The best time to be purchasing your unit is Jan-March when they start to be reintroduced to DIY centres and electrical supplies, the prices at this time of year are generally cheaper and also additional sales and special offers can decrease the price further.
When buying your air con unit, careful attention needs to be paid to the size of room it is working in, what type of ventilation is available and whether an exhaust hose can be placed through an open window or wall needs to be drilled.
Split units generally cost more (£400-600) and are often wall mounted, this units need a hole to be cut through the wall but then vent all heat directly out of the room into the open air outside. This cools the room faster and more efficiently than floor mounted units, but does mean that they cannot be moved so easily..
Floor mounted units are generally cheaper (£150-300) but normally have a short exhaust hose that needs to be placed out of an open window when being used. They can be easily moved when required.
When buying your Air conditioning unit you need to play close attention to the BTU rating that is listed, the higher this number is the better it is able to cool the room or shed in which it is placed.
When choosing the BTU rating it is possible to get too high a rating, in that case the air around the unit chills too quickly fooling the machine into switching off before the whole room is cooled. This can be avoid by using a BTU calculator.
Tips on using your Air Con in a shed can be found on our Cool Shed page.
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It is hard word for an air con unit to cool down an already hot room, it i better to buy a model with a thermostat on it and set it to run from the morning when it is cool - that will it will keep the temperature down much easier.
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You can buy combined dehumidifier and air conditioning units, this does mean that the additional heat of a separate dehumidifier is avoided in the room, but when one fails it does mean that both will be out of action. When a room is very humid, turn the humidifier on first for 20 minutes or so to dehumidify the air, this will make the air cons job easier - when doing this keep a close eye on the temperature of the room.
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When using an air con unit always be sure to check the extension hose is firmly connected to the back of the unit - otherwise it will be pumping hot air into the room and raise rather than lower the temperature.
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Be sure to regularly empty the water collection vessel and ensure that the machine resets to cool rather than just fan settings.
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Ensure that you have read your manual to your unit, and that you clean the air filters regularly- not doing so could cause the unit to cut out and not function.
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To get the most efficient use out of your unit, raise the unit as far of the floor as you can- hot air rises and cool air sinks, so the higher up in the room your unit is the more effective it can chill the room and create air currents. Using fans to push air down from the ceiling to the floor will also help to circulate the air better and cool more of the air - this is especially important where you have rows of cages - always check the ear colour and positions of the top rows first - they will be the first to suffer if there is a problem!
