Air conditioners in India have become more of a necessary item than a luxury item.

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This is mainly because of the extreme hot conditions in India due to cutting of forests and trees in the villages/cities.

We’re actually cutting the trees that save the environment and polluting it further with excess usage of appliances like refrigerators, freezer and air conditioners.

Whatever may be the reason, if you can’t limit the usage of air conditioning at home, at least try to use it optimally to reduce the burden on the environment as well as your pocket in terms of electricity bill.

Using the large appliances like an Air Conditioner without knowing how to use them will result in higher consumption of electricity.

So, in this article, let us understand the basic concept of how the AC works and how to minimize its power consumption in order to reduce the power bill.

How Does an Air Conditioner Work?

The AC works on a very simple process – It takes the hot indoor air, cools it by passing the air through the evaporator coils and dispenses the cool air back into the room.

ac ideal temperature settings india

The Air cooler on the other hand work on a different process – It takes the outside air, cools it with water and gives you a blast of cool air.

The Thermostat plays a very crucial role in the functioning of the air conditioner.

Most people think that setting the thermostat at a lowest temperature (16 degrees) helps the AC cool the air faster. But, it is completely false.

The Thermostat has nothing to do with the cooling of the air inside your room.

It simply makes the compressor off when the temperature inside the room reaches the level you set in your remote.

Say for example, you have set the thermostat to 20 degrees, the compressor will work non-stop to bring the room temperature to 20 degrees and when it reaches that level, the thermostat stops the compressor.

It is when the fans inside the AC takes over and the electricity consumption is reduced to a bare minimum, just for the fans to work.

The compressor starts again if the temperature in the room increases above 20 degrees.

So, what the thermostat does here is it simply detects the increase/decrease in the temperature and sends the signals to the compressor to either start or stop.

It is the compressor that cools the air and not the thermostat. So, the more time the compressor works, the more electricity it consumes.

3 Ways To Reduce Air Conditioner Power Consumption to Minimum

In order to reduce the electricity bill of an air conditioner, there are a few factors you should be taking care of, such as:

  • Indoor and Outdoor Temperature
  • Insulation of Your Room
  • Temperature Setting of the Thermostat

Let us now look at each factor in detail.

1. Indoor/Outdoor Temperature

The temperature levels outside your room and inside the room will play a major role in the AC usage.

The higher the temperature outside/inside, the greater the electricity usage.

Some statistics show that just 1 degree difference in temperature results in a consumption of 3 to 5% of units.

Say for example, if the temperature outside your house is 40 degrees, setting the thermostat to 16 degrees will consume a lot more electricity than settings it to 25 degrees.

2. Insulation of the Room

It is also very important to see that your room is properly insulated without any air leakage spots.

Make sure you get a proper ceiling installed and close any air spots that leak the air in your room to outside.

If you can’t keep the cool air inside your room for long, then you’ll have to start the AC again and the power consumption skyrockets.

So, insulation is very important for saving electricity with an AC at home.

3. Ideal AC Temperature to Save Electricity

Well, this is the most important factor that saves a lot of power and increases the longevity or lifespan of your AC as it works better with ideal temperature settings.

The ideal temperature for an AC is 25 degrees.

Keeping your thermostat at 25 degrees, you’ll likely to feel comfortable without the need to turn off/on the AC multiple times in a night.

Just set it to 25 degrees in your remote and leave the rest to the thermostat.

Your compressor will easily reach 25 degrees within a very less time and the thermostat signals it to stop the compressor.

It is only the fans that will work at this moment and you’ll save a lot on the electricity bill while having a sound sleep without any sweating.

If the temperature exceeds the limit (25 degrees) that you’ve set, then the compressor takes over and cools the room again.

This cycle repeats the whole night but you don’t have to worry about the consumption of electricity since it is well optimized.

Conclusion:

Well, unlike the old air conditioners which have no thermostat to control the temperature settings, the latest Air conditioner brands in India come with thermostat which helps you save on the electricity bills.

All you need to do is take action and use your AC properly.