In summers, ACs are no less than a boon for us, but they also force the electricity bills to skyrocket. If you know how much electricity your AC consumes, then you can manage your energy consumption , let us understand about the power consumption of AC!. 

An air conditioner is used to keeps our home or office cool, room air conditioners come in various sizes and consume from 400 to 2000 watts.

  • Size and Capacity: Larger ACs with higher BTU (British Thermal Units) ratings generally consume more power.
  • Energy Efficiency: The power consumption of your AC also depends on SEER rating, Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) or EER (Energy Efficiency Ratio) tells us how efficiently our AC provides cool air. The higher the SEER rating of your AC, the less power it consumes. While buying an AC, choose an AC with higher SEER rating.
  • Method of use: Operate the AC only at a comfortable temperature,running an air conditioner for longer periods at lower temperatures will consume more power and also make sure your windows and doors have well-installed insulation check there are no gaps in them, this will make your AC work less to keep the room cool. 

  1. Window air conditioners consume between 500 to 1,500 watts depending on size.
  2. Portable air conditioners  consume from 800 to 1,500 watts or more.
  3. Central air conditioning systems consume anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 watts or more, based on their size and efficiency.
  4. Ductless mini-split systems consume between 1,000 to 4,500 watts, depending on capacity and efficiency of AC.


Power consumption of Air Conditioner depends on various factors like star rating of Ac, No. of hours that the Air Conditioner is used, the temperature setting of the AC unit, geographical location, and so on.You can se below calculor to calculate the power consumption Air Conditioner.
air conditioner electric bill calculator

Select country:
Power Use:
Hours of use per day: h/day
1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) cost:
Daily cost:
Monthly cost:
Yearly cost :
Daily energy usage: Kwh
Monthly energy usage: kwh
Yearly energy usage: kwh

How many watts does an air conditioner use per hour?

  • 5 Star AC 0.8 units in one hour.
  • 3 Star AC 0.96 units in one hour.
  • 2 Star AC 1.02 units in one hour.

For example, 5 Star AC runs 8 hours a day, it consumes 6.4 units a day, and 192 units consume in the Month.

How do you calculate your power consumption of Air Conditioner?

The electricity unit is kWh, which is also called as Board of Trade Unit, kWh is equaled to one-kilowatt load used for 1 hour.

Units = P(in Watts) * time(in seconds) / 3600000
Or
Units = P(in Watts) * time(in hours) / 1000
Or
Units = P(in kilowatts) * time)(in hours)

How many watts does an air conditioner use per hour?

Room air conditioners come in various sizes and consume from 400 to 2000 watts. Please look your air conditioning carefully, you can find air conditioner wattage rated on it. Look like below image.

When the compressor of the air conditioner is working :

Using power consumption formula

Units = Power * Hours of usage / 1000
When the circulating fan is working while the compressor is working:
Average power usage of 80 W.
Units consumed = 80 * Hours of usage when the compressor is not working(off)/ 1000

Let’s take an example :
Air Conditioner on for 10 hours a day, at 20 degrees Celsius.In this period compressor works for 4 hours and rests for 6 hours fan works.
Power Consumption Part 1 : 1500 * 4 /1000 = 6 units
Power Consumption Part 2 : 80* 6/1000 = 0.48 units

How much electricity does an air conditioner use?

Total Power Consumption : = 6.48 units
Ac Electricity Bill for a single day : = 6.48 * .10 = $.648
Ac Electricity Bill for a month : = 38.8 * .10 = $3.88

@Assume cost of 1 unit of electricity 10 cents

Air Conditioner power consumption chart based on ratings

AC Model Star Rating EER(energy efficiency ratio) CC(Cooling Capacity) PC(Power Consumption)( Watts/Hr)
1.0 Ton 3.63 3568.9 984 watts/Hr
1.5 Ton 5 Star 3.59 5353.4 1490 watts/Hr
2 Ton 3.59 6212 1732 watts/Hr
0.8 Ton 3.11 2524 812 watts/Hr
Split AC 1.0 Ton 3 Star 3.2 3493 1092 watts/Hr
1.5 Ton 3.17 4960 1566 watts/Hr
2.0 Ton 3.12 6044 1938 watts/Hr
1.0 Ton 3.03 3502 1154 watts/Hr
1.5 Ton 2 Star 2.99 5118 1709 watts/Hr
2.0 Ton 3 6610 2210 watts/Hr
1.0 Ton 2 Star 2.81 3517 1250 watts/Hr
Window AC 1.5 Ton 2.75 4800 1745 watts/Hr
1.0 Ton 3 Star 3.05 3530 1157 watts/Hr
1.5 Ton 2.92 4900 1676 watts/Hr

Air Conditioner Power Consumption Chart

Air Conditioner Type BTU/Ton Power Consumption (Watts)
Window Air Conditioner (Small) 5,000 - 6,000 BTU 500-700
Window Air Conditioner (Medium) 7,000 - 10,000 BTU 700-1,000
Window Air Conditioner (Large) 10,000 - 15,000 BTU 1,000-1,500
Portable Air Conditioner (Small to Medium) 8,000 - 12,000 BTU 800-1,200
Portable Air Conditioner (Large) 14,000 BTU and above 1,500 or more
Central Air Conditioning (2-Ton) N/A 3,000
Central Air Conditioning (5-Ton) N/A 5,000
Ductless Mini-Split (1-Ton) N/A 1,000-1,500
Ductless Mini-Split (3-Ton) N/A 3,000-4,500

How to save on electric bill with an AC (Simple Maintenance Tips)?

