Having read the criteria used for ratings for air conditioners I would suggest Choice needs to broaden its horizons and understand what attributes are critical to many buyers
A glaring omission in my opinion is that although claimed dba specs are covered, no weighting appears to be given to sound levels - particularly internal - in the A/C ratings. How noisy an air conditioner is in actual use is a major decision factor if people know and understand the differences. The ranking order could well change if this is taken into account.
The noise ( or lack of) produced by an air conditioner while watching tv, sleeping etc can be critical to the userās quality of life. An obvious remedy is to use lower fan settings or quiet mode but these are all not the same and can operate differently with varying efficiencies. For example some air conditioners have larger evaporator coils ( inside unit) than others with the same power rating which allows for lower fan speeds ( and lower noise) for the equivalent output of a ā regular size ā inside unit . This would be a critical point of difference for those ( most people) who would want the quietest possible A/C unit. Then there is the relevance of outside noise when it comes to affecting neighbours, although most appear to be acceptable based on the specs .
Can I suggest that this aspect be given more weighting in future A/C split testing?
Thanks for the feedback on our air conditioner review. On the left hand side of the review page under the heading āSpecificationā, youāll see a filter option for inside and outside noise levels:
Once you click through to compare a model (or use compare all to see everything), you can see this info side-by-side. Itās definitely an important factor, itās really uncomfortable if the air con is too noisy.
Hopefully this solves the issue. I appreciate that it wasnāt easy enough for you to find, so Iāll pass on the feedback to see if we can make improvements to the site design in the future.
The other consideration is the background noise level. If one lives in a very quiet location, even the quieter units might be noticeable. In a noisier locations, noisier units might not be noticed.
Generally if a noise at an ear (receptor) is less than 5dB(A) above background noise level, the noise isnāt likely to cause significant nuisance/annoyance.
Making oneās purchase decisions based on the lowest noise level of an air-conditioning unit may restrict the number of units available and may serve no real benefit.
Understanding what the background noise level at a residence when the air-conditioner is used is critical to understand whether the noise from a unit will cause nuisance/annoyance.
It may also be relevant to consider background noise levels at night in a bedroom can be very different to daytime in the living area. Near silence for some is golden. We have MHI inverter splits selected from the Choice reviews recommended models in our bedrooms.
Another rub is it is not just the volume, it is the pitch. A unit that emits a soft high pitched whine could be more objectionable than one with a very low pitched but technically louder noise. Which is preferable (least objectionable) is personal. Unfortunately it is usually impossible or at best impractical to be able to audition them in a shop and make a valid conclusion because oneās home is ānot the shop environmentā.
That is not what I meant . I was talking about how Choice ranks the air conditioners which does not include how relatively noisy they are. According to your test criteria, Choice analyses manufacturer information and compares it to the AS/NZS 3823.2 database, then gives an overall score based on the following:
cooling efficiency (40%)
heating efficiency (40%)
airflow (20%).
While this work is clearly relevant, it essentially not much more than an energy efficiency guide. I would expect choice rankings are very important to both the industry and consumers alike and giving one air conditioner a higher ranking than another solely because of a slight difference in efficiency can in fact be misleading where there may be other critical consumer considerations ( which I suggest is most of the time).
While people can indeed look at the DBA specs of the air conditioners by using the filter, it will be missed by so many who would assume Choice is doing more than just comparing energy efficiency.
Iāve usually taken the time to read all the related content in a needed Choice review or product comparison. Noise is not the only āother factorā that some will consider important. The latest tabular format does allow a large degree of freedom for consumers to include other factors when looking for āotherā features.
Iād suggest it may serve Choice better to highlight more prominently the actual attributes included in the ranking score. For internal AC unit noise levels the best in class for us is less relevant for living areas than for bedrooms. The outdoor unit noise levels may or may not be a concern depending on the house design and locations. For us altering the order of recommendation based on noise level by including noise in the score might make using the tabular selections more difficult. The overall score will skew any selection criteria. IE By pushing units we may be happy with further away from the top of the table.
Iāve also found the summaries of good and bad points for each product model a great place to look for informed feedback from the reviewers.
Some other thoughts:
Our recent experience (5 years) includes 3 different brands and models of inverter splits in living area sizing. Fujitsu, MHI and Daikon. When it comes to indoor noise levels all have been good choices, although the specs provide slightly different results. This suggests there may be a subjective pass/fail rather than any practical benefit in assigning a variable score. The outdoor units definitely do differ, but have not been intrusive in each instance.
On units suitable for bedrooms - silence is golden. Iāve yet to find a model which in winter heating mode does not have an objectionable change in pitch or volume when it cycles. Typical of systems designed to optimise summer cooling over winter perfection. Not sure how Choice might assess test or score that one?
