Not everyone knows whether it is permissible to turn on the air conditioner with the window open. On the one hand, in the stuffy summer weather you often want to open the window for additional ventilation. On the other hand, most manufacturers threaten various penalties for operating their products in this mode (revocation of warranty, etc.). Let's be clear: you cannot open vents, transoms and window frames while the air conditioner is running in the room! And now we’ll tell you why.
Catch a cold in the summer? Easily!
Research shows that the most common illness among office workers is the common cold. And most often they get sick in the summer! The reason for this is drafts, which provoke a sharp temperature change.
If you have an open window and someone opens the door to a room or office, even for a few seconds, most of the air will be “blown” out of the room. The temperature rises sharply by several degrees. The air conditioner immediately turns on the compressor and begins to bring it to normal.
Such drafts and temperature fluctuations will not harm if they occur a couple of times a day. They are even useful, as they give the body a shake-up and are somewhat similar to hardening. But if this happens all the time, you’re in trouble, call a doctor.
Prepare your wallet - utility workers make money
When a regular, non-inverter air conditioner operates in a room with the windows closed, most of the time it simply circulates air. The compressor turns on when the temperature rises above the set temperature. In “idle” mode, energy consumption is minimal.
When you open a window, the room temperature will constantly rise. Therefore, the compressor will turn on more often. Electricity consumption will increase accordingly. The actual power consumption of an air conditioner can increase by 2 or more times. Therefore, do not be surprised that you will have to pay extra for fresh air.
Can an air conditioner break if the window is open?
Most often, the main reason for the breakdown of air conditioning units is water hammer. It can occur for several reasons, but two relate directly to the issue.
- Low temperatures. The air conditioning system may break down at sub-zero room temperatures. It is clear that no one opens the windows in winter so much that the air cools to below zero, but it is worth knowing this.
- As mentioned above, this is filter clogging due to the ingress of polluted air.
And finally, if there is a cooling system for indoor air, then why open the windows? After all, it is the hot street air that causes the temperature in the room to rise; the building itself, with the windows and doors closed and tightly curtained, heats up very slowly and it will take more than one day to reach the street temperature. If you turn on the air conditioner in the room, then with the windows closed, the temperature in the room will quickly drop, and will remain so for a very long time even when the device is turned off.
Shall we breathe in the dust?
The air outside the house is not clean. There is a lot of dust and dirt in it. And most of it will settle on the air conditioner filters. Of course, this is not critical; you can clean the air conditioner yourself. But a considerable part of the dust will pass through the filters, fly around the room, and you will breathe it.
You can say that when the windows are closed, the air conditioner drives dust around the room in the same way. But keep in mind one fact - with each pass through the filter the air becomes cleaner. And with constant access to warm air, it can pass through the filter only once, and even then not in full.
This is what a dirty air conditioner filter looks like.
How does air conditioning work?
To explain why the air conditioner cannot operate normally with the window open, it is necessary to at least briefly touch upon the operating principle of this device. Most air conditioners consist of two units, one of which is located in the apartment and the other outside it. In each of the blocks, heat is exchanged between air and freon, but the meaning of this exchange is different:
- In a unit located inside the room, cold freon cools the air, while it itself heats up.
- In the external block, hot freon gives off heat to the air outside, while itself cools down.
The circulation of freon between the blocks is ensured by a compressor. As a rule, it works periodically, turning on as needed. When the air in the room cools to the temperature set in the operation settings, the compressor turns off to save electricity.
Thus, most household air conditioners do not provide air flow from the street. They only organize constant circulation of air in the room through the cooling chamber, simultaneously filtering it through a mechanical cleaning unit. Recirculating air conditioners do not affect the oxygen content in the air in any way. This may cause a feeling of stuffiness.
In addition to recirculation units, there are supply and recovery systems. They can provide air from outside, “ventilating” the room. But most of these models belong to the industrial class and are rarely installed in residential buildings.
How to deal with stuffiness?
To make the room pleasant, it must be regularly ventilated. Here's what experts recommend for rooms with air conditioning:
- Ventilate according to a specific schedule.
- Open the window for ventilation for 5 minutes every 1–2 hours.
- Turn off the air conditioning system while ventilating. Restarting is only permitted with the window tightly closed.
By following these recommendations, it is easy to maintain comfortable conditions in the room. In this case, the air conditioning system will not experience excessive loads, and its users will not risk catching a cold or receiving a huge electricity bill.
Work hard - look for a master
When there is a constant flow of warm air in a room, the overall temperature rises. The air conditioner tries to bring it to the desired level and works with greater efficiency. This affects it - all parts wear out faster.
The air conditioning compressor experiences the greatest load. In normal mode, it turns on and off periodically, and most of the time it is idle. If a lot of air enters the room, the load on the compressor will increase.
If ventilation is abused, the life of the compressor can be reduced significantly. And it is the heart of the air conditioner and its most expensive part.
Consequences for humans
From the school physics course we know that warm air is lighter than cold air. When a window is opened while the air conditioner is running, cold air goes down and warm air rises. It turns out that a sitting person’s legs are always cold, but his upper body does not feel cool. You can lower the desired air temperature, but this will not bring any effect. As a result, a person catches a cold: one of the most common causes of summer acute respiratory infections is precisely the incorrect handling of the air conditioner.
If, with the window open, someone else looks into the door, there is a sharp escape of air into the corridor. This again increases the temperature inside the room. It turns out that people inside are constantly exposed to temperature changes. You may not feel this physically, but sooner or later the body will still react.
By the way, any instructions say that you cannot open a window when the air conditioner is running. In this case, the breakdown cannot be repaired under warranty. This applies to both the manufacturer and the installer, who can also give their own guarantee for the installation.
