Air Conditioning

[cooked]

Up until now I thought I was doing a good job of toughing it out without A/C. Today floored me, 35 C and for some reason I haven't done much today.

So, two questions: how many of you guys survive without A/C? Secondly, what temperature do you go for?

I will be definitely installing an A/C system soon, Mitsubishi I guess.

[ThaiRich]

I am lucky, in 8 years I have never been without a/c for sleeping and after 2 years I finally installed a unit in my living room. Being cool and comfortable is worth whatever the monthly electric bill is. I have two mitsubishi units in my house and I have never had a problem with them, I have them cleaned every 6 months and run as good and as efficient as the day I bought them.

[karlos]

I tried sleeping using a fan but the buffeting caused by the fan would tickle the hairs on my legs and generally pi55 me off. I guess I could have just waxed my whole body and continued with the fan.......Hmmmmm.

However, I now have aircon in all bedrooms of the house. I run my bedroom unit at 24 degrees for an average of 9 hours within a 24 hour period and the same temp in the second bedroom for 4 hours on Saturday mornings for business purposes; I haven't invested in one for downstairs yet....

My monthly electricity bills in my 3 bed house come in at not much more than 1000Baht, usually 850-900 Baht irrespective of the temp outside.

Get an aircon unit, life’s short, live comfortably

Edited October 20, 2012 by karlos

[ThaiRich]

I tried sleeping using a fan but the buffeting caused by the fan would tickle the hairs on my legs and generally pi55 me off. I guess I could have just waxed my whole body and continued with the fan.......Hmmmmm.

However, I now have aircon in all bedrooms of the house. I run my bedroom unit at 24 degrees for an average of 9 hours within a 24 hour period and the same temp in the second bedroom for 4 hours on Saturday mornings for business purposes; I haven't invested in one for downstairs yet....

My monthly electricity bills in my 3 bed house come in at not much more than 1000Baht, usually 850-900 Baht irrespective of the temp outside.

Get an aircon unit, life’s short, live comfortably

Thats why I couldn't use a fan also. The fan would tickle the hairs on my legs and arms, and it always felt like something was crawling on me.

[johnnyk]

I have aircon in the bedrooms and for me the best way is to turn it on at about 23C and close the door for 20 mins or so before I'm ready to sleep. I turn it off and operate the ceiling fan at lowest speed. It's dead quiet and personally I don't experience the tickle but I'm not hairy. The heat has been chased out and the fan with open windows moves the air around nicely. This works well for me while aircon all night sometimes messes up my sinuses. You have to find what works best for you.

[WilliaminBKK]

I turn it on 30 minutes before I sleep @ 25 degrees, I keep the ceiling fan on pulling the air up. When I awake I shut the air con off and keep the door closed for a few hours just for the mattress I guess.

[ballbreaker]

Although my condo has air cons for each room they are rarely ever used. I normally sleep with the window open and ceiling fan on lowest speed. I suppose its helps being only 150 meters from the beach.

[Crossy]

We often have the windows open at night with just the fan on low, if it does get too warm then aircon set to 29C still with the fan.

Very rarely run the aircon during the day, just all the windows open for a through breeze.

[JaiLai]

Can anyone recommend what BTU unit would be suitable for 1 room 60sqm ( approx )

Thanks.

[RKASA]

Can anyone recommend what BTU unit would be suitable for 1 room 60sqm ( approx )

Thanks.

The dealers have charts that size the A/C unit per sq. meter and you can google for one of the charts by the manufacture.

[cooked]

Can anyone recommend what BTU unit would be suitable for 1 room 60sqm ( approx )

Thanks.

The dealers have charts that size the A/C unit per sq. meter and you can google for one of the charts by the manufacture.

... And of course these charts won't recommend an oversized unit?

[Meisgq]

On the same note, how come central air is not more common in Thailand? I'm from the states and central air is usually a standard feature on new construction. Is it because we like to waste electricity in the states? Electricity costs more in Thailand? Same question goes to hot water heaters too.

[JaiLai]

Can anyone recommend what BTU unit would be suitable for 1 room 60sqm ( approx )

Thanks.

The dealers have charts that size the A/C unit per sq. meter and you can google for one of the charts by the manufacture.

OK, never thought about looking for that online.

Thanks, will look.

[johnnyk]

Can anyone recommend what BTU unit would be suitable for 1 room 60sqm ( approx )

Thanks.

The dealers have charts that size the A/C unit per sq. meter and you can google for one of the charts by the manufacture.

Wouldn't room volume be a better measure?

