How much does it cost to run aircon?

[thailand492]

Alright, I know this is a bit of a general question, but I'm looking for some ballpark figures for my situation.

I live in a 28 sq metre condo (1 room+a bathroom). It has one aircon unit. The apartment block was only just completed last month so one might hope the aircon units are relatively new. On the less positive side, my room faces the sun during the day so is absolutely roasting by the time I get home from work. It's one of the corner rooms and unfortunately has 2 large windows instead of walls around the 'corner' edges. So basically a large greenhouse.

Given the above factors, how much would it cost per month to run the aircon between 4-6 hours a night? I set the desired room temperature to 27 degrees.

If it helps, the 'stats' of the aircon unit are:

Voltage: 220

Total Cooling Capacity: 2800 W

Rated power input: 770 W

Rated current: 3.5 A

E.E.R: 3.57

Frequency: 50 Hz

Basically I need to decide whether I can afford to stay in this place or not. It's lovely except for the fact it's sun facing and so is unlivable in without the aircon. Unfortunately I didn't think of this before I moved in. I've tried just using a fan but it doesn't cut it at all - all it does is blow hot air around.

[robblok]

That kinda depends if you pay straight to the electricity company or if you pay a special condo rate. Personally I use a lot of power but that 1000 or 2000 bt a on top of my normal bill gives me a lot of comfort. I currently run aircon 24/7

[cooked]

Try it and see. You will be ok.

[thailand492]

That kinda depends if you pay straight to the electricity company or if you pay a special condo rate. Personally I use a lot of power but that 1000 or 2000 bt a on top of my normal bill gives me a lot of comfort. I currently run aircon 24/7

They said to me I should pay for the electric and water at 7/11, and only pay the rent to the condo owners. I assume that means I'm probably on the government rate.

BTW if it makes any difference, the condo is in Samut Prakan.

Edited May 15, 2014 by thailand492

[YipYipYa123]

That kinda depends if you pay straight to the electricity company or if you pay a special condo rate. Personally I use a lot of power but that 1000 or 2000 bt a on top of my normal bill gives me a lot of comfort. I currently run aircon 24/7

They said to me I should pay for the electric and water at 7/11, and only pay the rent to the condo owners. I assume that means I'm probably on the government rate.

BTW if it makes any difference, the condo is in Samut Prakan.

Your lucky, my Condo I'm paying triple the government rate but I knew that when I moved in because the condo was underpriced and they make up for that in the bills..

You will be on the Govt rates if you can pay in 7/11 and not some greedy landlord lol

[KarenBravo]

Use black-out curtains when you're out.

[thailand492]

That kinda depends if you pay straight to the electricity company or if you pay a special condo rate. Personally I use a lot of power but that 1000 or 2000 bt a on top of my normal bill gives me a lot of comfort. I currently run aircon 24/7

They said to me I should pay for the electric and water at 7/11, and only pay the rent to the condo owners. I assume that means I'm probably on the government rate.

BTW if it makes any difference, the condo is in Samut Prakan.

Your lucky, my Condo I'm paying triple the government rate but I knew that when I moved in because the condo was underpriced and they make up for that in the bills..

You will be on the Govt rates if you can pay in 7/11 and not some greedy landlord lol

So, any idea how much it might cost to run my aircon unit?

[cooked]

Nope. Not more than 600. I guess.

[apiwan]

You can get a UV curtain inside your curtain.

That will help a bit.

Leave windows open with just the fly screen.

25 is a nice temperature

Most importantly have a cold shower when you get in while waiting for room to cool down.

I'm up to 4 showers a day at the moment.

Single story house thin tiles . Etc .

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Metapod]

I also wouldn't rule out buying a cheap fan.

a lot of the time the A/C is overkill and the fan does the job.

[Seastallion]

Total Cooling Capacity: 2800 W

Rated power input: 770 W

I'm not sure which one to use, but basically your electricity is metered in kWh, kilowatt-hours. A kWh is one unit. So, if we take the worst case, your AC uses 2.8 units per hour.

Find out the unit cost and the rest is easy.

