Window Air Conditioner

Window air conditioner or room air conditioner is the best choice for a house where small area to cool in the summer i.e. one or two rooms. It is portable and can be used easily at the time of transfer or changing house. For small work, window air conditioner is more economical than central air conditioner. It will cost less initially and it will cost less to operate in the long run. The efficiency of window air conditioner depends upon the selection of proper size of air conditioner. If one, install too large unit, than it is not able to remove humidity and less effective than the correct size. Also, remember that larger units cost more and use additional energy .If anyone install small size air conditioner, than it will not be able to give proper cooling.  Running a proper size unit for a longer period will use less energy to completely cool a room than running a larger unit. Improper installation also reduces the efficiency of window air conditioner. The efficiency of room air conditioner depends on filters that need to be cleaned periodically. For easy maintenance, choose one that has a slide-out filter. Keeping the filter clean will save you energy and money.
 
The function of air conditioning unit is to remove both heat and humidity. Humidity condenses from the air when it passes over the air conditioner's cooling coils. Therefore, a unit that is too big will cool the room so quickly that it won't have the opportunity to remove as much humidity from the air as it should. As a result, the unit will keep turning off and on and the room will feel damp, clammy and less comfortable. A properly sized unit, on the other hand, will remove humidity effectively as it cools.

Components of a Window or Room Air Conditioner :

The window air conditioner is like a small package unit. There are some inside and outside components of the room air conditioner which are discussed in detail below.

Inside Components:

• Evaporator coil, which cool the air.
• Fan or Blower, which blow cool air in to the room. 
• Thermostat.
• Filter. There are many type of filter according to material, usually of foam.
• Plastic face panel.
• There is one middle panel that separates the inside equipments given above, from the out side equipments of air conditioner.
  

Outside Components:

• Compressor.
• Condenser or Condensing coil. Looks like radiator.
• Condenser fan to blow air and cool the hot condensing coil.
• Drains along the bottom of a metal pan condensate drains tube.
  

All the components are neatly housed in metal enclosure.         
The cooling capacity of room air conditioners is measured in BTU's or British Thermal Units, per hour.

• If the room is heavily shaded, you can reduce the BTU capacity by 10%
• If the room is very sunny, you should increase the BTU capacity by 10%
• If more than 2 people regularly occupy the room, add 600 BTU for each additional person
• If the unit is for a kitchen, increase the capacity by 4,000 Btu/Hr.
  

• In addition to size, consider an air conditioner's Energy Efficiency Ratio. The Energy Efficiency Ratio approximates the unit's operating cost as compared to similar models.  If the Energy Efficiency Ratio is high than it’s operation cost will be less.
• Window air conditioners are one of the appliances given ENERGY STAR® ratings. ENERGY STAR® Room Air Conditioners feature high-efficiency compressors, fan motors and heat transfer surfaces. 
• ENERGY STAR® air conditioners use advanced heat transfer technologies that transfer more of the heat from the air into the coils. This saves on the amount of energy required to compress the refrigerant. ENERGY STAR® Room Air Conditioners exceed minimum federal standards for energy consumption by at least 15%. 
• 1 Ton of cooling will eliminate 12,000 BTU/hr of heat.

A new energy-saver feature, cycles the compressor off and on so that it doesn't operate continuously, it reduces your operating costs. Other features to look for are three-speed fan controls, which allow you to adjust the amount of cool air (and noise!) the unit produces, and digital thermostats that are more precise and easy to use. Some window air conditioners have timer feature that allow you to set the time to turn off your air conditioner after specified time, so that it is not only turn off on  the basis of  room temperature alone. ;