As summer approaches, so too will the inevitable return of hot, sticky nights.

Whether it’s continuous heat and humidity down South, or the return of our heat waves up North, it’s air conditioner season.

And at TCL, we are ready for you!

Trusted in Home Comfort

Last year we were a top 3 global air conditioner manufacturer, thanks in part to some of our newest manufacturing facilities spanning 400,000 square-meters—that’s almost 100 acres! We made over 20 million air conditioners last year, which made their way into homes around the world!

With that scale, it is truly no wonder why TCL is the fastest-growing brand in home comfort here in the US. 

But what does this mean to you?! Well, making our own products means both great quality and great value, plus the ability to craft air conditioners for nearly every application.

Get your Air Conditioner Now

My first bit of advice is to buy early. Once we’re in the third day of a heatwave, the floodgates open as people grab all air conditioners they can find, leaving you fewer choices to get the right unit for your room.

This leads me to my next tip: they are called room air conditioners because that’s what they do. They cool a single room very well. Cold air hates moving through doorways, down halls, and into far away nooks and crannies.

So, if you are describing what you want your air conditioner to do, and it sounds like Jim Garrison describing the magic bullet theory in JFK, you may be disappointed!

Size it Right

It’s important to get the right size air conditioner for your room. There are many guidelines to help you get comfy quickly. My general rule of thumb as a starting point is to take the square footage of your room and multiply it by 30.

So, for that 12’ x 15’ bedroom? That’s at least a 5,400 BTU air conditioner. But there are several other things to consider that would impact the size you buy:

  • People put out about 800 BTUs of body heat, so if you are cooling a living room that will usually have 3 or 4 people in it, adjust accordingly.
  • If you are not on the first floor, you will want to add at least 1,000 BTUs per floor.
  • Having an open kitchen in the area will need to add several thousand BTUs from the heat produced by the fridge, stove, and other appliances.
  • Windows let heat in and large windows will substantially impact the size you will need.
  • Most units run on traditional 100v, but some larger ones use 220v for power.
  • It’s also very important to understand that over-sizing an AC makes for nearly as bad an experience as under-sizing an AC. If you buy an AC too big for your room, all the heat will be removed from the air, but it won’t have time to remove the humidity, leaving you with cold, clammy air.
  • Remember that an air conditioner is not a window fan! If it’s cooler than about 60-degrees outside, room air conditioners are very ineffective. You will want to find other ways to remove heat from your room.

A Smarter Air Conditioner

Once you have dialed in your size, you can look at the type of air conditioner you will need. At TCL, we have an air conditioner for almost every type of room.

We offer traditional window air conditioners, with ease of installation being their main advantage. You’ll have it installed and cooling in no time. Our Q-Series AC even comes largely pre-assembled, meaning installation is done in minutes.

For a more secure, weatherproof installation, we offer air conditioners with a slide-out chassis. Basically, this means you slide out the heavy “guts” of the air conditioner, leaving the light outer shell to install. Then, the “guts” slide back in. This makes for a more permanent installation and can also be used to install very permanently through the wall of your home.

For places with existing sleeve air conditioners that need replacement, we offer a variety of replacement units that slide right into existing sleeves.

For the ultimate in flexibility, we also offer a great line of portable air conditioners—some even with heaters built-in for year-round comfort! A portable AC can be moved from room-to-room and have the exhaust hose (where the heat goes out) installed quickly. One note is that because the exhaust hose gets warm, you will want to add 1,000 or 2,000 BTU to your sizing estimate.

Many TCL air conditioners have great convenience features like built-in timers, Wi-Fi connectivity so you can control it from anywhere via the TCL Home app, and many even work with Alexa and Hey Google.

One last thing to remember while installing an air conditioner as a heat wave builds. As you turn on an air conditioner each time, for protection of the compressor, it won’t power up and start cooling for about 3 minutes. If you are hot and sweaty, that can seem like an eternity. Perfect time to go get a cold beverage from the fridge. When you return, the comfy stage of your Summer will begin!