Taking The Sweat Out Of Cooling
Sun Herald
Sunday December 9, 1990
WHEN you go out shopping for an air-conditioner, do your homework before you start. Compile a checklist to allow sales staff to assess the size and type of unit you need.
Useful information includes a floor plan of the area to be air-conditioned, the direction the house and rooms face, the size of doorways and other openings, details about ceiling and roof insulation, the height of the ceilings and the construction materials used to build your house.
Energy efficiency is another factor for consideration in the purchase of the type of unit.
The Department of Energy rates all refrigerated air-conditioners with an output capacity of up to 7.5 kilowatts with a label telling you how much energy the air-conditioner will use during a 500-hour period of cooling or heating.
Air-conditioners on the Australian market also carry a sticker indicating the average outside noise level.
The air-conditioner should be quiet enough not to keep you or your neighbour awake when you want to sleep and more noise on the outside generally means more noise on the inside.
Field sales manager for Westinghouse, Graeme Cowderoy, said refrigerated units should be located on the shady side of the house when possible and blinds, awnings or shutters for windows and insulation in the roof or walls would reduce heat transfer into the house and operating costs.
In October 1989 Choice magazine tested 10 models with an average 1.5hp motor and a cooling capacity close to 3.5kw (enough to efficiently cool a room approximately 7m by 4.5m with 8sq of windows and facing north or east).
The best performers were the Australian-made Emailair TM15HS, Kelvinator KR16D, the Westinghouse WB156 and the Airtemp AT 350H with the Emailair leading by a narrow margin.
Westinghouse spokesman Graeme Cowderoy said reverse-cycle, in-wall air-conditioners, offering coolness in summer and warmth in winter, with 1.5hp or more were most popular among people on a limited budget.
"A 2hp unit will cover a lounge room-dining room area and maybe flow on to an adjoining kitchen," Mr Cowderoy said.
HE said the popular 1.5hp WB156 had been recently superseded by the WD166 and the 1.75hp WD186, which had lower noise levels and carried an upgraded four-star energy rating.
They have a recommended retail price of $1,109 and $1,239 respectively. The cooling-only varieties of these models sell for about $100 less.
The advertising manager of Kelvinator, Tony Gersbach, said the KR16D, with a three-star energy rating, had been recently replaced by the KR15F ($1,109)which boasted a heat rating of five and cooling rating of four.
The NSW dealer manager of Emailair, Ross Johnson, said the model recommended by Choice had been superseded by the TM16HS which retailed for about $1,010.
Mr Johnson said the Emailair range started with the 1/2hp cooling only EMO6 model, suitable for a caravan or small room, which retailed for $660, and finished with six ducted air-conditioning systems which ranged from $3,500 to$10,000, depending on the size of the house.
He said Emailair didn't make portable air-conditioners because instead of drawing in outside air as with installed units, mobile units took warm air passing over the refrigerated coil in the same room and eventually the coil was the same temperature as the room.
The split systems, with only the coil and fan inside and the compressor and other noisy components in a separate unit outside, were slowly growing in popularity.
They are more expensive but if you need air-conditioning in several rooms, one outside unit can supply two or more fan/coil units on the inside.
* A spokesman for Greenpeace, Karla Bell, said domestic air-conditioning units contained the gas hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC22) which was not on the list of undesirable substances in the Montreal Protocol.
She said HCFC22 had an ozone depleting potential of .05 per cent compared to the 1pc of the previously used CFC 11 or 12, which were still used in commercial and industrial systems.
"HCFC22 is on Greenpeace's hit list because it has a global warming potential as it is 500 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide," Ms Bell said.
Sydney County Council tips for effective and energy saving operation include:
Keep windows and doors closed; the high setting is necessary only to speed up the cooling when the unit is first switched on; lower the awnings or blinds which lead to areas likely to be influenced by outside conditions.
© 1990 Sun Herald