1st published June 2012
In this issue I will attempt to explain some of the modes that most common air conditioners have, please understand that because there are so many different makes of AC unit I can only cover the basic ones so lets start with the obvious.
Cooling mode
Cooling mode is usually indicated with a small snowflake on the hand set, when you switch to this mode the indoor unit will fire up and the fan will start, this will test the temperature of the air in your room. If the room is too warm then the outdoor compressor will switch on and the cooling cycle will begin, when the room becomes cold enough the compressor will switch off and so on, however with most models the fan will operate continually.
Fan mode
Fan mode usually indicated with a fan symbol. In this mode the fan within the indoor unit blows to create a breeze much the same as a conventional fan and doesn’t switch on the cooling cycle.
Dry or Dehumidifier mode
This mode is indicated with a teardrop symbol. It is used to remove water from room but not intended to cool the room, the system short cycles the outdoor compressor and this allows the cooling coil indoors to get just cold enough to form condensation on it to remove the humidity, sometimes useful in the winter months to help keep mould and mildew at bay.
Heating mode
This mode is usually represented with a sun symbol to represent heat and is very often confused with cooling mode; people often switch to this because it is sunny outside. When the heat mode is operated the indoor unit doesn’t come on straight away the outdoor unit fires up and works in reverse to the cooling mode, after a few minutes the indoor unit fan switches on and the heat is blown out into the room. When the room comes up to temperature the whole system switches off and then on again as the room cools down
Timer modes
Most air conditioning units have a timer mode which will switch the air-con on or off after a set period of time.
Timer off mode is useful for getting off to sleep. This is also useful if you are using a fan for secondary cooling because it can be used to switch the air-con off after a few hours.
Timer on mode will switch on the AC after a set period of time, this useful for cooling a room ready for you to retire to.
Sleep mode
The sleep mode is a handy feature because it will slowly increase the room temperature over a period of time. For example if you set it to 22deg it would increase the temperature by 1deg per hour eventually getting up to it’s maximum temperature of usually 30 deg.
Energy saver mode
The Energy Saver Mode is a function that is intended to decrease the energy consumption of the unit. When this mode is set, the unit will cool the room as normal. What you will notice is that when the compressor shuts off, the fan will too. While the compressor is off, the fan will turn on and off every 2-3 minutes so that it can check the temperature in the room. Once the temperature rises, the compressor will turn on with the fan and cool the room.
The Fan speed is usually adjustable on most models along with the air glider control which will allow you to direct the cool air to where you want it
There are more modes with more expensive makes and inverter units but I will refrain from going into this right now I have probably bored most of you enough, hopefully some of you have gained a little knowledge from our articles thank you for reading this.
Written for Cyprus living by Steve Holloway on behalf of Cyprus HomeCare.
Tel: 26271088 www.cyprushomecare.com