Prices for household air conditioners start at about $300 for third-tier models and can reach a couple of thousand dollars for flagship devices from top brands. However, in order to ensure the price f low-cost split systems, manufacturers have to make some concessions. The first of these is the assembly materials.

Materials

If you put an inexpensive indoor air conditioner unit and an indoor module from the flagship set side-by-side, the difference between them is noticeable. The fact that climate equipment belongs to the low-price category is evidenced by cheap and thin plastic. For a number of reasons, during the operation of the air conditioner, such plastic can squeak terribly due to temperature fluctuations and vibrations created by the impeller of the built-in fan.

Another problem of cheap plastic is changing the geometry under the influence of the same aforementioned factors. This changes the center of gravity of the rotating parts, which increases the noise threshold of the indoor unit of the split system.

From afar, many low-cost air conditioners look quite decent, but their "breed" is often given out by thin squeaky plastic.

Approximately the same applies to the outdoor block. Low-quality manufacturing materials often rust, moving parts inside the outdoor module wear out faster and make more noise. However, we will talk about an acceptable level of noise a little further.

Motor and control system

Low-cost models of climate equipment work according to the "ON/OFF" principle, i.e. they increase the temperature to the specified limits and turn off the compressor. The moror in them works "to the fullest", plus a considerable part of the energy is spent on constant procedures for turning on/off the motor. From the point of view of energy efficiency, non-invertor drives are far behind.

An indispensable accessory of a good mid-level air conditioner and a top—class split system is an inverter compressor. Devices with such a drive demonstrate less waste in energy consumption, maintain the required motor speed with high accuracy, have low noise and increased operational life. The inverter converter sets the compressor speed so that the temperature is maintained at the set value. And the compressor with inverter control, due to its continuous operation, does not freeze in winter.

Inverter air conditioners

Energy consumption

In matters of energy consumption, the superiority belongs to expensive models of air conditioners. The high rank of "fuel efficiency" is assigned to them thanks to the inverter drive. How is this beneficial? At the very least, it allows you to save on your electricity bills.

The highest energy efficiency ratings are assigned to climate equipment with inverter control.

Excessive savings at the stage of purchasing a household split system may result in unplanned expenses in the foreseeable future. After all, in terms of energy consumption, the air conditioners of the "ON/OFF" segment greatly increase the readings of the electricity meter.

Noise level

Repeated switching on of a non-inverter compressor in order to achieve the required temperature is accompanied by a specific noise that is audible both during the day and at night. Rare classic models from the low-cost category work without audible noise. And only in the mode of quiet night airflow. The hum from the outdoor unit in low-cost models can even disturb the sleep of the nearest neighbors in a multi-storey building.

In premium-level inverter split systems, user can count on the noise level of the indoor module no louder than a human whisper. With values at the level of ≤ 20 dB, such air conditioners belong to the category of the most low-noise household appliances. In general, you can read about the noise level of household appliances in this article.

Quiet air conditioners

Temperature "fork" and accuracy of maintaining the set microclimate parameters

When choosing a suitable air conditioner, it is necessary to set clear priorities. So, in order to accurately maintain the temperature regime in the room, it is better not to save money and buy a high quality split system. In cheap air conditioners the temperature can deviate by 2-3 degrees from the set one. Also, inexpensive "ON /OFF" models are characterized by sudden temperature changes and remain operational in the cold only up to -7 °C.

Modern top-level air conditioners are resistant to severe frosts, working as the main source of heating of the home.

Expensive air conditioners have the accuracy of maintaining the specified microclimate parameters within 0.5-1 degrees. In close proximity to the user, the temperature limits are monitored by the I Feel sensor in the remote control. The flagship air conditioners change the room temperature smoothly. With the winter set of the outdoor unit, the operation of advanced split systems is possible in severe frosts up to -25 °C and below.

Flexibility of airflow directions adjustment

In the simplest air conditioners, a minimum of adjustments of the airflow direction is implemented. Usually, their indoor unit is equipped with vertical blinds with the possibility of distributing the air flow only up and down. In expensive models of split systems, the airflow can be directed to any point due to an additional row of impellers and the drive of horizontal blinds.

Comfortable conditions for staying indoors are created by the number of positions of the louver grille and the adjustment of the rotation speed of the internal fan. The more of these indicators the air conditioner has, the lower the probability of being in a room the unpleasant airflows.

Ionization and air purification

Buying a cheap air conditioner, the customer can rely only on basic mechanical air filtration from dust, lint, fur and fluff. You will need to monitor the quality of air masses in the room yourself.

The built-in ionizer is found in many advanced models of air conditioners.

Top split systems produce air purification themselves, they disinfect the air by means of a built-in UV lamp, saturate it with negatively charged particles with a built-in ionizer. The specific set of filters depends on the selected air conditioner model. There are also more advanced devices in the portfolio of top brands of climate equipment with the functions of humidifying air masses and fresh air intake.

Air conditioners with fresh air intake

Reliability and durability

According to this criterion, there is a real gap between cheap and expensive air conditioners. Top manufacturers of climate equipment keep their own design bureaus. When developing advanced split systems, strength specifications, reliability and ergonomics indicators are taken into account, manufacturing materials and suitable settings are finely selected. The best options are embodied in working prototypes that undergo thorough testing in aggressive conditions and various operating modes. Only well tested models are sent into production.

Cheap air conditioners in most cases copy successful models of famous brands, including those that are no longer in production. Copies differ markedly from the original, cheaper materials and imperfect production machines are used in their creation. The operational resource of cheap devices is much less than that of top-end models.

Aesthetic component

The indoor unit of expensive split systems retains its whiteness and glossy shine for many years. And on the contrary, plastic of the low-cost air conditioners often turns yellow.

A characteristic feature of many low-cost air conditioners is the yellowness of plastic. In particular, it manifests itself under the influence of direct sunlight on the indoor unit.

Also, more expensive air conditioners are produced in different colours, futuristic or unusual style of the indoor unit, can be equipped with decorative backlight and all sorts of additional features such as hidden info display. All this is done to please families or office employees.

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All other things being equal, preference should still be given to more expensive climate equipment. And in order not to overpay for the brand, we recommend that you first familiarize yourself with the "Choosing a home split system" article, where the leading brands of climate equipment are considered in detail..