How much does my air conditioner cost to run?
People are often cautious when heating or cooling their homes with air conditioning. After a new install, the air conditioner may get a good workout until the first electricity bill arrives! Lets take a look at air conditioner costs….
What are the costs?
Providing you are getting a good deal on energy (compare your energy company), on average a split system air conditioner costs around $.25c-$.30c per hour to run when in cooling mode. There are other factors that can increase these costs such as insulation and room size. Heating costs with air conditioning are slightly less.
A ducted system will cost around $1.50-$2.00 per hour as they require a ‘neutral zone’ – an area that constantly runs when the unit is on and cant be controlled (the air has to go somewhere if all the zones are off!)
Taking these costs into account, they can add up quite quickly over a quarter billing period and give you a real surprise!
What are the running cost comparisons of other appliances?
The best alternative (although not as affective) to air conditioning are fans. Ceiling fans can cost as little as 5c an hour to run. Thats around $1 per day. Lets take a look at other appliances running costs:
Appliances such as ovens ($.60c-$1.30 /hr, stove ($.40c – $.80c /hr), vacuum cleaners ($.40c – $.80 /hr) and swimming pools ($.26c – $.53c /hr) all use more electricity than air conditioners per hour but are used less frequently (apart from swimming pools $.26c – $.53c /hr as they run 8hrs+ per day)
What can you do to save air conditioner costs?
There is no silver bullet when it comes to saving energy costs with cooling. We can however:
- Install roof insulation to reduce house temperature
- utilise ceiling fans to ensure that hot air is moved around reducing room temperature prior to starting air conditioner
- Install wifi adapters in compatible systems to turn off air conditioners accidentally left on or to turn them on just prior to your arrival
Call Buderim Electrical on 0499995125 for more information
