What is the ideal aircon unit temperature in Singapore?
Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) recommends 25°C as an efficient temperature that gives you the benefits of an aircon unit, keeps your electricity bills manageable, and manages your environmental impact at the same time.
At what temperature should an aircon unit be set during hot summer days?
When the heat and humidity have you working up a sweat, the temptation is to crank up the aircon unit and enjoy that nice, cool, dry air. Then you get your utility bill and it hits you, there’s a price to pay for all of that extra comfort.
You want to save money, so you set your thermostat several degrees higher and the cycle starts all over again. If this sounds all too familiar, there are some ways to find that comfortable balance between comfort and savings.
However, the ideal temperature to keep your thermostat set over the summer is 25°C. This slightly elevated setting will help balance your aircon unit costs out, so you are not wasting money on cool air when your thermostat is already low.
Rain alone will not harm your aircon unit. In fact, turning the system on during warm, rainy days can make your home feel much more comfortable. The only time you would need to be concerned is if the rain was severe enough to leave standing water around the unit. In that case, it would be wise to power it down as recommended by an air con servicing company.
These storms bring heat and humidity with them, especially right before the storm hits, which may make you run to your thermostat to cool off. Thunder also brings the risk of lightning. Though it’s tempting to rely on your aircon unit, a professional aircon servicing company recommends you shouldn’t run your unit during a thunderstorm.
Why is it not ideal to set the aircon unit temperature so high?
1) Your aircon unit has two jobs
The reason is that your aircon unit doesn’t just cool the air. In fact, your home’s aircon unit has two equally important jobs. The first is cooling, but the second is dehumidification.
When the warm air from your home passes over the evaporator coils, the air cools quickly and water in the air condenses on the coils. It’s just like water condensing on the outside of a cold soft drink can on a warm summer day.
This removes humidity from the air so that when the air passes through the supply vents back into your home, it’s both cooler and drier.
Setting the thermostat saves energy because it causes the air conditioner to run less, a lot less and that’s the problem. If you set your thermostat at 26°C, the aircon unit won’t run enough to effectively dehumidify your home’s air.
That’s much higher than the recommended ideal indoor humidity of 30-50%. Having indoor humidity above 50% can cause serious issues for your health and your home.
3) The dangers of high indoor humidity
Why is it important to keep your home’s humidity below 50%?
One big reason is mold. Warm, humid conditions promote the growth of mold colonies. A 29°C home
with 70% humidity is basically a mold farm.
Having mold in your home can cause serious health issues. Mold spores can cause allergic reactions and worsen asthma symptoms. Even people without allergies or asthma can experience throat irritation, coughing, and other upper respiratory symptoms when exposed to mold.
Mold can cause damage to your home that requires expensive remediation and clean-up. And if it gets into your entire aircon unit, it can damage the ductwork and the aircon unit, particularly the coils.
In addition to promoting mold, high indoor humidity itself can cause harm to your health.
Accordingly, an air temperature of 27°C with 70% humidity results in a heat index or “feels-like” temperature of 30°C. That’s in the “Caution” range for heat disorders caused by prolonged exposure.
In other words, just being in your house for several hours with the thermostat set at 27°C could lead to you developing heat-related illnesses, like heat exhaustion. This is particularly true for people who are sensitive to the heat due to age or health issues.
Lastly, high indoor humidity itself can also do damage to your home. When the humidity inside your home stays over 50% for a long period, it can cause swelling and warping of wood and paper products. This could damage hardwood floors or wood furniture, as well as cause damage to books and papers.
Here are a few common mistakes that can potentially damage your aircon unit:
One of the most common mistakes people make is not getting their aircon unit serviced. This is very important as all the dirt that gets accumulated inside the system may contaminate the air that is blowing out. A professional aircon servicing company recommends an aircon unit be serviced every 6 months. If not, your aircon unit may even stop working.
Aircon filters trap the dirt and do not let them mix with the fresh air that gets blown. However, if you do not clean the filters it might start blowing out dirt with the air as well. With that, it might also block the vents and your air might start emitting hit air instead of cold air.
A professional aircon servicing company recommends having your aircon filters cleaned if not replaced every 3 months or when it seems to not be performing their supposed function anymore.
Keeping the temperature too high may lead to the aircon unit not working anymore for most aircon. This is because there is a certain amount of pressure being made on the aircon unit as the outside temperature is almost the same compared to the inside temperature, this may be a problem later on.
Keeping the temperature too high can stop your aircon’s ability to cook the room when you decrease the temperature later on.
Sunlight can work as a barrier and not let the aircon unit cool the room as it should be doing. The sunlight coming will keep the room hot and the aircon unit will try to cool. This clash may cause an aircon issue as it is unable to perform as it should be doing. So a professional aircon servicing company recommends that you use curtains and blinds to also protect your aircon unit.
About 338AIRCON.SG
It’s always a good time to talk about the common issues that aircon units have. This way, you’ll be able to spot if there are problems with your unit or not and prepare for its replacement accordingly. If you require our aircon servicing services, Whatsapp us at +65 9222 4141 for a fast and transparent quote.
338 Aircon Servicing Singapore provides an extensive range of Aircon Services including Aircon Servicing, Aircon Repairs, Cheap Aircon Installation of the best aircon brands, Chemical Overhaul, Gas Top-up, Aircon Leaking Water, and Aircon Not Cold Fix, and more. We have a team of professional technicians who are equipped with vast knowledge and experience in the Aircon industry.
We have over 15 years of experience in dealing with aircon works and have completed thousands of aircon works for both residential (Landed, Condo, and HDB) and commercial. We are a highly recommended Aircon Company in Singapore, with many delighted customers and reviews over the years on Google and Facebook.
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