Things you need to know before buying an AC

Summer is gone. It is now early autumn in Bangladesh. At times it drizzles and sometimes the weather is dry.

Although summer ended, the heat is still here.

Early autumns can get pretty hot in Bangladesh and the humidity is on the higher side as well. The heat of this season is also often referred to as "taal paka gorom" (Heat that ripens palm fruit).

As the weather is generally warm, you will undoubtedly sweat through your clothes when you go outside. And sometimes, ceiling fans are not strong enough against the heat as the temperature can reach almost 40 degrees Celsius.

ACs, thus, have become an Avenger that will save you from the heat.

There are several AC brands available in the country. Brands such as General, Samsung, Sharp, Panasonic, Whirlpool are the popular ones.

When someone decides to buy an AC, we hear them talk about whether to get the one ton variant, 1.5 ton, or a two ton. It might sound out of the blue, but I used to get confused about a "ton" with "tonne". So, what does "ton" mean?

A "ton" is the cooling capacity of an air conditioning system. One ton is equal to the amount of heat required to melt one ton of ice in 24 hours.

A one-ton air conditioner is rated at 12,000 Btu per hour. A two ton unit would be rated at 24,000 Btu per hour. Typical residential central heating systems provide up to 5-tons of cooling.

But why a ton of ice? The term is a leftover from before the mechanical cooling days when ice was an essential part of refrigeration.

But before buying an AC, you also must consider other aspects as well since it is a significant investment and you certainly want something that will not become a headache for you while you are already sweating from the heat!

You need to have a proper idea about the capacity of the ACs and need to know which capacity will be ideal for your room also if you will be using the AC for extended or short hours.

These things matter because without knowing these facts, you might end up buying something unsuitable for your needs.

In order to understand how large of an AC you should buy, you need to do some calculations.

Let us break it to you in the simplest form. It's called the area method. With this method, you need to multiply the length and breadth of your room in feet, take the square-root of the answer and divide it by 10.

But who wants to do maths to buy an AC, right?

Usually, an AC of one ton can cool a room of 120 square-feet if it is not on the top floor. If it is right under the rooftop, a one ton ac will be able to cool down a 100 square-feet room.

To give you an idea about ACs of higher capacities, a 1.5 ton AC can cool up to 180 square-feet area and a two ton AC can cool up to 240 square-feet area.

It would be best if you decide for how long you will run your AC everyday before buying one as there are inverter and non-inverter ACs.

If you think there is a chance of running your AC more than four hours at a stretch, you should go for inverter ACs.

Though it will cost you more, the difference will be visible in your electricity bill.

Inverter technology keeps the compressor of ACs in sleep mode, which consumes less energy when there is a difference in room temperature while the AC is on. Non-inverter ACs, on the other hand, shuts down the compressor entirely when the room reaches your desired temperature and it starts again when there is a difference in the room's temperature.

Starting the compressor every time requires lots of energy. However, if you decide to run your AC for not more than four hours at a stretch, you can buy the non-inverter one.

There are many brands available in the market along with many cheaper alternatives with names which are similar to the well-known brands.

There are counterfeit products as well. This is why it is advisable to buy electronic products from authorised dealers so you can at least have the peace of mind that your AC is not a counterfeit one.