Introduction – How can I get the maximum efficiency from an air cooler?
Air cooler usage can be quite confusing for a first-time user. Even though you might have used it extensively during the hot summers of your college days, using an air cooler efficiently at home requires a certain amount of research and strategic thinking.
An air cooler is an electric device that uses circulating air to lower the ambient temperature in a specific space. There are several factors that determine how effective this appliance will be in reducing the heat in your home or office—that’s why optimizing your usage is so important.
Know your room before buying an air cooler
The first step toward optimizing your air cooler usage is to understand the size and shape of the room you’ll be cooling. If you have a large room (or rooms) that needs to be cooled, you should look for a large-sized cooler.
If you have individual rooms that need to be cooled, you can buy multiple air coolers. Width is a crucial factor when it comes to buying an air cooler. If the room you want to cool is wide, a wide-range air cooler will be perfect.
Alternatively, if the room is narrower, you can opt for a vertical air cooler. If the room is high, a short-range air cooler will do just fine. But if the room is low-ceilinged, a long-range air cooler will be best.
How to buy the right sized air conditioner
While you’re at the shop, get a feel for the models that are available. If you have the space, try out the units so you can get a sense of how they feel and how heavy they are. In addition to the size of the air conditioner, you should also look at the BTU rating of the appliance.
That tells you how much it can cool down a room, which is an important factor to consider. Now that you know the size of the room, the BTU rating, and the type of air conditioner you want, you can choose the best air conditioner for your cooling needs.
How to place your air conditioner for the best results
The first rule of placing your air conditioner is – don’t place it near sources of water. You don’t want to put it in the kitchen, near the sink, or near a water tank. If you do that, there is a chance that water could leak into your air conditioner and damage it.
Other than that, there are no hard and fast rules to follow. If you have a large room to cool, you should place the air conditioner in the center of the room. This way, the appliance’s cool air will get distributed evenly.
But if your room is small, you can put the air conditioner near a wall so that the cool air gets trapped near the wall, making the room more comfortable.
Clean the condenser and change the seal
The condenser is the part of the air conditioner that extracts heat from the air. The heat is then transferred to the outside of the unit through the fins. This part of the air conditioner needs to be cleaned and maintained for optimal performance.
To clean the condenser, you need to take the air conditioner apart. Note that you may need a professional to take care of this for you. Once you’ve cleaned the condenser, replace the seal with a new one. If the existing seal has been damaged, you could be losing out on a lot of efficiencies.
Identify which parts are failing and repair them
You can identify the parts that are failing by closely examining the sound coming out of your air conditioner. If you hear a rattling sound, that’s a sign that the fan inside the air conditioner is probably failing.
The rattling sound could also be a sign that the blades inside the fan are broken. If you hear a squeaking sound, it’s probably a belt that’s failing.
Fan-only mode is your friend
An air conditioner usually comes with three modes – cooling, fan-only, and dehumidifying. The cooling mode is self-explanatory – it is used to lower the temperature in a room. The fan-only mode, on the other hand, only uses the fan to circulate air. It is ideal when there is moisture in the air and you don’t want it to get trapped and settle on furniture, walls, or floors.
The dehumidifying mode is used to remove excess moisture from the air. This can be useful in humid climates. When you don’t need the cooling mode and want to save energy, use the fan-only mode to circulate air without cooling the room.
In humid climates, this could be a useful feature to keep the room comfortable and dry without cooling it down too much.
Conclusion
An air cooler is an ideal appliance to use during the hot summer months. It is an efficient, inexpensive, and eco-friendly way to keep your home or office cool without using a whole lot of energy. However, air coolers are not a one-size-fits-all appliance.
You need to know your room and how big it is before you buy the right-sized air cooler. You should also know the BTU rating of the room so you can buy the right-sized air cooler for your cooling needs.
To optimize your air cooler usage, you should know how to place your air cooler in the room and how to clean the condenser. You should also know which parts of the air cooler are failing and how to repair them.
