How to select best split AC?

Table of Contents

As the summer has start setting once again all high records of heat and sun is all set to show its shine in this season & The time has come again to find out the best Air conditioner. But there are tons of AC brands and various models of AC available in market especially all companies are prepared to launch and sell their brand new ACs. So, How to select Best Split AC? lets see,

So, for ordinary (not tech expert) human being it is important to find out best AC as per their requirements which give them comfort-cooling and also give comfort to their budget as well. Brand Name, Cooling Capacity, Star Rating, Price Range, Warranty, Product Durability, etc. on the basis of these factors, you can buy the air conditioner. So, this article is intended to give you information on how to select AC of your requirement using the some of above parameters.

Please note an air conditioner bought once will go on for next 10 years at least and thus it is important to make a right decision

1. Cooling Capacity(Tonnage)

Getting right amount of cooling capacity is very important as any mistake in here then you might get suffer from insufficient cooling or will get so cooling that you feel like living on the north pole. Which is great experience to feel i know but then in power consumption you wont have a great experience.

There is one term Ton/tonnage which define specifically cooling ability of an AC. The general misconception about this term is many people consider it as weight of an AC as it is commonly used unit in measuring weights.

But, here it means differently,

Ton in AC defines its cooling capacity. It describe as amount of heat an AC unit can remove from a room/ hall (Or amount of air an AC can cool from atmospheric temp to required temp.) in a hour.

1 ton AC can remove up to 12000 BTU(British thermal unit) air per hour. So more the ton larger the cooling air capacity of AC.

1 ton = 12000 BTU heat/ hour
1.5 ton = 18000 BTU heat/ hour

The next thing to do after understanding term ton is to identify right value of it. But, honestly there is no fix value or table for it which we can follow to get the answer, the answer depends on various factors such as size of room, outer temperature(month/ season wise defers, SEER), Average person in the room etc. (click here to identify Size (ton) of AC required according to your room size)

And buying air conditioner with a fixed speed compressor considering cooling ability in peak summer day will be oversized during rest of the year. And you landed up having same amount of huge bill as you get in summers. On other hand air conditioners with Inverter Technology automatically adjust their tonnage as per room’s requirement at any point ( How Air Conditioners with Inverter technology can help save electricity?).

[also read Which AC you should buy Inverter v/s non inverter AC]

Air conditioners Cooling capacity chart (size of room v/s BTU)

2. Power Consumption (star rating/EER values)

After selecting the right size/ required capacity of AC it is time to find most efficient AC. For example, after calculating the capacity we get to know that you required 1.5 ton AC for your room. But once again because there are so many options are available for selected capacity. So we need more fine parameter to sort out them. So we choose energy efficiency of Air conditioners & Energy efficiency is define following terms:

a) EER (Energy Efficiency Ratings)

The term efficiency simply means = power output/ power input, for all the machines hence our ACs is no exception to that,

EER (Energy Efficiency Ratings) = Output energy in terms of BTU of Air Cooling/Input electric energy

EER gives us information about cooling efficiency of AC with respect to its power consumption. Since it is efficiency so more the value better is for user.

However, There is one more drawback in selecting AC according to it’s EER value that it is an average power consumption of may be 1 year but the efficiency of AC and power consumption of AC varies with season. So, to find optimum efficient AC for all condition we also need to take into consider its SEER value.

SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratings) = Output energy in terms of BTU of Air Cooling for a season/ Input electric energy

SEER value is very important for summer season but this value is not generally dictated in any other Air Conditioner blogs. Don’t worry we have full list of top 10 AC with not only its SEER value but also annual power consumption too. click here to see TOP 10 best Split AC under budget

b) Star Ratings

The most common and widely used parameter to check efficiency of an AC. Higher the star is more efficient you AC is.

There, is range of EER value is define for each star ratings as it is shown in figure (star rating conversion to EER). So, there are chances that 3.99 EER shown label marked as 4 star where 4.00 EER shown label marked with 5 star ratings so along with stars it is required to check EER ratings so that you can compare performance of each AC much bitterly.

As we can see that 5 star rated AC can save up to 20-25% electricity compare to 1 star rated AC which save approx. 3000rs per annum in electricity bills(*for 8 hours of usage). And apart from this 5 star saving there are some other devices which can help in save tons in your electricity bill (for example, inverter AC can automatically adjust its ton according to cooling requirement in the room; read; Power saving technology & devices For AC). Some manufactures also claims to save up to 50% of power consumption however for that proper size selection is necessary which we have done above

3. Aluminum V/s Copper Cooling coil

Discerption

Aluminum Coil

Copper Coil

Cooling/heat transfer

Lower Cooling/ heat transfer rate than copper coil

Higher Cooling/ heat transfer rate

2. Durability

Aluminum Coil is Lesser Durable as it has lower heat transfer so heating issue

Copper Coil is Longer Durable , Higher heat transfer so longer life.

3. Corrosion

Aluminum is tend to have less corrosive nature compare to Copper coil as inert layer of aluminum oxide helps for weather protection

Copper coils generally have more tendency to get corrosion specially near sea area or in the season of monsoon.

4. Maintenance

Difficult to maintain and keep clean

Copper Coil is Easy to clean and maintain as well as compare to aluminum.

5. Cost of AC

Aluminum is much cheaper than copper so it cut downs the cost of AC.

Costlier than aluminum so, AC with copper coil are costlier but it is mostly used to increase efficiency.

4. Some Other Features

1. De-humidifier

Removes excess moisture from the air specially in monsoon. High humid air feels warmer than the actual room temperature, so you may set your thermostat lower to cool your home off more.

2. Dust & Bacterial Filter

Dust and debris present in polluted air can cause line chocking/block. Where as anti bacterial filter eliminates tiny harmful microorganisms such as pollen, dust mites, bacteria and pet dander & gives you pure air.

3. Self Clean Feature

When Auto clean is enabled, the indoor air blower run at full speed for few minutes after the air conditioner is turned off so that any moisture within the indoor unit gets blown away or get evaporated to avoid rusting.

4. Sleep Mode

In sleep mode thermostat/ temperature sensor increase the temperature by 0.5- 1 degrees Celsius in an hour, up to a maximum of 3 degrees Celsius per hour. This will help save electricity.

5. Connectivity with WIFI or App

Connectivity WIFI enables AC to get connected to home’s internet and this will gives facility to control your AC with your smart phones, however some companies directly prefer to launch their app for it.

6. Voice control

Those which has WIFI connectivity they can use Alexa/google mini etc. voice assistant to command your AC and regulate it even if you are not at home. Those which doesn’t have WIFI connectivity they can use google assistant to give command.

5.Service After Selling

AC is made of many part and complex mechanics & technology. So monitoring each parts/ component is not possible by you. Hence, it requires regular time to time servicing and maintenance from an expert.

It is advisable too always opt for an AC brand which has a record of good servicing, especially in your area. But sometimes we are not aware about how good servicing is of a particular company. In that case don’t hesitate to ask you dealer about warranty and service time.

Good after sell service is essential because :

It will save you paying extra money on any breakdown or defect of component.
Get service from qualified professional experts who are familiar with ACs.
Some Companies also provide paid or free installation with AC.

So, Once you identify which AC to buy please cross check the after sells service provided by them.