What the Heck Am I looking For?
Jul 01 '00
This is probably the question that you will be asking yourself as you walk into your local retailer looking to purchase a new air conditioner for this summer. Here are a few things to look for when purchasing an air conditioner.
How Much Room are You Cooling?
For about two average sized rooms about 6200 BTU should be sufficient. If you are going to cool a greater area you are going to have to get a model with more BTU. The BTU number determines the strength of the air conditioner. I use a brand which has 6000 BTU for an area about 45 feet by 20 feet and a setting of medium cool (based on a low to high cool scale so that is an average setting) and this area will become cool in about forty-five minutes.
What Do These Numbers Mean?
You are probably asking yourself what do these numbers mean. Here is a very brief description. For example, an air conditioner may have a rating of 6000 BTU per hour. This is definitely not a top of the line BTU number but it is good enough for a small area of about 40 by 20 feet. If the area that you want to cool is bigger than that, you are going to have to go with a model that has higher BTU's. This measures the relative strength of the cooling mechanism in your air conditioner.
Then you have the EER, how much electricity will it use. This is especially important with the rising electricity costs this summer. For example, let's say the energy efficiency rating is 9.7. This measures how little electricity the unit has to unit has to use to cool. The higher the number, the less electricity it has to use to cool a certain area. Experts say you should look for something above 9.5 so this model will fall in that range. Anything less than that will increase your electric bills because it has to work harder to cool the same area as a model with a higher EER.
Once you buy your air conditioner, clean the filters once a year! This is one thing that people always forget to do is clean the filter. I did that when I reinstalled mine for this summer and it was filthy from the prior year. You will be amazed how much better it performs after it has been cleaned off.
In conclusion, spend a little more up front on your air conditioner for better features. It will cool faster, you will save on electricity bills, and you will be feeling better during this hot summer.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
roynyr
|
 - Top 1000 |
|
Member: Roy
Location: About a foot away from the keyboard
Reviews written: 303
Trusted by: 151 members
About Me:
Update 2/22/09 - I have written my 300th review!!
GAME ON!
Huge NY Rangers fan!
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.