When looking for the best air-conditioning system for Perth’s climate consider what features of the system are most important to you. The luxury of being able to control the temperature inside your home is essential. You need to feel comfortable and sleep well during Perth’s hot summer days and nights.
When recommending systems to our Perth customers we take into account your personal circumstances, including the size of the home or room to be cooled, number of residents, energy efficiency, your lifestyle and previously installed systems.
Size of the home or room to be cooled
Choose an air conditioner with a motor big enough to cool the area required. The model needs to have an operating range to suit Perth’s climate. A motor smaller than needed won’t efficiently cool your home, while spending money on a motor too big is over capitalising on your needs. Similarly ensure the system will operate in temperatures up to 45 degrees or more.
Try the size calculator on fairair.com.au by the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH).
Number of residents
Modern air conditioners now come with a Human presence sensor. This detects whether someone is in the room, so the unit knows to keep working. Some models even direct the air movement towards the sensed person. When no one is detected, the unit might switch to an economy mode to reduce power consumption.
The number of people living in your home will also help you decide. Consider a cost effective wall mounted split systems for each room, or a ducted system with zones that will cool the whole house.
Energy efficiency of the air-conditioning system
Look for a system with the following functions:
- Sleep mode: This function adjusts the temperature to a comfortable level for sleeping so the air conditioner doesn’t work as hard (and is quieter) when you’re sleeping.
- Restart delay: Protects the compressor by preventing the air conditioner from starting up again too soon after being switched off.
- Fan only: Blows air without heating, cooling or drying, which is useful when all you want is a cooling breeze.
- Economy: Also called Eco mode, this reduces power consumption. Different brands implement this in different ways. It may simply reduce the cooling or heating output by adjusting the thermostat a degree or two, or it may use sensors to detect if no one is in the room and then reduce the cooling/heating.
Lifestyle
A noisy indoor air-conditioning system may interfere with your activities, conversation or sleep. A noisy outdoor system can disturb you (if it’s too close to a bedroom or living room window) or your neighbours.
If you or your family have allergies consider an air conditioner with air filtration system to remove allergens, mould, bacteria, odours and dust from the air.
For those who have a busy life there are now newer-model air conditioners that can be controlled remotely via an app on your smartphone. Sooo handy if you’re at work and want to turn it on before you get home, or you’re at home and you’ve misplaced the remote.
A self-cleaning function keeps the inside of the unit dry and reduce the build-up of dust and the growth of mould; this also helps keep the unit
Previous or current systems and ducting installed
If you only need an air conditioner for cooling in summer as you already have another heating system already installed, then a cooling-only air conditioner could be right for you. They’re generally cheaper than reverse-cycle models but usually have all the same features.
Upgrading your ducted system from evaporative to refrigerated will mean new ducting and vents to be installed. If you are upgrading to a newer model, it maybe possible to use the same ducts if they are in good working order.
Contact us to discuss your air-conditioning needs and we will recommend a suitable system and have an experienced installer, who is also a licensed electrician, fit it professionally.
Once you’ve got your air conditioner, don’t forget to clean the filters periodically and have the unit serviced regularly.