[EvilDrSomkid]

That kinda depends if you pay straight to the electricity company or if you pay a special condo rate. Personally I use a lot of power but that 1000 or 2000 bt a on top of my normal bill gives me a lot of comfort. I currently run aircon 24/7

They said to me I should pay for the electric and water at 7/11, and only pay the rent to the condo owners. I assume that means I'm probably on the government rate.

BTW if it makes any difference, the condo is in Samut Prakan.

Your lucky, my Condo I'm paying triple the government rate but I knew that when I moved in because the condo was underpriced and they make up for that in the bills..

You will be on the Govt rates if you can pay in 7/11 and not some greedy landlord lol

So, any idea how much it might cost to run my aircon unit?

To give you an idea, we have two 12000BTU inverter ACs for 24sqm (two rooms). We run one from 9AM to 10PM, with a one hour break at 5. The other we run from 9AM to 5PM and from 6PM all night to 7AM. We pay about 4000-4500 right now. And that is for a container in the shade.

Is it worth it? F*** yes

[hotrod4098]

around 1000 a month will cover it..

[casualbiker]

That kinda depends if you pay straight to the electricity company or if you pay a special condo rate. Personally I use a lot of power but that 1000 or 2000 bt a on top of my normal bill gives me a lot of comfort. I currently run aircon 24/7

They said to me I should pay for the electric and water at 7/11, and only pay the rent to the condo owners. I assume that means I'm probably on the government rate.

BTW if it makes any difference, the condo is in Samut Prakan.

Your lucky, my Condo I'm paying triple the government rate but I knew that when I moved in because the condo was underpriced and they make up for that in the bills..

You will be on the Govt rates if you can pay in 7/11 and not some greedy landlord lol

So, any idea how much it might cost to run my aircon unit?

To give you an idea, we have two 12000BTU inverter ACs for 24sqm (two rooms). We run one from 9AM to 10PM, with a one hour break at 5. The other we run from 9AM to 5PM and from 6PM all night to 7AM. We pay about 4000-4500 right now. And that is for a container in the shade.

Is it worth it? F*** yes

You're living in a container?

Sent from my XT1032 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[babyjesus]

Roughly 2-3 us dollars per day

[masuk]

That kinda depends if you pay straight to the electricity company or if you pay a special condo rate. Personally I use a lot of power but that 1000 or 2000 bt a on top of my normal bill gives me a lot of comfort. I currently run aircon 24/7

can you shade outside the windows?

I had this problem with a house in Oz, and I put up shade cloth. made the world of difference.

[marko kok prong]

Seastallion,i recently had another a/c unit installed in my study[let's call it that],and we have one in the bedroom and one in my step daughters salon,adjacent to the house,the a/c in the bedroom only get's used at night for a few hours,in my ,erm,study mostly all day into late evening,the salon,only if it is really hot and she has a lot of customers,,the last bill i only saw about 300b extra for my a/c,but it really depends on what temp you run it,if 37c outside,and you run at 21c a lot more than if you run at 27c or 28,but i don't live in a condo,also,the other posts about curtains etc are valid,it stop the heat penetrating into the room,where i live i really could not do without it ,over 38C now for at least 2 months everyday,some days over 40c,cannot wait until the wet comes,anyway mate,you have to think of your own comfort,it's no fun being to hot to sleep is it.wonder if whereustay has ac,after all with his active lifestyle one would think a must.

[HooHaa]

Nope. Not more than 600. I guess.

what per day?

[cooked]

Most of us think in Bahts my dear boy.

[ukrules]

It will probably cost you less than 1000 Baht per month, that's my guess.

I run 2 A/C's on around 25 degrees C for about 16 hours a day and one on about 20 degrees C for about 9 or 10 hours per day.

So the above plus the TV, several computers, fridge, fridge freezer and a different upright freezer and my totel electric bill comes to between 4500-7500 depending on which month it is - this month it will be more than 7000 as it's pretty hot out there.

[Thaiberius]

You have a small room. Would it pay to have a look at one of the portable ac units and calculate the output and therefore cost vs your present ac unit. Whilst the initial outlay isn't cheap bear in mind you can take it with you should you move to a different address.