[johnnyk]

On the same note, how come central air is not more common in Thailand? I'm from the states and central air is usually a standard feature on new construction. Is it because we like to waste electricity in the states? Electricity costs more in Thailand? Same question goes to hot water heaters too.

I suspect its more expensive to install and service. Hot water heaters that provide on demand make much more sense to me than keeping a 50-gallon tank hot 24/7. I have Asian homestay students in my Canadian house and when I explain the hot water tank they look at me like "this is SO stone age".

[electau]

Split airconditioning systems are more economical to run than a fully ducted central aircon system.

With storage HWS one can have solar thermal to heat the water and off peak tariffs. Instantaneous HWS have a high loading that is not benificial for the supply network.

Airconditioning/space heating (reverse cycle) can account for 50% or more of electricity consumption in an average home in some cases.

[Naam]

Split airconditioning systems are more economical to run than a fully ducted central aircon system.

With storage HWS one can have solar thermal to heat the water and off peak tariffs. Instantaneous HWS have a high loading that is not benificial for the supply network.

Airconditioning/space heating (reverse cycle) can account for 50% or more of electricity consumption in an average home in some cases.

possessing some "expertise" and a lot of practical knowledge my experience differs very much Electau. split units are only more "economical" when only specific areas of the home are cooled or kept at different temperatures. comparing my available data of living years in Florida and Thailand where the temperatures in the summer months are nearly identical the split units in my Thai home use 60% (sixty!) more energy than my central AC in Florida. i only compared the months may till september because the winter months in Florida are much cooler.

the ratio aircon/other consuming gadgets in my Thai home varies from 65/35 in summer to 50/50 in "winter".

[Naam]

On the same note, how come central air is not more common in Thailand? I'm from the states and central air is usually a standard feature on new construction. Is it because we like to waste electricity in the states? Electricity costs more in Thailand? Same question goes to hot water heaters too.

I suspect its more expensive to install and service. Hot water heaters that provide on demand make much more sense to me than keeping a 50-gallon tank hot 24/7. I have Asian homestay students in my Canadian house and when I explain the hot water tank they look at me like "this is SO stone age".

central aircon is not more expensive to install and the service cost is a fraction of split units. the main reason that central units are not installed in Thailand is that no big single-phase compressor units are available (they are in the US). installing a three-phase unit in Thailand were often one phase fails or has a brown-out would render the unit useless or lead to destruction without a device that shuts it down.

[electau]

Economical means in this case that one does not use all the aircon units at once you may have five in a house but you may only use one or perhaps two at once and then as required. Temp setting 25C. for most economical useage in kWh.

[WilliaminBKK]

I don't remember where I heard this maybe someone is in the know, I think it was an Air Con technician - memory leak

Of course there are many factors in construction, top floor, sunny location etc but I remember hearing the best an air con unit will do is 8 degrees between the outside temp and what you should set your unit at. Lower settings will only de-humidify the room for a comfortable feeling but at a considerable cost.

In other words if it is 35 degrees running the unit at 25 will just over work the unit and the best inside temp you'll achieve is 27

Fact or fiction ?

Edited October 21, 2012 by WilliaminBKK

[Naam]

I tried sleeping using a fan but the buffeting caused by the fan would tickle the hairs on my legs and generally pi55 me off. I guess I could have just waxed my whole body and continued with the fan.......Hmmmmm.

However, I now have aircon in all bedrooms of the house. I run my bedroom unit at 24 degrees for an average of 9 hours within a 24 hour period and the same temp in the second bedroom for 4 hours on Saturday mornings for business purposes; I haven't invested in one for downstairs yet....

My monthly electricity bills in my 3 bed house come in at not much more than 1000Baht, usually 850-900 Baht irrespective of the temp outside.

Get an aircon unit, life’s short, live comfortably

today, dear children, we learn that extremely energy efficient a/c units exist although we don't have details concerning their capacity and the rooms they are cooling down to 24ºC.

let's therefore speculate and assume that the room to be cooled down is 20m² served by a 12,000 btu/h unit which has to compensate ambient night temperatures of 27-28ºC during a 9 hour period. it is fair to assume that the unit runs full blast minimum 6 hours out of the afore-mentioned period. a 12k btu/h unit uses ~1.3kWh, therefore the calculation looks like this:

6 hours/day x 1.3kWh x 30 days = 234kWh/month x 3.8 Baht = 889 Baht

that seems to be fair... based on the wild assumption that the homeowners neither have a fridge, nor a TV, nor a PC nor any other electricity consuming gadgets and drink their warm beer after 1830hrs in the dark.

