Are you running your aircon 24/7? Air conditioners have become an inseparable part of our everyday life. Apart from ensuring our comfort, they are also necessary for maintaining the essential environment required for important electronics like computers. And during the hot days of summer, not using them could turn out to be downright torture.
Keeping all the comforts and necessities in mind, we tend to leave the aircon running 24 hours a day, sometimes even when we aren’t at home. This irresponsible decision can have quite an impact on you both directly and indirectly. Let’s take a detailed look at why running your aircon 24/7 is a bad idea.
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Why Air Conditioners Should NOT Run for 24 Hours
Let’s see what a 24-hour running aircon does to you and the environment.
The first obvious bad effect is more of a personal and materialistic nature. A 2009 report shows that on average worldwide, 40% of a household’s energy consumption is done by its cooling and/or heating units.
It’s easy to understand how much such massive consumption of energy costs its consumer. If an aircon runs for 24 hours a day it could drastically increase a household’s energy usage two to three times more than necessary, which means two to three times more bills to pay. Energy-efficient ACs can only do so much.
Running your aircon 24 hours daily is not environment friendly
The next effect is also direct and personal even though most of us often forget that it is. Most of us don’t know or don’t care to remember what a massive impact aircon has on our environment. Household ACs alone are responsible for a nation’s 39% yearly greenhouse gas emission.
Of course, most aircon these days are environment friendly but they can’t drop the emission down to 0%. So even though they produce less, the more you run the more they HAVE to produce. To put it simply, while the inside becomes cooler the outside becomes warmer.
Running aircon 24/7 clogs its air filters with dirt
Our common sense should also say that it’s bad for the appliance as well. Running aircon 24/7 clogs its air filters with dirt. This would cause the unit to blow out warm air instead of cool. However, this is the least potential problem since air filters are cheap and easy to replace.
The condenser coils continually accumulate hardened dirt from the filters that start clogging. Too much usage without much of a pause will clog them drastically fast, directly damaging the unit’s compressor.
Affecting an aircon’s compressor and condenser simultaneously is the worst that could happen since major damages would force you to abandon the whole unit. Even if you CAN go on by just repairing, it would cost you a big amount of unforeseen charges.
Running aircon 24 hours daily may compromise your health
The last one could be the effect it has on a user’s health. As mentioned earlier, running ACs for 24 hours continually will clog the air filters really fast. However, before it compromises the condenser coils, it could compromise your health. Air passed through a semi-clogged filter carries tiny specks of dust that could cause mild fever and cold.
These specks are especially dangerous for people who are allergic to them. Without warning, they can trigger an allergic reaction or gradually build a physical condition that leads toward it. People who are easily affected by dust thus should especially make sure that their aircon’s not running all day long.
Running aircon 24/7 will cost financial and environmental damages
As you have realized by now, air conditioners are not be run all day. It causes not only financial and environmental damages but could also lead to deteriorated physical conditions. In summary, you have to pay more bills, get sick, cause environmental damages all the while your appliance moves toward breaking down completely.
This should convince most people, however, sometimes there’s hardly any choice but to run them most of the day if not actually 24 hours. If a household lacks a proper number of windows then the only option for healthy air circulation is the AC. Improper air circulation causes the inside heat up quickly which is NOT something we want during the hot seasons.
Someone who has no other choice should at least turn the thermostat of their AC up before leaving the household and turn them down upon returning. Turing it up before going to bed is also a good idea since our body can handle heat better when we’re sleeping. This would at least lessen the disadvantages. But remember, not running them 24/7 is always the better, and also the best, option.