When summer heatwaves hit the farm, a reliable air conditioner is essential to keep home and livestock areas cool.
Our air conditioner testing puts top models through stringent lab trials and real-world conditions assessments before making seasonal recommendations families can trust.
Key Testing Categories:
1. Cooling Power
Use thermal imaging cameras and temperature sensors to map how quickly AC units lower ambient temps and remove heat from test chambers during multi-hour trials.
2. Energy Efficiency
Calculate electricity consumption relative to real-world size rooms and daily runtime benchmarks for rural spaces.
3. Temperature Accuracy
Confirm units maintain set target temperatures within 1°F based on precision thermometer readings overnight and while subjected to simulated occupancy.
4. Noise Levels
Use decibel readers to quantify sound levels produced on all fan settings from various user seating/sleeping positions.
5. Moisture Removal
Measure humidity level optimization and drainage efficiencies when subjected to farm-level moisture loads.
6. Smart Features
Test connectivity of smart ACs to assess mobile control convenience, reliability, and remote adjustment responsiveness.
What We Didn’t Consider in Our AC Testing
While we aim to provide comprehensive insights into home cooling performance, there are a few factors our reviews do not encompass:
1. Installation Requirements
We focus our testing solely on unit functionality rather than necessary ductwork, window fittings, electrical upgrades, or other on-site preparation needed for DIY installations.
2. Whole Home Central Air
Our evaluation focuses on portable window units and through-wall air conditioners appropriate for farms rather than permanently integrated central cooling systems.
3. Commercial Rating
All products rated are intended for rugged home use rather than industrial warehouse-scale cooling needs. However, our tests do simulate high heat, and moisture loads expected of rural spaces.
4. Ventilation Metrics
Aside from condenser moisture removal, we do not formally test air circulation rates, filtering, or ventilation capabilities – only core cooling functionality.
5. Lifetime Ownership Costs
Testing aims to predict 5-10 year reliability but does not calculate long-term maintenance, repairs, or operating costs.
How We Rank Air Conditioners
1. Establish Category Weightings
Based on climate control priorities surveys, cooling power, efficiency and noise levels receive heavier weightings while connectivity features receive minor weighting.
2. Score Individual Models
Every AC unit is graded on a 100-point scale per weighted category, reflecting measured performance data and usage observations.
3. Calculate Total Scores
Weighted category scores are tallied to yield overall scores that compare how units stack up for real-world farm cooling needs.
4. Consider Qualitative Feedback
We include tester notes on design, convenience factors, and real-world advantages they observed for rural spaces.
5. Finalize Rankings
Considering both overall scores and experiential feedback, we rank models that reliably achieve temperature reduction and moisture removal for farms within reasonable budgets.
Our rankings weigh cooling prowess, efficiency, and durability the heaviest based on surveys with rural owners. Let us take the heat of summer appliance research off your plate so you can focus on your harvest! Reach out with any questions.
