Air Conditioning Maintenance and Cooling Hacks

Air conditioners are not a common feature in Indian households, yet. They are less common, for example, than television sets, refrigerators, and washing machines. Refrigerators need a constant electricity supply to be of use - something that is not yet available in large parts of our country. And yet, the number and the spread of refrigerators is more than ACs, which can be used with irregular electricity supply as well.

But this promises to change in the coming years. With the increasing purchasing power of the average Indian, and record-breaking temperatures in the summer, the sales for air conditioning units are going to rise.

An air conditioner is a complex device, and requires due diligence during purchase and proper maintenance after. This piece, then, is a concise AC buying guide with important pointers on how to extract maximum performance from your unit:

Use the curtains. Curtains should be drawn during the hottest hours of the day to cut the room’s exposure to sunlight. This will ensure that you get the right temperature with your ac unit working at medium capacity. Reflective solar screens can be used if you prefer to keep the curtains open.

Use LED lights. LED lights emit less heat than other bulbs. They also consume less electricity. Therefore, replacing all the ceiling lights and wall lamps in your house with LED lights will decrease the heat that is being generated by your lighting system, and also decrease the burden on your ac unit.

Ventilate your roof. Hot air can get trapped in walls, and the most exposed wall is often the roof. Therefore, having ventilator tubes in your roof can keep the air circulating, and bring down the temperature in your house without cranking the AC units to full power.

An Ac’s tonnage and its star rating also determine its cooling capacity and its lifetime maintenance cost. A higher tonnage means more cooling capacity, but it also comes with a greater upfront cost. Similarly, a 5 star rating ac has a bigger price tag than a 3 star rating ac, but it has lower maintenance costs over its lifetime.