Right size air-conditioner for 30 sqm studio?

[wpcoe]

With AC Units bigger is not better. I wouldn't go over 13,000 BTU. With a larger unit you are just going to get more starts and stops with a larger compressor which will cost you more money on your electric bill, The AC Unit also acts as a dehumidifier but to work properly it needs to be running longer so moist air hits the cool coils, which a larger unit will not do well for you.

Unless, as recommended above, he gets an inverter unit.

[anon4546543]

Good modern units in Thailand should be sold with an inverter. Daikin, Mitsubishi, Fujitsu etc all offer the inverter option. I purchased Samsung 24,000 btu inverter for about TB30,000. It may have been cheaper because I purchased two smaller units for the bedrooms. Go for quality, not cheap brands, quality will be cheaper in the long run. And don't forget to clean the screens every 3 months, not a hard job. Cheers

[jacko45k]

1200 BTU will keep you comfortable.

You just plan on chilling beer?

[tigermoth]

1200 BTU will keep you comfortable.

You've got to be kidding. 1200BTU wouldn't keep my bathroom cool. I have 28sqm studio, no cooking. 18000BTU is just right. Only have it on at night from about 2200 until 0700 the next morning, set at 23 deg. If you can afford it get an inverter model as it will cost a lot less to run, about 30% of a normal type. An 18000 BTU inverter will cost you 30,000 baht, maybe a bit more. The room stays cool until about 1400 and then it never gets over 30C.

[tigermoth]

The smaller the btu, the harder it will work and the electricity will cost more. Go for 20,000 to 24,000 and it will just tick over and keep you cool.

The worst thing you can do is oversize the unit. The heaviest electric consumption is the turning off and on.

[sometimewoodworker]

[

As Lopburi3 has said your 45+ celcius day Is fantasy. The hottest recorded temperature in Thailand was 44.05C in Uttaradit on 27 April 1960.

2011 40.7 Buriram,

2012 41.7 Lampang, Phrae and Tak.

And sensible sizing of AC is not to size so that it never runs continually, during the hottest part of the hottest days it should run continually, otherwise it will short cycle at lower temperatures making it unable to reduce the humidity effectively.

I for one do not want to cool more than a maximum of 10 degrees and more often 4 or 5 with a reduction in humility. I will often use a fan as well as the AC so I can have a higher comfortable temperature and reduce the temperature shock when going out of the AC area.

If you want to cool from 35 degrees to 15 degrees then the Thai recommend sizes will be good.

Having an ac unit that is too small so that it runs continuously is one of the quickest ways to destroy one. The other option is to never clean one.

Of course, and the point of your non sequitur is?

Edited October 16, 2015 by sometimewoodworker

[KittenKong]

In my 60+sqm condo I have one 24,000 inverter aircon unit. It runs on its lowest fan setting 24/7 (sometimes its off in Dec-Jan-Feb) in conjunction with two ceiling fans also running at the lowest setting to move the air around. One entire wall of my unit is glass and it can be exposed to the sun at certain times of day/year, though not at the hottest times of day. This aircon cools my unit to 27-28 degrees without any trouble at all, which is what I want. Electricity consumption for aircon and all other uses (washing machine, water heater, big TV, oven, PC running 24/7) is between 1200-1800B depending on the time of year and is usually around 1500B. Previously with an old aircon unit consumption reached sometimes 4500B.

I would only ever buy inverter units, for their reduced noise and reduced power consumption. They simply work better than the regular sort.

[stament]

Seems 18000 BTU is recommended for a 30sqm room. I have 30sqm so will go with that as it appears to be the consensus.

 

Cheers

 

[CGW]

On 10/16/2015 at 10:28 AM, tigermoth said:

The worst thing you can do is oversize the unit. The heaviest electric consumption is the turning off and on.

Thats why Inverters are now popular, prevent the loading.

[kannot]

i  cool a 50m2 single  story  double  block  wall house  with  12mm plasterboard  ceilings  with  4   inch fibreglass and hermetically sealed  doors and  windows surrounded by trees with 1-10000 btu  samsung  non inverter, I dont have it lower than 25-26 c bills are 850 baht ish cool season to 2000 baht hot season.25-6c is fine for me its almost  always permanently on although i jet wash it outside and clean it inside every  6-8  weeks

9000 baht, installed it  myself for the most part. EVERY  house  will be totally different

Edited January 3, 2017 by kannot

[lemonjelly]

I just discovered how to tell if an air conditioner has an inverter or fixed speed motor; ....on the "energy use" sticker (it has numbers 1-5 in different colors, you see them on electrical appliances over here) it will say either "fixed speed" or "inverter" in English, could be helpful if the sales don't speak English and usually all the info on the display is in Thai. 

Edited January 3, 2017 by lemonjelly

[Gary A]

My condo bedroom is about 28 square meters. It had a 14,000 BTU unit. The air con was too big. It didn't run enough to remove the humidity. Even my wooden computer desk grew mold. That one finally died and I replaced it with a 10,200 BTU LG conventional unit. It is plenty big and if I had it to do over again, I would have bought a 9,000 BTU unit. At least now, the compressor runs enough to keep the room fairly dry. Most people are sold on bigger capacity units and that is wrong thinking. The compressor starting and stopping uses more electricity that the smaller unit compressor running longer.