[Naam]

I don't remember where I heard this maybe someone is in the know, I think it was an Air Con technician - memory leak

Of course there are many factors in construction, top floor, sunny location etc but I remember hearing the best an air con unit will do is 8 degrees between the outside temp and what you should set your unit at. Lower settings will only de-humidify the room for a comfortable feeling but at a considerable cost.

In other words if it is 35 degrees running the unit at 25 will just over work the unit and the best inside temp you'll achieve is 27

Fact or fiction ?

fiction is the 8ºC difference and dehumidification only at lower settings.

[electau]

The return air temperature is set to 25C you may set it lower or higher if you wish. if lower your consumption in kWh will increase substantially. The practical max limit is 22C for certain applications.

The airconditioner must be correctly sized for the installation in the first place.

[WilliaminBKK]

I don't remember where I heard this maybe someone is in the know, I think it was an Air Con technician - memory leak

Of course there are many factors in construction, top floor, sunny location etc but I remember hearing the best an air con unit will do is 8 degrees between the outside temp and what you should set your unit at. Lower settings will only de-humidify the room for a comfortable feeling but at a considerable cost.

In other words if it is 35 degrees running the unit at 25 will just over work the unit and the best inside temp you'll achieve is 27

Fact or fiction ?

fiction is the 8ºC difference and dehumidification only at lower settings.

Thank you I always wondered.

[cooked]

I think it must be the dehumidification that is the most important. I have worked outdoors at temperatures of 40C, in Switzerland, very low humidity, and I didn't feel as incapable of doing much as I do here in Thailand at 35C. Drinking beer doesn't seem to help.

[kleenexboy]

Split airconditioning systems are more economical to run than a fully ducted central aircon system.

With storage HWS one can have solar thermal to heat the water and off peak tariffs. Instantaneous HWS have a high loading that is not benificial for the supply network.

Airconditioning/space heating (reverse cycle) can account for 50% or more of electricity consumption in an average home in some cases.

possessing some "expertise" and a lot of practical knowledge my experience differs very much Electau. split units are only more "economical" when only specific areas of the home are cooled or kept at different temperatures. comparing my available data of living years in Florida and Thailand where the temperatures in the summer months are nearly identical the split units in my Thai home use 60% (sixty!) more energy than my central AC in Florida. i only compared the months may till september because the winter months in Florida are much cooler.

the ratio aircon/other consuming gadgets in my Thai home varies from 65/35 in summer to 50/50 in "winter".

Back in LA when temps can peak at 110'F, I still find my power bill lower then what I pay here during summer months.

Could it be that the A/C sold here are just not as efficient as what is available in the States?

I believe that my home here is also poorly insulated, that could cause the A/C to run harder.

[karlos]

I tried sleeping using a fan but the buffeting caused by the fan would tickle the hairs on my legs and generally pi55 me off. I guess I could have just waxed my whole body and continued with the fan.......Hmmmmm.

However, I now have aircon in all bedrooms of the house. I run my bedroom unit at 24 degrees for an average of 9 hours within a 24 hour period and the same temp in the second bedroom for 4 hours on Saturday mornings for business purposes; I haven't invested in one for downstairs yet....

My monthly electricity bills in my 3 bed house come in at not much more than 1000Baht, usually 850-900 Baht irrespective of the temp outside.

Get an aircon unit, life’s short, live comfortably

today, dear children, we learn that extremely energy efficient a/c units exist although we don't have details concerning their capacity and the rooms they are cooling down to 24ºC.

let's therefore speculate and assume that the room to be cooled down is 20m² served by a 12,000 btu/h unit which has to compensate ambient night temperatures of 27-28ºC during a 9 hour period. it is fair to assume that the unit runs full blast minimum 6 hours out of the afore-mentioned period. a 12k btu/h unit uses ~1.3kWh, therefore the calculation looks like this:

6 hours/day x 1.3kWh x 30 days = 234kWh/month x 3.8 Baht = 889 Baht

that seems to be fair... based on the wild assumption that the homeowners neither have a fridge, nor a TV, nor a PC nor any other electricity consuming gadgets and drink their warm beer after 1830hrs in the dark.

It only takes around 45mins to cool the main bedroom down to 24C (8m x 6m).

Then the compressor switches on every 20 mins for around 3 mins each time.

I have a desktop which i use for around 3 hours in the evening, the girlfriend watches god awful Thai dramas for around the same length of time too.

The fridge & tropical aquarium are also constant runners too. This month’s bill was 1143.33Baht but we did have my girlfriends family over for a week and their aircon was set to 26Degrees in a slightly smaller room than my main bedroom.

So yes, there are economical units out there