Position your ceiling lights far away from the fan

I learnt about this from my contractor too, but I noticed some of my friends were not aware of this and did not done it right for their house. They are suffering from the flicker effects.

You should position your ceiling lights far away from the ceiling fan. This is because if the fan is close to the lights, when its blades is moving, it will have shadow under the light, causing the room to have a flickering lighting effect, which is irritating and bad to your eyes.

If the room is small and there is a ceiling fan on top, you'd better opt for wall lights instead of installing ceiling lights.

Increasing the efficiency of your air-cond

Increasing the efficiency of your air-cond can save you money in your electricity bills, as well as being good to the world environment too.

Here are the measures that I have taken to increase the efficiency of my air-cond:

1. Ensure the outdoor compressor unit blows the hot air away from your house

Some people made the mistake of hiding the compressor behind a pillar or wall. I almost made the same mistake too, if not my contractor reminded me that this will be bad for the dissipation of hot air blown out from the compressor. There should be no obstacle in front of the compressor unit.

Other than that, some people put the compressor unit close to a window, on a wall forming 90 degree with the window. Some other people just put it under the window (remember, hot air rises). This will make the hot air from the compressor blowing towards the window front. The hot air should be blown away from your house, and best located parallel and on top of your windows.

2. Place the indoor unit close to the outdoor compressor

This will not only save you cost in laying the air-cond hose, which normally charges per feet of installation. It will also make the refrigerant gas travels in shorter distance and faster to reach the indoor unit.

3. Confine the cool air from escaping the room

This is a common sense that most people awares. When using the air-cond, close up all the windows and doors to restrict cool air from escaping.

4. Tint the glass of those big sliding windows

There are tinting films available to install on the windows glass, blocking the heat, infrared and ultraviolet radiation of the sun from entering your house. This is particularly effective if the windows are facing west.

5. Switch on the ceiling fan together with the air-cond

This will tremendously increase the airflow, making the room cool down much more effectively, and in turn the air-cond unit need to work less harder.

6. Wash the air filter of indoor unit regularly

The air filter surface will fill up with dust over time. Take it out and wash it with tap water. Rinse it, dry it, and put it back. If the air filter is blocked by dust, your air-cond need to work much more harder.

The cleaning frequency depends on your usage. If you use the air-cond everyday, should clean the air-filter at least monthly. If you use it occasionally, then can clean it bi-monthly or at most quarterly.

7. Service the air-cond at least every 2-3 years

Servicing the air-cond includes disseminating its indoor and outdoor units, and clean with chemical. This will maintain its cooling efficiency.

8. Install turbine ventilators on your roof top

I seldom need to switch on the air-conds in my house eversince the turbine ventilator system is installed. The neccessity to switch on air-cond only come when the indoor temperature reaches above 30 degree Celcius, which is very rare.

And because the turbine ventilator system can effectively improve the air circulation in the house, it does help to make the air-cond works more efficiently the same way like the ceiling fan does, although the effect is certainly not as much as the ceiling fan.

To learn more about the turbine ventilator system, read my other article here.
To learn more on how to select air-conditioner wisely, read my other article here.

How to select air-conditioner wisely

It is obvious that the world's temperature has been rising over the years, and nowadays most family has installed air-cond in their house. I learnt about the following when I planned for the air-conds in my house before I moved in.

Disregard the brand and additional features, when selecting an air-cond which main function is to cool down the room, there are 3 major ratings to look for, beside the Horse Power (HP).


BTU/hour - measurement on cooling capacity:

This is the actual cooling capacity unit of the air-cond and must match with the room size to be cooled. The room won’t cool efficiently and cost effectively if the BTU/hr rating is too low or too high for the size of the room.

BTU/hr is proportional to the Horse Power of the air-cond, but there is no fixed conversion formula between them, and varies from different models and brands of air-cond. Among air-conds with the same HP capacity, the higher the BTU/hr the better.

In general:

• 1 HP air-cond has BTU capacity ranging between 9000-10,000.
• 1.5 HP air-cond has BTU capacity ranging between 11,000-13,000.
• 2 HP air-cond has BTU capacity ranging between 15,000-25,000.
• 2.5 HP air-cond has BTU capacity above 20,000.

An effective rule of thumb to determine the BTU capacity required to cool a room effectively is to multiply the square feet of the room by 25; add 1,000 for every window and 400 for each occupant in the room. If the window is facing west directly shined by the sunlight, add 10% to the calculated result for cooling during daytime.

For example, if your bedroom is 12' x 12' with 2 windows, 2 people will be sleeping there at night, the suitable BTU capacity for the air-cond in the bedroom will be:

(12x12) x 25 + 2 x 1000 + 2 x 400 = 3600 + 2000 + 800 = 6400

Therefore, a 1 HP air-cond should be enough for this bedroom.


EER - measurement on efficiency in electricity consumption:

The Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) is calculated by dividing the BTU capacity by the number of watts. The higher the EER number the more efficient the air-cond unit should be. The EER rating generally ranges from 8-11.5, and should not be lower than 5.


Airflow - measurement on cooling speed:

The cooling speed of air-cond is determined by the ability of airflow travelling in cubic feet per minute (CFM). In normal words, CFM is the volume of air moved by the air-cond blower per minute.

For 1 HP air-conds, airflow generally varies between 210CFM-300CFM. Higher airflow provides faster cooling as well as better air circulation.


Related article: Increasing the efficiency of your air-cond