Comparison LG Mega Plus P-07EP 20 m² vs Haier AD162MLERA 45 m²

The type of installation is specified for the indoor unit of the air conditioner.

The classic most popular mounting option these days is the wall mount. It is these air conditioners that are most often used for living rooms and small office premises, although there are also heavy powerful equipment that can serve a large area. Units with the possibility of floor or ceiling installation have similar specifics, but they are not so common. And purely floor air conditioners are even rarer, and their power is generally low; heavy and powerful floor units are classified as a separate category - column.

Ceiling (cassette) units are excellent for servicing rooms with partitions, including quite extensive ones. You should pay attention to ducted models if you need to serve several rooms at once with a common duct system. The portable type of installation means that we have a mobile air conditioner (see "Type"). But units with window installation, which were quite popular at one time, are now considered obsolete and are rarely used (although they can also come in handy in certain situations).

Here is a more detailed description of each mounting type:

- Wall mounted. Mounting on the wall — usu...ally in the upper part, under the ceiling. In most rooms, this type of placement causes the least inconvenience and gives the most freedom in choosing the installation location. So, the space on the walls under the ceiling is usually not occupied by anything (or almost nothing), and the installation work is limited to the preparation of fixtures for hanging and holes for hoses connecting the indoor unit to the outdoor one. It is the reason for the popularity of wall-mounted air conditioners in our time.

- Floor. Relatively low-power air conditioners are designed for installation on the floor, usually with a wall mount (heavy floor-standing units are classified into a separate category — column, see below). In itself, such installation is somewhat simpler than wall mounting, in addition, the airflow from the floor unit is usually directed upwards, which minimizes the likelihood of drafts. On the other hand, not every room has enough space on the floor against the wall — especially since there must be some space in front of the air conditioner for efficient air intake. In addition, such placement increases the likelihood of accidentally touching the unit. Therefore, purely floor models are relatively rare, combined floor-ceiling air conditioners are more popular (see below).

- Floor/ceiling. It is a wall model, complemented by the possibility of installation on the floor against the wall. Both methods of installation are described in more detail above; it is technically easy to provide two methods at once in one air conditioner, and such versatility makes the devices more attractive in the eyes of buyers. Therefore, such combined units in our time, although they are inferior in popularity to wall-mounted ones, are noticeably superior to purely floor ones.

— Cassette (ceiling). Ceiling mount, usually between fixed and suspended ceilings. Most air conditioners of this type are designed to service fairly large rooms, including those with partitions. Such units are square and direct the airflow in 4 directions at once; thus, the optimal place to install such an air conditioner is in the centre of the room. However, there are also low-power ceiling models designed for small rooms; for such units, the airflow is directed in one direction, and they are mounted near the wall itself. In any case, the airflow from the cassette air conditioner is directed almost horizontally. It avoids drafts, and uniform cooling of the room is ensured by the fact that the heavier cold air from the air conditioner settles down, mixing with warm air.

- Ducted. The name of such air conditioners is because the air from them enters the room (rooms) not directly from the indoor unit, but through ventilation ducts. The unit itself, as a rule, is made completely hidden in a wall or behind a false ceiling. It is very convenient in cases where cold air needs to be directed to several places at once, which are significantly remote from each other — for example, to several office premises at once. An alternative option for such cases is multi-split systems (see "Type"). However, a ducted air conditioner can be cheaper and easier to install, especially if the air outlets are already connected by a duct system, or if you need to cool a large area such as an entire building with several floors and a large number of individual rooms. The disadvantage of this option is that the intensity of cooling/heating will be the same for all serviced premises (whereas the multi-split allows you to adjust it individually for each indoor unit). In addition, in the absence of air ducts, their organization can be a rather time-consuming and expensive task.

- Column. Heavy-duty floor-mounted air conditioners. From the classic floor models (see above), in addition to high power, they differ in layout - in this case, it is vertical, like a column (hence the name). In addition, such units usually do not require wall mounting (although many models allow it if necessary). A key feature of column air conditioners is the ability to create a powerful airflow that can quickly cool or warm up a large area. On the other hand, such a flow of air can create serious discomfort for a person nearby. Therefore, the best way to use columned units is to serve large areas where, for one reason or another, it is impossible to use other types of air conditioners (such as cassette). An air conditioner with this type of installation may be the best choice for a shop floor, restaurant, large hotel lobby, and even for a large room in a private house or apartment.

- Portable. In addition to connecting to the mains, you will also need an outlet for the air hose.

— Window. Air conditioners mounted in an opening in a window frame or wall. The installation of such units is a rather complicated and troublesome business, and the choice of installation sites for them is very limited. In many ways, this is why window air conditioners are not popular anymore.

