The torrid nights with thermometers that refuse to drop below 25 degrees are already here with us, with several heat waves that we have suffered in a chained way. At these moments you may think about the possibility of using the air conditioning at night, but the fear of the amount that will arrive on the electricity bill is always there. But the reality is that there are situations where this expense is not so exorbitant.
Exorbitant consumption. Leaving the air on for eight hours of sleep can cost us around one euro. This is how Carlos Llull, air conditioning technician, explains it. who points out thatin an average scenario with modern equipment, the economic impact is much less than we usually imagine.
Through a publication On his Instagram account, which has gone viral, he pointed out that “leaving the air conditioning on for 8 hours at night can cost around one euro in electricity.”
And there are more voices. Beyond this phrase that can give us peace of mind in our pockets, Álex Bermúdez, energy expert, reduces This figure is even further stated by stating that, depending on the programmed degrees and the thermal characteristics of the room, the cost of an entire night can be barely around 0.45 euros.
But with these gurus announcing this, the question is obvious: How is it possible if a domestic air conditioner usually has an installed power of between 1,000 and 2,000 W? And the answer is in the inverter systems of the most modern equipment.
The mathematics. If we use logic, it is quite simple to calculate the consumption of an air conditioner, since it ‘simply’ multiplies the maximum power of the device by the eight hours that it can be kept on during the night. And this would only be correct if you literally lived in an oven without windows and the equipment had to work at its maximum constantly, something that does not happen in most cases.
Modern inverter compressors do not work with an obsolete binary on/off system, but their motor is capable of self-regulation when starting at high power to reach the desired temperature, but once achieved, it modulates its work and drastically reduces the revolutions to simply maintain the environment. This means that, during most of the early morning hours, and helped by the fact that the outside temperature also drops, the equipment barely consumes a minimal fraction of its maximum capacity.
It depends on several factors. Of course, that euro per night is not a guaranteed flat rate, but rather a measurement that depends on a delicate thermodynamic balance in your home. The first of them is the set temperature, since, as the IDAE runsthe ideal temperature in summer should be between 23 and 26 ºC. Each degree lowered will mean an increase of between 6 and 8% in energy consumption.
Insulation is also essential, since a room with thermal leaks, as can occur with old windows, will lose cold quickly, forcing the compressor to exit its maintenance mode and work at higher power throughout the night.
The energy rate. This is a fundamental factor, since the final cost of using the air at night will vary depending on whether the rate is in the regulated marketwhere early morning prices can be very low, or if you have a free market rate with an agreed kWh price.
Optimize consumption. As the OCU points outit is important not to turn on the air at the minimum temperature to “cool quickly”, since it is inefficient, and that is why it should always be programmed from the beginning to the desired temperature. But in addition, you must take advantage of the ‘ECO’ or ‘Sleep’ mode that many air conditioners already include so that the temperature is gradually adjusted throughout the early morning.
Images | Zulfugar Karimov
In Xataka | What is energy efficiency and why is it a saving that matters more than ever?
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings