Air
Conditioning
Simple rule
The colder you set the AC, the more money you will spend.
Our 12K BTU AC units consume 1 KW or 0.32US$ an hour when cooling and 0,050 KW when the set temperature is reached.
Settings bellow 22C/71.6F will force the compressor to run continuously and double your consumption.
Consumption of one 12000 BTU air-conditioner @ Dulce Vida over 24hr
Is the energy consumption the same in every unit ?
The ground floor is the coolest as the earth below the building is at 25C/77F so keep a window open to promote a little ventilation during your absence and only use the AC in the bedroom while you are present. Please read notes and observations below.
The 2de floor is a neutral place when it comes to cooling, no accumulated heat from below or above, and better positioned to take advantage off the cool ocean breeze during the day. So again keep a window open to promote a little ventilation during your absence and only use the AC when you are present. Please read notes and observations below.
The 3de floor is the most costly to cool because many units have 2x 12000 BTU AC's and the ceiling/roof is exposed to the full force of the sun.
The advantage of the 3de floor is that you have excellent exposure to the cool ocean breeze so you can leave the windows and doors open while you are absent and because you have AC 2 units you can quickly bring down the temperature of the apartment. Or you can choose to just cool either the bedroom or the sitting area.
Notes & Observations
We all have different needs so we leave it to our customers to decide what level of comfort they can afford, we do however check power consumption for our new long term guests and report their consumption after a week of use so they can take appropriate action and avoid surprises.
When you have booked for a long term rental you are probably paying for the electricity and so you manage your consumption, but as a AIrbnb or Booking customer we have a house rule that prohibits leaving the AC running when the guest is not present,
Many guests leave the bedroom door open to cool down the living space, nothing wrong with this practice but be aware that the AC is calculated to cool the bedroom and so by opening that door the compressor electrical consumption will now run at 100% as it will never reach the desired temperature, it will now act more as a dehumidifier then a cooler.
Use our pool to bring down your body temperature, this will allow you to run the AC more economically
Here is what we personally do to get the best value for the energy consumed.
In the hottest months of the summer we basically hide home during the hottest hours of the day, we come home and start the AC at 26C/78F, (26C sounds high but consider the shock when you come in from 40C/104F), we then point a standing fan at low speed to the area of the room we are in, this creates some airflow while the AC cools the room.
Then in the evening we lower it to 25C/77F and set the timer to turn the AC off 5hr later which in our case helps us sleep well. During the day we use natural ventilation as we live close to the ocean.
We have extra standing ventilators available at Dulce Vida, just ask.
Maintenance
Our air-conditioners are under constant maintenance.
We use thermal cameras to quickly check their performance, clean them when necessary and use Ozone generators to kill mold & bacteria.
In simple terms, how does an AC work
An AC system consists of 2 heat exchangers and a compressor, one heat exchanger is in your room and is called an evaporator the other heat exchanger is outside and is combined with a compressor, the outside unit is called a condenser. In simple terms the condenser is the energy consumer it is controlled by the temperature setting on the units remote control, it basically starts compressing refrigerant so it can expand in the evaporator in your room and absorb heat to carry it outside. The evaporator in your room is always on and consumes little energy, it senses the temperature and controls the outside unit.