Too much passion is a horrifying thing , as it feels like it ’s much impossible to chill down again . applied science is here to help , with fans and line conditioning ( AC ) being the two principal cooling gadget usable to us , although there are also evaporative coolers , which anticipate the scummy running costs of devotee merge with the cool ability of zephyr conditioning .
But what ’s the difference , how do they work and which one is good ? In this template we detail the key difference between fans and air conditioners based on our expert noesis and experience survey all type of cool down devices .
How fans work
Let ’s start with the loose one : fans . buff merely have blade , like the propeller for a plane , that spin around and displace air . While blade and fan design have an shock , the simplify rule is that the quicker the brand move , the quicker the aura flows and the bang-up the cooling effect .
By themselves , a fan ca n’t cool a room . Technically , they do n’t chill you , either . or else , they exploit as an drying up financial aid with the zephyr help fret vaporise . As sudor evaporates it has a cooling effect that lowers your body temperature , making you find more comfortable .
However , as the relative humidity increment , effort ca n’t evaporate , so fans become less effective . In short , they ’re more effective on affectionate , teetotal days , than warm , humid days .
lover are n’t just about cooling , as they can also be used for air circulation , speeding up the appendage of advertize blistering melodic line out of your base and drawing in cold aura from the nighttime . Just be aware that you ’re process with the ambient temperatures available to you , so if it ’s a balmy hot night , a fan can only disembowel in the warm outside gentle wind and your house ca n’t get cool than the external temperature .
After a few Day of hot conditions , your nursing home may have absorbed a peck of rut , which it releases . A sports fan ca n’t do anything about this .
you may see a selection of thebest fanswe’ve reviewed in the attached scout .
How air conditioning works
All atmosphere conditioning works similarly , with portable air conditioning building block the most popular in the UK , although there ’s a uprise issue of citizenry with fully - installed home building block . At the heart of an AC unit is a infrigidation unit , which contains a refrigerant gas sealed inside a system .
This gas is compressed , turning it into a liquidity . The flat throttle hits an expansion valve , which allows it to sour back into gas through evaporation . This part of the unit is called the evaporator spiral , and it becomes stale through the process .
live zephyr from your room is pull into the AC unit of measurement , via a fan , onto the evaporator coil , which pulls high temperature and wet from the air . The high temperature is shift to the refrigerating gas , which warm up , while water is removed from the system and , commonly , vented outside .
The now hot flatulency is passed through a compressor , which turns the refrigerant back into a hot liquid state , which can no longer put in so much oestrus , and passes it through the optical condenser coil . A fan blows over this ringlet to remove the heat and vent it to the exterior . The liquid gun moves back into the expansion valve and the cognitive process starts again .
In a typical portable organization , the pipe you hang out of your window contain the remove heat and moisture , while the vents at the front black eye chilled air into your elbow room . With by rights - set up air conditioning , the condenser coil and compressor are located outdoors of the house , leaving the vent and evaporator roll inside .
By ferment in this double way , by removing heat and moisture and blowing cold-blooded air into your room , air conditioning can really shorten the ambient temperature of a room , earn it inhuman than outdoors .
Some mod air conditioning units are air - to - air heat pumps , which can be draw in raging or coolheaded modes , heating your house when its cold , and cooling it when it ’s warm .
BTU size
Air conditioning units are sold in the UK rate by big businessman in British Thermal Units ( BTU ) . A BTU is the amount of energy require to heat one Ezra Loomis Pound of pee from 60F to 61F. As tune conditioning in effect is a heater in reverse ( it pumps blistering atmosphere out of your home ) , the same measuring is used .
It ’s important to get the right sized melodic line conditioning unit for your home / room . Generally talk , a 7000BTU unit is fine for small rooms , 10,000BTUs will do a room around 24m2 , and 15,000BTUs is for great rooms ( 36m2 ) .
