance, if you invested in a more powerful and bigger than you actually needed.
BTU or British Thermal Units is the measurement used with regards to air conditioners. As a general rule of thumb, it is recommended that you have at least 20 BTUs for every sq. ft. you are looking to cool. Although this will give you a very rough estimation of how powerful an air conditioner you will need, you need to also factor in how crowded areas will be and the amount of sunlight that areas get, along with the presence of any other heat sources.
For instance in a very crowded kitchen, a lot more power will be required to cool it than would be needed for an empty office of the same dimensions. Therefore you can approximately 600 BTUs for every person using a specific room, and if the room in question is a kitchen, you will need to add an extra 4000 BTUs at least.
Also, rooms that are not separated in some way by a door or other obstacle, are considered as single areas and should be calculated in that way.
Distance Of Installation
Though we noted that evaporator coils and condenser coils that are housed in separate units makes for a more efficient system; there is a bit of a trade-off worth noting.
If there is a significantly long length of tubing between the two units, this can also have an effect on how well the entire system performs. Which makes sense if you stop to think about it – the greater the distance coolant has to navigate across, the more energy will be used to send it on its way.
As an example then, a installation of just 5 metres long can be as much as 10% more efficient than one that is 15 metres long.