When it comes to buying air conditioners, people tend to focus on brand and type.
They rarely give a second thought to the size of the air conditioner and whether it’s compatible to their home. An air conditioner that’s too small won’t be able to cool your home adequately and an air conditioner that’s too big will leave excess humidity in the house while consuming a lot of energy. Calculating and choosing the proper size air conditioner is not really difficult. All you need to do is some basic math. Using a tape measure, carefully measure the length and breadth of the room and multiply the two figures to calculate the square footage. This calculation is essential if you are going to make the appropriate decision on the air conditioner’s size. To make things easier in measuring the entire home, check your property tax statement to find your home’s overall square footage. You don’t need to take unused rooms or the basement into consideration when determining the final figure. Next, you should find out the cooling capacity required for your home or room. British Thermal Units, or BTUs, are used for finding the cooling capacity of individual a/c units or central air conditioners. The U.S. Department of Energy has a convenient table to find the ideal a/c unit size. For example, if you have a 1500 square foot home, the table indicates that 30,000 a/c BTUs are required. In the end, the brand and type of air conditioner are certainly important when making a purchasing decision. But don’t forget about the size and cooling capacity as well.