Feet are cold, but head is warm
An open window with the air conditioner on is a source of drafts. Cold air constantly moves along the lower part of the room to the open window, and warm air constantly moves along the upper part in the opposite direction (see figure).
Even without a big draft, such “air currents” are enough to put you in bed with a fever for several days. Of course, there is an alternative - you can wear cotton pants and felt boots
But it is better to use the conditioner correctly.
Flows of cold and warm air between the air conditioner and the window.
What is a comfortable temperature for a person?
For the human body, comfortable temperature ranges range from 18 to 25 degrees above zero. If the air is cooler, we begin to feel chilly and freeze; if it is higher, the person quickly overheats, performance decreases, and if the air is too high and the room is poorly ventilated, even heat stroke is possible.
In hot weather, to avoid uncomfortable conditions, using an air conditioner is an excellent solution to the problem.
When can you open the windows with the air conditioner on?
You cannot do without access to fresh air, especially if there are several people in the room (for example, in an office). What can you advise in this case?
- Open the window for summer ventilation, do not swing it open;
- Do not be in a straight line between the window and the air conditioner (the air follows the shortest path - in a straight line);
- If you are an office worker, ask your boss to arrange fresh ventilation;
- It is better to open several windows slightly than to keep one wide open (the flow of cold air will be evenly distributed throughout the room);
- If the room is stuffy, ventilate it as needed by opening the window for 2-3 minutes.
Now you know why you can’t open the windows when the air conditioner is on. Take care of your health and the safety of your climate control equipment, but don’t forget about your own comfort. We hope that the article was useful to you.
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How an air conditioner works - why it can break down when the windows are open
I hope it’s no longer a secret that most air conditioners do not take air from the street . During the installation process, a hole in the wall is made not to “capture” air from the street, but to connect two units with copper pipes. Through these tubes, the two blocks exchange not street air, but temperature (or rather, freon at a certain temperature).
How do we get cold air:
- During the cooling process, the indoor unit “sucks” air from above and passes it through cold tubes (with freon), then blows the cooled air into the room.
- After the freon has released cold air into the room, it moves outside, where it gives off heat to the surrounding air (through the radiator of the external unit).
Within the framework of today’s article, such a simplified version of how “split” works will be suitable for us to understand. In fact, this process looks a little more complicated. If you are interested, you can read in more detail the operating principle of the air conditioner refrigeration circuit.
Now we understand the principle of cooling, but how does it maintain the desired temperature in the room? It's simple! A temperature sensor is installed in the indoor unit. As soon as the electronics of the “conder” understand that the temperature has been reached, the compressor turns off (the freon stops moving through the tubes). When the temperature in the room rises, the compressor turns on again. Maintaining the desired temperature, the motor turns on and off.
Now let's return to the topic of our article. If the windows are open, then the cold air from the room constantly goes outside! And since the electronics “understands” that the required temperature has not been reached, the compressor does not turn off AT ALL! Because of this, energy consumption increases . Also, the disadvantages of such operation include increased clogging of split filters.
If the installed air conditioner is designed for only one room, but additionally cools the neighboring rooms, then the “heart” of the air conditioner is loaded. Although this gives a small effect in the form of lowering the temperature in the rooms. But cooling the street is generally a pointless exercise! If the compressor continues to grind without stopping, sooner or later this will lead to overheating and breakdown.
Try to ventilate the room with the air conditioner turned off! Or adjust the ventilation so that cold loss is minimal. But keep in mind that if you are near a window, the cold stream can easily “pass through” you . Leave comments, and if the article was useful to you, then share with your friends using the social buttons!
Will the air conditioner break if you open the windows?
Why did many people on the Internet get this? Why should it break, for what reason? It worked and will continue to work – it’s just that the energy that goes into cooling the interior will go to waste.
When you open the windows, cooled air will simply fly out the window, and warm air from the street will take its place.
BUT the air conditioning system has worked and will continue to work as usual.
If you have climate control in “AUTO” mode (it has a temperature sensor), it can increase speed and work at full power, trying to catch up with the desired temperature.
However, no damage will occur. The air conditioning system is designed for such loads and can withstand them without problems.
So if you want to drive with air conditioning and open windows - RIDE, but there is VERY LITTLE sense in this!
Is it possible to turn on the air conditioner in an apartment with an open window?
Not everyone knows whether it is permissible to turn on the air conditioner with the window open. On the one hand, in the stuffy summer weather you often want to open the window for additional ventilation. On the other hand, most manufacturers threaten various penalties for operating their products in this mode (revocation of warranty, etc.). Let's be clear: you cannot open vents, transoms and window frames while the air conditioner is running in the room! And now we’ll tell you why.
Operating principle of the air conditioner
In domestic conditions, three types of air conditioners operating on different principles can be used.
- Supply type air conditioners operate using air from outside the room.
- The recirculation type uses air masses only inside the building for its operation.
- Recuperative types of air conditioners can operate on both the first and second principles.
But all three types of devices work on the principle of cooling the air passing through the system with a cooler, which is freon gas.
This is where the answer to the question of whether to open a window or not when the air conditioning system is running comes from.
What should I do?
At the very beginning, I’ll tell you what to do. If the car is very hot, you can first open all the windows (or at least the front ones) and drive a few hundred meters there, the incoming air flow will cool the interior. Excessively hot air will leave the car - then you can close the windows and turn on the air conditioning, it will simply reach its capacity faster and cool the interior faster.
This is the best way to cool the interior in hot weather. It doesn't matter what you have installed, air conditioning or climate control
However, not many people do this.