The British Thermal Unit (BTU) is used to indicate the rated capacity of air conditioners in cooling mode. The parameter is indicated mainly for split and multi split systems with wall installation. Capacity is indicated in BTU per hour, while 1 BTU/h is equal to about 0.293 watts. The rated capacity of an air conditioner is often a multiple of 1000 BTU. The indicator determines how many thousand BTU/h the air conditioning equipment provides. For example, the marking "9 BTU" here means a unit for 9000 BTU/h or about 2600 watts of effective capacity.

The practical meaning of the capacity is that by BTU you can easily determine the recommended area of a standard room in square meters: just multiply the figure indicated in the characteristics by 3. So, for 9 BTU it will correspond to 9*3=27 m². Note that there is no strict relationship between BTU and watts in this list: for example, air conditioners with an effective capacity of 2360 to 2900 W fall into the same category of 9 BTU. In practice, even such an approximate ratio is enough to understand which air conditioner should be considered for cooling certain area.

A set of components included in the delivery of the air conditioner.

This parameter is indicated only for split and multi split systems (see "Type") — other types of air conditioners are made as single units, and there is simply no need to specify the complete set for them. Split system can be supplied both in a complete set, and in separate units (both indoor and outdoor). Among traditional split systems, the first option is the most popular: it is most convenient to buy such a solution as a ready-made kit, and the purchase of a separate unit is required if one of the original units breaks down. But the components of multi split air conditioners, on the contrary, are most often sold separately — this makes it easy to assemble such a system for a specific situation by separately purchasing an outdoor unit and the required number of indoor ones.

The area of the room recommended for using the air conditioner in the main mode is for cooling.

Most often, this parameter is indicated by a simplified formula: about 100 W of effective air conditioner power is required per 1 m2 of room area. Thus, for example, for a model with a cooling capacity of 2200 W, the recommended area will be 2200/100=22 m2. However, these results are relevant only for standard conditions in residential and office premises: ceiling height of about 2.5-3 m, no strong heat gain, etc. For more specific situations, there are more detailed calculation formulas, that can be found in special sources. Anyway, choosing an air conditioner according to the recommended area, it's ok to take a margin of at least 15-20%: this will give an additional guarantee that the device will be effective.

The recommended area up to 15 m2 for a modern air conditioner is considered very low; such units are designed to serve single rooms of a small area. For an average living room like a bedroom or living room, a 20 m2 or even 25 m2 model is better suited. Models of 30 m2 and above are already intended for at least studio apartments, and more often for office and industrial premises. And in the most powerful modern units, the recommended area can be 150 – 175 m2 or even more.

Note that the same general formula is used for the heating mode — “100 W per 1 m2”. At the same time, the effective power of most air conditioners in this mode is noticeably higher than in the cooling mode. So this item can also be used to select a unit with a heating function: an air conditioner capable of cooling a room of a certain area is almost guaranteed to be able to heat it (taking into account the relevant restrictions on the use — see "Operating modes").

Power consumption of the air conditioner in cooling and heating mode; for models without a heating mode, only one number is given. This parameter should not be confused with the effective capacity of the air conditioner. Effective capacity is the amount of heat that the unit can "pump" into the environment or the room. This item also indicates the amount of electricity consumed by the device from the network.

In all air conditioners, the power consumption is several times lower than the effective capacity. It is due to the peculiarities of the operation of such units. At the same time, devices with the same efficiency may differ in power consumption. In such cases, the more economical models usually cost more, but with continued use, the difference can quickly pay off with less electricity consumption.

Also, two points related to electrical engineering depend on this nuance. Firstly, power consumption affects power requirements: models up to 3 – 3.5 kW can be connected to a regular outlet, while higher power consumption requires a three-phase connection (see below). Secondly, the power consumption is needed to calculate the load on the mains and the necessary parameters of additional equipment: stabilizers, emergency generators, uninterruptible power supplies, etc.

The heat output of the air conditioner when operating in cooling mode, in other words, the amount of heat energy that the unit can transfer from the room to the external environment when operating in this mode.

In general, cooling capacityup to 2 kW for modern air conditioners is considered very modest, 2–3 kW is low, 3–4 kW is medium, 4–6 kW is above average, and in the heaviest and most productive models this figure can be 6–8 kW and even more. Also, the conventional unit BTU can be used to denote capacity; in our catalogue, 1 BTU corresponds approximately to 0.293 W, however, for the convenience of choice, some deviations are allowed: for example, the 7000 BTU category includes units with power from 1.8 to 2.3 kW. Also on sale you can find air conditioners for 9000, 12000, 18000, 24000 BTU and more.

