If you’re considering installing air conditioning at home then cost will be a key consideration. Not only is there the price of the unit itself, there’s also the ongoing running costs. The latter should be a key concern. It’s no good paying significant sums of money to have domestic air conditioning in your home if you can’t afford to run it.
How do you work out how expensive a domestic air conditioning unit is likely to be to run and what factors influence your calculations?
Guide prices
There is a range of factors that impact the running cost of domestic air conditioning and, as a result, an accurate estimate can be hard to reach. As a guide, however, here are some figures for the most popular kind of domestic air conditioning units:
A unit with an output of 2.5kw, would generally be used in a smaller room, and would cost roughly 10p an hour to run.
A unit with an output of 3.5kw would be suitable for a medium-sized room, and its running costs would be around 14p an hour.
For larger rooms, a unit with an output around 5kw might be required, and its running costs would be 20p per hour.
The daily, monthly, and yearly costs of running any of these units would of course depend on how long the air conditioning was in use during the course of the year.
What factors influence the running cost of air conditioning units?
There is a range of potential factors that can influence how much air conditioning costs to run. These include:
The type of air conditioning system you choose
The biggest factor when it comes to cost will be the type of air-con system you install. Portable/stand-alone air conditioning is generally cheaper to purchase initially but has higher running costs than central air conditioning. If you’re looking for long-term, cheap air conditioning then split or multi-split air conditioning offers high levels of flexibility and efficiency.
Unit efficiency
The most efficient air-con units will have noticeably lower running costs than less efficient options but are usually more expensive to purchase. Another factor when it comes to efficiency is how well-maintained your air-con unit is. Poorly maintained units will become less efficient over time.
Your home insulation levels
Air-con units have to work harder in properties with poor levels of insulation. A poorly insulated home will be impacted more by the temperature outside than one in a property with good insulation. This means your air-con unit will need to work harder to deal with these temperature fluctuations. Before you install air conditioning in your property it might be worthwhile reviewing your levels of insulation.
It’s worth bearing in mind that a properly installed, modern, efficient air conditioning system won’t be expensive to run. If you have any questions about domestic air conditioning then the team at Enviro Chill will be happy to help.
Call 0151 2851818 or email sales@enviro-chill.co.uk to find out more.