We have often read completely different information on different portals about the consumption of air conditioners. Many times it is said that their use leads to high bills, but in many cases the opposite is stated. Therefore, we will now show you the best way to calculate the amount of energy consumed when using an air conditioner.
Two indicators show the energy efficiency of our climate.
The SEER value expresses the cooling operating efficiency of the equipment taking into account seasonality.
In practical terms, how many kW of cooling capacity is produced from 1 kW of electricity invested (hence the unit W/W).
The SCOP value expresses the same only for heating mode.
Let's look at two concrete examples, with known and common types, showing the power consumption of air conditioners.
Midea Blanc 2,5 kW inverter air conditioner
- cooling capacity 2,6 kW
- SEER 6.2 W/W
- if it were running at continuous maximum, the electricity consumption would be calculated according to the following formula: cooling capacity/SEER - so 2.6/6.2=0.42. Multiplying this value by the peak time price of the A2 residential tariff, we get that our air conditioner running at continuous maximum capacity costs 18 HUF (17.81 HUF) per hour.
- heating power (at +2 degrees C) 2,6 kW
- SCOP (at +2 degrees C) 5.1 W/W
- using the above calculation method, heating costs 22 HUF (21,65 Ft) per hour.
Daikin Sensira 2,5 kW inverter air conditioner
- cooling capacity 2,5 kW
- SEER 6,22 W/W
- using the above calculation method, cooling costs 17 Ft (17.07 cents) per hour
- heating power 2,8 kW
- SCOP 4.01 W/W (which shows that this particular type is not optimised for heating)
- using the above calculation method, heating costs 30 HUF (29,65 Ft) per hour.
These assume theoretical maximum consumption, in reality they never operate continuously in this mode! When the air conditioner is switched on, it will give its maximum output in a warm home, then gradually reduce to a low operating level when the desired temperature is reached.
Using the two examples above, we can calculate that assuming 10 hours of intensive use per day, the expected cost will be around 180Ft. That's what it will cost to buy a night's sleep and that's what it will cost to reduce stress, protect our health from overheating and eliminate problems caused by sleeplessness.
Different values may be obtained for attics, rooms with many windows and rooms with constant humidity, but it should be a good benchmark. Also, these are modern inverter air conditioners, not comparable to the old on/off air conditioners, which were really wasteful of energy.
Thus, for a whole month, with 10 hours of air conditioning use every day, monthly brt. 5.000- 6.000Ft will be the increase of the electricity bill, and for a whole summer season - calculating with a serious heat - we will pay about 15.000- 20.000Ft for our total summer survival.
The source of the electricity price:
https://elmuemasz.hu/egyetemes-szolgaltatas/szolgaltatasok/villamos-energia/villamos-energia-tarifak
For A2 pricing, where peak hours are from 07-23 on weekdays (daylight saving time), all other periods are the "valley period"
If you look at the standard A1 tariff, you'll see that it's 37.54 HUF per kWh in all periods.
Here, by the way, until 1320kWh per year, the discount is 36.22 HUF per kWh, but this will probably run out even without using the air conditioner
In our examples, we have calculated directly in the most pessimistic way, assuming that the user will run his air conditioner continuously at peak times under tariff A2.
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