As for the choice for this indicator, the simplest formula is as follows: at least 100 W or 1/3 BTU of thermal power should fall on 1 m2 of the area of the room. Thus, to estimate the maximum area served, the power in watts should be divided by 100, and the power in...BTU should be multiplied by three. However, all these calculations are relevant only for standard residential/office premises with a ceiling height of about 2.5-3 m. For other conditions, you need to use a more complex formula, which is the sum of three parameters: 1) Q1 - the heat gain of the room itself, calculated by multiplying the area of the room by the height of the ceilings and the heat transfer coefficient (it ranges from 30 to 40 W, depending on the conditions); 2) Q2 - heat gain from operating equipment (on average, a third of the total power of all electrical appliances); 3) Q3 - heat gain from each person (from 100 W for sedentary work to 300 W for heavy physical exertion). More detailed recommendations regarding such calculations can be found in special sources.

A special case is represented by separately sold outdoor units of air conditioners (see "In box"). In this case, the capacity in cooling mode is the highest heating capacity of the indoor unit (in the same mode, of course) that can be connected to this outdoor unit. For multi split systems, respectively, the total indicator of all indoor units is taken into account.

The power provided by the air conditioner in heating mode. It is indicated by the amount of thermal energy that the air conditioner can "pump" from the external environment into the room when operating in this mode. The most modest modern units have a heating capacity of 2 – 3 kW or even less, in the most performant it reaches 6 – 8 kW or more.

When evaluating this capacity, the same formulas are relevant that are used in calculating the power of traditional heating. So, for the full heating of an ordinary residential or office space (with ceilings of 2.5-3 m and normal thermal insulation), a thermal power of at least 100 W is required. There are more detailed calculation rules that allow you to calculate the necessary characteristics for other conditions. And if we are talking about a separately sold outdoor unit (see "In box"), then the meaning of this parameter is somewhat different. It indicates the maximum power of the indoor unit that can be connected to this outdoor unit to work in heating mode. For multi split systems, respectively, the total capacity of all indoor units is taken into account.

Recall that most air conditioners are not designed for use as full-fledged heating systems. However, such a unit can be a good addition to the main heating system. At the same time, air conditioners are less expensive than el...ectric heaters: the heater has an effective power equal to energy consumption, and the air conditioner consumes much less energy than it supplies to the heated room.

Also note that the unit BTU (more precisely, BTU/hour) can also be used to indicate the effective capacity (including in heating mode). 1 BTU (BTU/h) initially corresponds to 0.293 W, and the numbers in the characteristics of air conditioners correspond to thousands of BTU/h. For example, a 7 BTU air conditioner will produce an effective capacity of 7000 BTU/h, or about 2 kW. Such marking is convenient because BTU can easily determine the recommended area of a standard room (in m2): just multiply the figure indicated in the characteristics by 3. So, in our example, the power of 7 BTU will correspond to an area of 7*3=21 m2.

The amount of air that an air conditioner can pass through itself in an hour.

This parameter depends on the power and the overall level of the device, but there is no strict dependence here: models with the same effective capacity may differ in air circulation speed. In such cases, it is worth proceeding from the fact that a higher speed contributes to uniform cooling/heating of the air and reduces the time required to create a given microclimate; on the other hand, higher-performing air conditioners use more energy, are larger and/or cost more.

The maximum and minimum level of noise produced by the air conditioner during operation; for split and multi split systems (see "Type"), by default, it is indicated for the indoor unit, and the data for the outdoor unit can be specified in the notes.

The noise level is indicated in decibels; this is a non-linear unit, so it is easiest to evaluate this parameter using comparative tables — they can be found in special sources. Here we note that, according to sanitary standards, the maximum level of constant noise for residential premises is 40 dB during the day and 30 dB at night; for offices, this figure is 50 dB, and in industrial premises higher volume levels may be allowed. So it is worth choosing an air conditioner according to this indicator, taking into account where and how it is planned to use it.

As for specific numbers, among the quietest modern air conditioners, there are models with a minimum performance of 23 – 24 dB, 22 – 21 dB, and sometimes even 20 dB or less. However, units at 31 – 31 dB and 33 – 34 dB are not uncommon; such loudness, usually, does not create discomfort in the daytime, but at night it is no longer desirable. However, in some cases, a louder air conditioner may be the best choice: noise reduction affects the cost, sometimes quite noticeably, and if the device...is not planned to be turned on at night, you can not overpay for additional noise reduction.