The air conditioner in the apartment I rent has recently died. The owner wants to replace it with a new one, and (great relationship) we've discussed what to have installed.
Relevant information:
- The unit being replaced is for the living room. A space of ~40sqm/440sqft total, ceiling is at 2.5m/8ft (so 100 m3, 3520 ft3 being cooled).
- I live in a tropical climate: temperature is 30-40C/85-105F year-round, high humidity most of the year.
- Surfaces through which I collect heat: single-pane glass balcony doors (9m2/100ft2) total, , load-bearing wall (25m2/270ft2) I think is not insulated but is facing adjacent unoccupied unit . Front door wall (7.5m2/80ft2) towards internal hallway. Other walls are internal to my apartment. Solid reinforced concrete ceiling and floor, to units above and below. No idea how thick, but I'd imagine chunky as I can never hear anything.
- Used for 4 hours in the morning, 1 hour at lunch, 3 hours in the evening.
My questions, preparing for a talk to (in this country typically not very educated) the a/c engineer and owner:
- What size unit should I be vying for? Current is 36000 BTU, which according to 'calculators' online seems high.
- Given the use pattern, will an inverter use less energy?