A Guide to Selecting the Right Air Conditioner for your Home

With spring in full swing and the prospect of another long, hot summer just around the corner, you might be considering the purchase of a new air conditioning unit. But we know that searching for the right AC unit for your home can be daunting and confusing if you’re unsure of what exactly you need.

Energy ratings in particular are a feature that all appliances, including air conditioners, have – but knowing what exactly these ratings mean and how they can be used to compare different units is important. Not only do these ratings tell you which appliances are better for the environment, but can also save you serious money in the long run.

When comparing different air conditioners, the higher the stars the more energy efficient the AC is, compared to others in its category. The lower the number of kilowatts used each year, the less power the air conditioner consumes.

As a general rule, the more efficient an air conditioning unit is the cheaper it will be to run over the long term. Because of this it is really important to compare the energy efficiency of different models when shopping around. While one may have a cheaper initial purchase price, over the long term it may actually end up being far more expensive than spending some extra money with the initial purchase.

Comparing Different Energy Ratings

Fortunately it’s now quite easy to access information about the energy ratings of a range of different electrical appliances, including air conditioners. At the click of a button, sites such as energyrating.gov.au not only give information about the energy rating of every air conditioner available, but also calculate the running costs of each unit over a period of time!

By using the calculator on the website or through the energy ratings mobile application, you can easily compare different models. At this time, consider the initial purchase and installation costs of the unit, as well as the cost of running the unit over a period of time such as 10 years.

Doing this, will likely reveal a dramatic difference in the ‘real’ cost of each model.

Units With Air Conditioning

How Different Brands Compare

Most air conditioner manufacturers provide a range of different models, each with their own unique attributes and features. This is also true of their energy ratings. When looking through each manufacturers’ range you will notice how the ongoing cost of the unit decreases as its energy efficiency rating rises.

Daikin currently have the most energy efficient single split system available on the market in Australia. With seven stars for both cooling and heating, the FTXZ25N / RXZ25N model would cost an estimated $539 to operate over a ten year period.

Compare this to Daikin’s one and a half star rated RQ100L model which would cost $3657 over the same time period and you can quickly see the difference energy efficiency makes.

While they only rate six stars for cooling and five and a half for heating compared to the Daikin’s seven, Mitsubishi’s SRK20ZJX-S and SRK20ZMXA-S models are even cheaper to run at $414 for the same ten year period.

Made in Korea, LG’s K09AWN-NM12/K09AWN-UM12 model is the only split system to receive six stars for both heating and cooling, and has an estimated cost of $544 over the ten year period.

If you live in Sydney’s North Shore and Northern Beaches and are thinking about installing an air conditioning unit this summer, call us on 0410 229 139. We can discuss with you the best unit for your needs, and find the right balance between the purchase price and installation and ongoing costs. We’ll do our best to keep you cool this summer, with extra money in your pocket in the years ahead.