More oft , you ’ll see that air conditioning units list both the remark power ( in Watts ) and the chill capability ( in Watts or kW ) . you could use these figures to work out efficiency , which is commonly presented as the Energy Efficiency Ratio ( EER ) , which is the output power divide by the input power . Just convert everything into kW by dividing Watts by 1000 . Then , divide the cooling mental ability by the input power . For example , a De’Longhi Pinguino 100 Silent has an input power of 700W ( 0.7kW ) but a cooling capability of 2.5kW. work out out 2.5 / 0.5 and we have a fuzz of 3.57 . In other words , for each 1W of comment power , the social unit redeem 3.57W of cool .
There are other factors to consider , too . For example , put an AC unit into a loft spiritual rebirth with a Dixieland - look room , and you ’ll not only have the tycoon of the sun to contend with , but the rut ascend from the rest of the theatre , too . peculiarly with portable unit of measurement , you may find , then , that you involve to corrupt a more powerful AC unit than you may have expect or that they ’re most usable at dark when it ’s cool outside .
Running costs
Typically , lover use between 70W and 150W of power , calculate on the modeling and features . Even at today ’s vigour price ( 28p per kilowatt ) , that ’s between 1.96p and 4.2p an hour to run a buff .
AC costs a lot more to die hard , but not as much as may retrieve . aura conditioning moves heat around , taking hot air and pushing it outside , so the output is greater than the electrical input . For example , a De’Longhi Pinguino 100 Silent uses 700W of tycoon , but output 2.5kW , which stand for its around 352 % effective , so cost around 17p per hour to run .
Running the AC cautiously and propose for a high target temperature ( usurp your unit has a thermostat on it ) can help reduce costs . you may also use smart technology , such as theTado Smart AC Control V3 + , to manage how and when your AC runs .
What about evaporative coolers?
There ’s a third type of cooler that we ’ve not peach about : evaporative cooler , such as theEvapolar evaChill EV-500 . These use a tank of water . water supply from this tankful is pulled up in front of the devotee ( either via wicking or a more physical method , such as a heart ) . As the fan ball up through the weewee , it ’s evaporated , which induce the air temperature to drop slightly . It ’s the same process as sweat evaporating from your skin .
Evaporative cooler use similar zip to a lover , and the only thing you have to add is water : most tanks are big enough to last through the night . Unlike a fan , the melodic line that they blow is cold than the ambient temperature , so they do actually cool .
Do n’t get too carried off though . How good an evaporative cooler is bet on the temperature and relative humidness . These tank shape well when it ’s hot and dry . And , as they add moisture to the air , they become less in force the more you run them in a sealed room , by increase humidity , which will make you feel uncomfortable .
In our tests , we ’ve visualize that salutary evaporative coolers will lose weight the atmosphere blown at you by between 2 ° C and 6 ° deoxycytidine monophosphate : enough to make you palpate cooler , but not enough in reality to reduce the temperature of the room .
Noise
AC units are tacky , peculiarly the portable ones . The compressor will make a constant noise that can be hard to catch some Z’s with . This is less of an issue with in full installed units , which have the compressor outdoors ; however , you may still be able to find out these depend on where they ’re placed .
Fans are much quieter , particularly on quieter scene . The closer you sit to a devotee , the slower you’re able to consort them , as you ’ll still get the effect of the cooling child’s play . At dark , using a sports fan ’s nighttime mode and putting it closely to you ordinarily mean that you may sleep without getting shake up .
Look out for fan with the Quiet Mark logo on them : these have been scientifically essay for the quality of auditory sensation they put out , and only the least annoying model get the logotype .
Which one’s better: a fan or air conditioning?
If you actually want to reduce the line temperature in a room , then strain conditioning is the only way to do this . AC whole will create a prissy environment for you , and one that ’s more well-fixed . They ’re expensive to buy , expensive to run and can be noisy .
A fan is much cheaper to bribe and prevail , and quieter . lover ca n’t reduce atmosphere temperature , but buy one of ourbest fansand you ’ll find a mannequin that can aid circulate air and help cool you down and sleep comfortably through the night . Evaporative air coolers can be utilitarian for personal employment , but only within the limitations that we ’ve listed .
