Air conditioners come in a variety of sizes to meet different needs. The size you should choose largely depends on the size of the space you want to install it in.
Air conditioners like a Mitsubishi Starmex 5 ticks and Daikin iSmile series are particularly suitable for Build-to-Order (BTO) flats because they have been designed to be compact with the user’s needs in mind.
Apart from size, the British Thermal Unit (BTU) is also an important factor to consider when selecting a suitable air conditioner for your home. In the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) industry, the BTU refers to the quantity of heat an air conditioner can remove from a room per hour.
It may be confusing to determine the most ideal size and BTU to get for your air conditioner, so read on for this useful guide to find out!
Bigger Is Not Always Better
When it comes to your air conditioner, size is not a primary decision-making factor. Some users may assume that bigger air conditioners offer more powerful cooling and hence make the erroneous choice of getting units that are too big for their homes.
Oversized air conditioners are actually ineffective at cooling rooms and highly unsuitable for small spaces, especially BTO flats. It affects an appliance’s ability to dehumidify a room and is likely to cause it to keep switching on and off. This results in energy wastage and high electricity bills.
It is more important to focus on a size that corresponds to your room and will offer optimal cooling. A unit that is too small is also inefficient and can make your unit work harder than it should.
Calculations
In order to select the appropriate BTU for your air conditioner, one key aspect to look at is its rating number. This number can range from a few thousand up to tens of thousands. It tells you how speedily or effectively an air conditioner stem can cool a space.
To find out a good BTU number, you can do simple math by getting the square footage of the room you want it installed and use any BTU calculator to determine your ideal BTU.
Surrounding Factors
Apart from doing sums, you have to observe the surroundings of the place that you want to install your air conditioner. Does it receive a lot of sunlight? How many occupants will there usually be in the room? Which spot in the room do you intend to install it? How high is the ceiling?
The higher you install an air conditioner, the better the cooling is. If the ceiling is not high up, consider getting a unit with a higher BTU. If the room encounters a lot of sun or there will be many people occupying the room most of the time, it is also recommended to get a higher BTU unit, and vice versa if it is in a shaded area with little human traffic.