Does Sleep Mode in air conditioners save electricity? Functions explained

Air conditioners are an important appliance in most homes in India, given how warm and humid the weather can get. In peak summer months, an AC can turn the temperature down in your home and provide much-needed comfort, especially at night when you’re sleeping. Many of us like to turn on the AC before sleeping to cool the room down and make it easier to fall asleep, but it often isn’t necessary to keep the AC running all night.

There are a few reasons why running your AC all night isn’t a good idea. The human body is quick to cool down, but it takes longer to warm up again; a very cold room can disrupt your sleep cycle. Additionally, running an AC for long hours is very energy-intensive, and will reflect in increased electricity bills for your home. Fortunately, there’s a good solution to tackle both of these key factors – Sleep Mode.

What is Sleep Mode in your AC?

The concept of sleep mode may be different in air conditioners from different brands and across price segments. In some cases, it may be a simple timer function which turns off the AC after a set period. You can typically set it to turn off in a few hours, so you aren’t having your AC run all night long and increase your electricity consumption.

Other ACs may have separate timer and sleep modes which operate differently from each other. The ‘Sleep Mode’ in this case utilises a different system of cooling and power management, which as the name suggests, is meant to offer an efficient mode of operation while you sleep. 

When Sleep Mode is on, the AC will gradually adjust the temperature over the course of a few hours, with adjustments of 0.5 to 1 degrees to gradually reduce the cooling and keep the room at a comfortable level. The level will typically not go beyond 3 degrees of your set temperature, so the AC is able to stay within a range of your desired temperature level.

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It may also reduce the fan speed to regulate cooling and air flow, as well as reduce the noise over the course of the night. You can also simultaneously set a timer to eventually shut off the AC, or allow the sleep mode to regulate the temperature throughout the running time.

Does Sleep Mode help save electricity?

Sleep Mode is an effective way to save electricity, and is much more efficient than running your AC at a set temperature throughout the night. The gradual increase in temperature and regulation of fan speed naturally takes the load off the air conditioner, and thus reduces the electricity consumption as compared to the standard mode. When combined with a timer mode which can turn off the AC after a set interval, this can help in significantly reducing electricity consumption by your AC.

Additionally, this can also benefit the lifespan and efficiency of your AC as it gets older. Sleep Mode allows the AC to gradually slow down and control its operation, thus putting less strain on its components, and also minimising the risk of gas leakages and compressor-related faults.