With temperatures consistently reaching above 30ºC, people are looking for all kinds of equipment that can help to cool their houses.
However, the desperation for a cool sensation can lead to a hasty and wrong choice of the best appliance to place indoors, resulting in high electricity bills and little cooling.
With different equipment available on the market, ranging from air conditioners to fans and evaporative coolers, which one is actually the best option for each consumer? We explain the differences and advantages of each appliance so you can make an informed and conscious decision at the time of purchase.
What is the best equipment for the summer?
Fans are the most practical and cheapest option, appearing in various sizes, formats, and prices, offering a wide variety for the consumer to choose from in these moments of extreme desperation due to high temperatures.
But if there are €19.99 fans and €150 fans, what justifies this price difference? And with some portable air conditioners at €199.99, what is the advantage of each appliance?
Well, first of all, a fan is not going to create cold air; not even if the marketing team spends their entire yearly budget on that advertising will it actually make it a reality. This appliance is made to circulate air, which can be directed or oscillating, thus creating a momentary refreshing effect on people.
When used correctly, it can offer a pleasant cooling sensation and might even be enough for, say, a small space where the purpose is to feel a fresh breeze rather than actually lowering the room’s temperature.
A good option for various situations are ceiling fans which, besides not taking up space, have larger blades that move much more air at once than traditional ones. These appliances are quite effective for spaces where we need to circulate the air or even to have above the bed at night to create a cool sensation that helps you fall asleep on warmer nights.
As for traditional stand models, they vary only in terms of power, number of blades, and material used. A fan with metal blades ends up achieving a cooler effect because the metal cools down and helps create a greater illusion of freshness, compared to models with plastic blades. However, they are also slightly noisier models.
Tower fans, on the other hand, are a bit quieter but also move less air, so they do not work very well in large areas, but they offer a cooler sensation when directed right at the person.
Then, of course, to justify the extra cost of each appliance of this kind, we have the power of each one, which will offer a higher or lower rotation per second, as well as extra features like a water mist sprayer or an insecticide dispenser to fight gnats and mosquitoes.
Generally speaking, with more features or a more modest look, they all do the same thing: move the air. To cool the environment, it is necessary to look for a more effective and suitable solution.
Evaporative coolers can be deceiving
One of the most deceiving appliances are evaporative coolers. These devices often show themselves to be extremely capable when displayed in a store, with super cold air being blown directly at the customer and reduced noise, which gives the idea of a perfect scenario for cooling the house.
However, what we need to remember is that inside a commercial space, there is already an industrial air conditioner working, so the air itself is already cool. What the cooler does is blow that same air at a higher speed towards the consumer, thus conveying a false sense of cold air. This is because, most of the time, water is not even put into the store display models.
These devices require a very specific environment to be minimally effective, since the cooling of the air goes through an internal circuit that uses water from the tank to wet a filter which, in turn, ends up emitting some cooling sensation due to the temperature difference felt.
However, inside a house, the air is warm, so it will not be possible to create the desired effect when the air being “pulled” in is warm and is supposed to be cooled. Ice can help for about 10 minutes, but after melting, it turns into water that ends up heating up with the warm air circulating through the equipment.
This is an ideal solution for a drier place that needs humidity in the air to give a sensation of freshness, but it will be more effective as direct cooling when aimed at the person, rather than lowering a room’s temperature. It is, essentially, a tower fan with a water reservoir that can help create a cooler feel.
The traditional portable air conditioner – the friend that isn’t always necessary
With a portable air conditioner, the consumer has the guarantee of having cold air at home, since these appliances, like traditional ones, have a gas inside that actually ends up cooling the air.
However, despite being much more practical and transportable from one place to another, they involve a different kind of logistics and extra attention regarding the space where we want to place these units.
To start with, the fact that the indoor unit also integrates the compressor means the noise produced will be much higher than any traditional air conditioner with an outdoor unit. Even models that present themselves as silent will make considerable noise when inside a house.
However, noise aside, we have here a device actually capable of cooling a room or even an entire house, depending on the size.
For installation, we just need a power source to plug it in, and a window where we can place the exhaust hose through which all the hot air generated by the appliance’s operation will be expelled.
Normally, these devices come with a window installation kit which, in most cases, can work, but which might also not be the most suitable and requires buying an adapter for certain windows.
Installation done and in proper conditions, and supposedly, we have a cooled space for sure. Or so it should be.
The truth is that, even complying with the recommended room sizes, 9000 BTUs on a portable unit will never be as effective as a traditional air conditioner. There are leaks that continue to allow heat into the house, and since the unit is at a lower level, it struggles more to cool the entire space from ceiling to floor (since hot air rises and cold air sinks).
For smaller spaces, it is a great solution that does not require any specific installation and actually offers a cooler environment. However, we must keep in mind that they always end up consuming more energy than traditional models and, of course, lead to higher electricity bills at the end of the month.
Is the traditional air conditioner the best?
The traditional air conditioner is, without a doubt, the best way to cool a room in less time and with lower energy consumption, but it also brings a few associated disadvantages.
While the cooling efficiency is the best of the various appliances mentioned and the noise is greatly reduced, the installation is a headache in many cases.
If the house already has pre-installation done, the scenario is less dramatic, but even so, you need to find a certified professional to install the equipment so as not to lose its warranty.
Furthermore, if the location does not have pre-installation, it involves construction work in the room to prepare everything for installation. In addition, for each room, an individual indoor unit will be needed and, depending on the distance and power, another outdoor unit.
It is a complex installation that can make the initial investment more expensive. However, post-installation, it is an appliance that will guarantee the cooling of the room without major issues (provided it has the necessary power for the room) and with greater efficiency, since cold air is distributed from the top down.
Moreover, they are some of the quietest appliances and consume less energy than portable ones, so, if it is your own house, it might be an investment to consider.
Tricks that can help keep the house cooler
During the day, regardless of any ventilation or climate control equipment we have at home, something that will always help is keeping the windows and blinds closed during the period when the sun is hitting that area of the house.
This way, the interior of the house will not heat up as much and the need to cool the air when we get home is lower, so the effort required from the appliances is also smaller.
If we are using a portable air conditioner and feel that, even in a small room, the space is not cooling entirely as it should, adding a fan at the same time could help.
The fan, when well used in this scenario, will help spread the cold air and create a constant air circulation, thus bringing the cold air created by the AC to the whole room and, in turn, reducing the hot air that accumulates in the upper area of the room.
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