For those of you who live in Perth, Western Australia, we presume it is safe to say that air conditioning in your home is necessary. Given that, throughout the summer months, Perth experiences average high temperatures of between 26 degrees centigrade and 32 degrees centigrade, air conditioning is needed, not just to stay calm, but also to ensure that everyone who lives with you remains healthy with regards to not overheating and avoiding dehydration.
Whilst the need for air-con is universal across Perth, that does not mean to say that every home has the exact air conditioning needs. Perth homes range from huge houses with more than eight bedrooms to bedsits and everything. This means that the space available for an air conditioner unit and the area that the air conditioner has to keep cool will differ significantly.
This leads us to the fact that if you need to choose an air conditioning unit, one of the decisions you must make is its size. Please read on as we will outline a simple guide from air conditioning experts airandwater.com.au to assist you in choosing air conditioner unit sizes for homes in Perth, WA.
Size Is Not Everything
The first point you should be aware of is that the room sizes and the home’s overall size are not the only considerations that must be considered when choosing the dimensions of air conditioning units. Therefore, measuring your rooms is insufficient to select the most appropriate or efficient air conditioners. Other factors need to be accounted for beyond the sizes of rooms, and the three main ones to consider are outlined below.
Home’s Location: It stands to reason that a house in Perth will have far higher temperatures than a home in Hobart. However, we are talking about homes only in Perth, and even here, parts of the city will generally have more sunshine than others. Factors such as tall buildings creating shade on a home for most of the day or being closer to coastal breezes will impact the high-temperature points, ultimately influencing what size air con units are required.
Level of Home Insulation: Homes with insulation are the homes that will be the most thermally efficient. As such, in colder months, insulated rooms will remain warmer for longer, but in the summer, they can stay uncomfortably warm and thus create a greater need for air conditioning.
Room/Window Orientation: The earth spins throughout the day and, thus, the direction in which the sunlight and heat come from changes is also a factor in determining air conditioning unit sizes. As a result, rooms whose windows face south will receive more sunlight and heat than those facing north; thus, they may require larger air conditioning units.
Calculating Air Conditioning Unit Size
For those of you comfortable with maths, the first method is using this formula:
Calculate total room area (A): Width x Length of each room added together
Take ‘A’ and multiply by either of:
150 if the room height is 2.4m
160 if the room height is 2.7m
175 if the room height is 3.0m
Divide by 1,000 for air conditioner unit kilowatt size required.
Method 2 uses one of the many air con unit size calculators found online, providing you with the kilowatt size after entering room sizes and heights.
Method 3 is the one we highly recommend to consult a professional air conditioning company that you can be confident will establish the most appropriate air conditioning unit sizes for your home.
