Air con - invertor, really better?

[Tiggsy]

About to get a cheap split aircon unit to cool my garden office. £350 for a non-invertot and £450 for an invertor....is it worth the extra?

Room is only 12m2 and insulated to building regs so should hold the cool?

[Simpo Two]

Seems like the inverter versions would allow you to set the desired temperature, like climate control in a car: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverter_%28air_condi...

[richelli]

Invertor compressors are cheaper to run as they slowly wind up to start, rather than going from still to full speed straight away. If the air con doesnt need flat out cooling the compressor will wind down slightly as full capacity isnt needed. You can run them on a smaller supply due to this as well. Some can run off a 13 amo plug top.

I dont do the pricing side of things but from what I remember it wasnt that much extra to get a unit that did heat as well. You get a better kw of electic in to kw of heat out than you do cooling. Something along the lines of 1kw in 3kw out. So if you could use the heating side as well pay that little but extra.

[Tiggsy]

good advice - cheers

[caziques]

Inverter control (which is the compressor slowing down as the room comes up/down to temperature) provides quieter operation, lower running costs, more stable temperature and probably longer life.

A fixed speed model simply turns on and off with a thermostat.

Make sure you get a unit that does heating as well.

For 12sqm you only need a very small unit, best to get a named brand if you can - surprisingly enough really cheap heat pumps will be fine as an air conditioner - it's the heating side (with defrost controls) that is far superior with branded stuff.