New Features in Air Conditioners

Now I'd like to point out some of the common and maybe some of the not-so-common features that you can find on today's Air Conditioners. First, you have the thermostat control. You have manual thermostat, which will give you numbers from 1 to 10 or A through F. Where do you set this?

Today most people are looking for electronic thermostats where you actually set in the desired temperature. You like it at 68 degrees or maybe you'd prefer 70? The vents in the front of the air conditioner where the cool air is returning to your room is also important. Some of these have fixed vents where others give you multiple adjustments allowing for better air distribution.

Wouldn't it be nice to come home to a nice cool room? With a programmable timer you can program your air conditioner. Turn on and turn off at predetermined times.

You may find a switch or a slide control on the front of your air conditioner that says, vent. This actually opens up a small vent inside the air conditioner bringing in about 10% fresh air from the outside. Some air conditioners may feature the exhaust function. This function works like the vent over your range. It's designed to take the odors and smoke out of your home.

Remote controls are becoming more and more popular today on room air conditioners. Not only can you control the temperature and the fan speed but many of these have the thermostat built in. The remote control will actually communicate with your air conditioner and will set the temperature to wherever that remote control is placed in the room.

Basic air conditioners today will give you two fan speeds, low or high. Where the better models can give you up to five different fan speeds. The energy saver switch cycles the fan on and off with the compressor. When the compressor is off, the fan shuts off, saving you money.