Is your electric bill blowing up because of airconditioning? if so then stay tuned because today I’m going to give you some tips and show you how simple maintenance can help save on your electric bill and extend the life of your AC.

1.Clean Filter

So if you want to save some energy the first thing you should do is clean out the indoor units air filter now.

it might not seem relevant at first a clean filter and energy-saving but you guys can imagine if this filter gets clogged up a lot of dust that will reduce the airflow and your compressor will have to work even harder to cool the room.

Clean Filter

So you can imagine if there is not enough airflow through the indoor unit, the AC will not be able to keep up during hot summer days.

And the compressor will have to work even harder to bring the temperature down thus increasing your energy bill. so if you want to keep your energy bill down make sure you clean the indoor units air filter.

Watch Video

2.Fan Settings

Now the second common mistake that I usually see people do is that they run the fan of the AC on the lowest setting. Set fan to maximum setting so that there is maximum airflow through the indoor unit.

Fan Settings

If there is good airflow and your filter is clean and the fan speed is on high then your AC will cool down your room very quickly.

If the fan is running on low there will not be enough airflow through the indoor unit and the compressor will keep on running for double the time.

So if you want the AC to be as efficient as possible clean the filters and run the fan speed on high in case you feel cold running the fan speed on high it just increase the temperature.

3.Thermostat Temperature

The third thing that I usually see people do is that they keep their temperatures down to 20 or 21 degrees.

Guys the goal of having an AC is to keep yourself comfortable not to feel cold. if you keep the temperature down to 20 degrees and if you turn the fan low because you’re feeling cold that’s going to consume a lot of energy.

So what you should do is once again run the fan on maximum and then increase the temperature to around 26 or 27 degrees. now when you sleep, usually keep the temperatures to 27 degrees and during the daytime and keep it on 26 degrees.

To feels cold might differ from Individual to individual. Use the ceiling fan if you want to save some energy and 24 degrees Celsius also quite comfortable and actually it’s on the colder side.

I prefer keeping the temperature on 26 degrees Celsius because I also want to save energy.In case you have an inverter AC you get a few more options to save energy.

4.Keeping your condenser coil clean

Keeping your condenser coil clean is also an essential part of Energy savings and you should clean your condenser coils every year.

condenser coil

The clean condenser is extremely important because all the heat which is inside the refrigerant must be dissipated efficiently and quickly even on super hot on the more days.

So that the refrigerant is cool enough to face change through expansion and ready to sharp heat from your room once again.

So if the condenser on your air conditioning unit is dirty and not dissipating enough heat then your compressor will have to work harder and you won’t get enough ice cold.

If the compressor works harder your electric bill will go up so keeping your condenser clean is an essential part of Energy savings.

Let me explain to you how you can save energy by keeping the condenser clean.

These coils are filled with refrigerant gas and the way the air conditioner works is that the refrigerant gas goes through an expansion valve and due to expansion the refrigerant phase changes and gets ice cold.

which goes inside your indoor unit where the blower fan sucks in hot air from inside your room and blows it over the indoor unit coil which is called an evaporator.

here the refrigerant absorbs the heat from inside your room and goes back to the compressor.

when the refrigerant goes to the compressor it has already absorbed all the heat from your room which turns it into a gas from the liquid that is why we call the indoor unit and evaporator.

It evaporates cool liquid refrigerant to gas so inside the compressor the refrigerant is compressed and when it gets compressed it gets very hot then the hot gas goes to the outdoor unit.then hot gas and the refrigerant changes into a liquid hence the name condenser.

Whenever when you’re doing this make sure that the AC is unplugged from the mains power and I went one step further and cleaned out the inside of the AC by removing the fan Grill.

I hope my tips will help you out in keeping yourself cool during Summers as well as saving energy while you keep yourself cool.
I hope you’ll use the maintenance tips that I gave you cleaning the indoor unit filter and cleaning the outdoor unit that will certainly help you in energy savings because it makes your air conditioner more efficient.

If you are planning to buy an Air conditioner then Take care of these things:

  • Before taking AC, everyone is worried about the electricity bills. For this, the star rating is given in AC. The higher the star rating in the AC, the lesser the power consumption, this will reduce your bull. For saving power and electricity bills, you can buy AC with a rating of 4 or 5 stars.
  • Split AC does not have a noise problem because its compressor is quite far from your AC room. But in Window AC you should take care of the sound. Otherwise, Air Conditioner may cause the problem in your sleep.so that select an AC which makes less noise.
  • The quality of the air given by AC is very important. so that taking the AC with the latest filter is a better deal.
  • The filters present in the AC not only give clean air but also increase the cooling capacity of the room and also reduce the power consumption. However, AC filters require daily cleaning.
  • This is one of the most important points. you must buy an AC according to the size of the room so that it cools the room well.
  • The best way to measure this is to check how many square meters your room is and multiply it by 80. After this, you can easily estimate how much watt is required for AC to cool every square meter.
  • If there is direct sunlight on the walls of the room then you will need a high capacity AC.

Air Conditioner Machine mainly consists of 3 parts

  1. Compressor
  2. Condenser
  3. Evaporator

The compressor and condenser are installed outside the Room of the Air conditioner, and the evaporator is installed inside the Air conditioner Room.

The main task of an air conditioner is to cool the air inside the room,when you set a Temperature, then thermostat of the AC calculates the difference between Temperature you have set and temperature of the environment, and automatically maintain temperature.

The hot air passes through the Grill pipes refrigerant in the AC, which absorbs its heat, and the evaporator coils turn the moisture out.

So thank you guys for reading this post if you have any questions feel free to ask me in the comment section down below and I’ll be more than happy to answer them.

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