[bobo42]

It varies depending on the construction of the building, sun exposure, and most-of-all, price per unit of electricity. Some apartments charge a very hefty markup on electricity. If you can honestly run for only 4-6 hours per night, and your electricity markup isn't crazy, I bet it won't cost you more than 1000b/month.

Just for comparison, I live in a rather small, poorly insulated house with 4 large aircons running 24/7. My bill is usually about 5-6k, in the hot season 7-8k.

[GinBoy2]

I'll concur with all of the above. I'm an aircon junkie; 3 bedrooms (all occupied) living room, and yes I'm an addict, the kitchen. Normally run at 25-27 degrees, worst it gets in hot season is 8-9K/month, and that's with everything else, fridge, TV's lights etc. So if your looking at one unit, running it for only 4-6 hours a day <1000/month would be my guess

[Crossy]

Absolute worst case (A/C running continuously 24/7) would be about 2,300 Baht per month.

Your aircon is about 10,000 BTU, which is rather undersized for a 28m² room, the conventional Thai calculation is 600 BTU / m² which yields 16,800 BTU for your room.

In a room with lots of glass, expect it to be running a lot.

Curtains drawn during the day and / or window film will help prevent heat build-up whilst you're at work.

[T_Dog]

T-492. Assuming you pay 4 baht per unit of electricity, here is what it would cost if it ran at a 100 % duty cycle and all day and night:

770/1000 units/hr * 24 hrs use per day * 30 days * 4 baht per unit = 2217 baht per month.

If you have a different electric rate than 4, just substitute that rate in above. Usually, air conditioners do not cool all the time, so if you have a gut feel for what percentage of the time the compressor is running, like 50%, just multiply the cost by that percentage. The room circulation fan only draws about 50 watts which does not amount to much cost.

Our 12,000 BTU AC draws 1050 watts when it is running but luckily it only runs at about a 20% duty cycle. Here is a calculation for that duty cycle, and for only running it ten hours at night like we do:

1050/1000 units/hr * 10 hrs use per day * 30 days * 4 baht per unit * .20 = 252 baht per month

[Dogberry]

Lights, ref, TV, 19,000 BTU Inverter AC on 20 hours a day. H20 heater off. This months bill . B1200. Lamphun.

[IMHO]

@OP: Are you sure that EER figure is correct? It sounds like something from the 1980's.

If so, it's going to cost you a fortune to run - 5 star units have to be at least 11.6 EER, the most efficient units are 19+ EER (note higher is better, and EER is linear to operating costs).

Edited May 16, 2014 by IMHO

[ignis]

Maybe help

Hate Air Con, never have it on, up to a point was a waste buying all the units, normally have 2 x large industrial Fans on in the living room, floor fan and ceiling fan in the Kitchen, 2 x 16" fans on the the master bedroom [7 x windows open 24/7]

When I have visitors come to stay, they use the bedroom air con, also have air con on in the evening in the Living room .... worked out the extra electric bill is between 5 - 800 baht for the month.

Spare bedrooms are 5 m x 3 m, the Living room is 11 m x 8 m, all air cons are now near 11 years old Panasonic. so guess if they were new and Inverter type would cost less... am thinking about getting a new type air con for the dog grooming room, have 8 dogs, the fan is a pain when using the clippers, this week so hot and have done all 8 dogs

as for film on the windows guess it helps, did it myself near 11 years ago 60% and mirror reflective on every window all around the house, the spare 2 bedroom do keep the windows closed 3 double windows in each, and feels cooler than the other rooms,

[cockneyrebel]

i always gauge it on 5 Bt an hour

[Crossy]

@OP: Are you sure that EER figure is correct? It sounds like something from the 1980's.

If so, it's going to cost you a fortune to run - 5 star units have to be at least 11.6 EER, the most efficient units are 19+ EER (note higher is better, and EER is linear to operating costs).

He's quoting cooling capacity (in kW) over power consumption (also in kW). A sensible calculation. Most domestic sized units come out at 3.5-4.

It seems that the EER is calculated as cooling capacity (in BTU) over power consumption (in W) which in this case gives nearly 13. IMHO (sorry mate, you chose the username) a pretty dumb way of calculating something as it's mixing metric and imperial units.

But who am I to argue, I is just an ingineer.