Work out roughly what size air conditioner your room needs, and which type of system makes sense for your place.
How this works
Two rooms the exact same size can need very different air conditioners — a sunny north-facing living room and a shaded south-facing bedroom aren't the same job. This starts from your room's size, then adjusts for ceiling height, sun exposure, your climate, and how well insulated the place is, to land on a rough capacity you can shop against.
Room dimensions
Grab a tape measure — roughly is fine.
Floor area: 14.0 m²
Room type
What's the room mainly used for?
Sun & windows
How much direct sun does the room get through the day?
Climate zone
Pick whichever's closest to your area.
Insulation
How well insulated is the home?
How many rooms are you cooling?
This affects what type of system makes sense, not just the size.
Readout
14.0m² · Living / lounge
2.1 kW
estimated cooling capacity
Nearest common size: 2.5 kW
Floor area14.0m²
Ceiling height adjustment0%
Sun exposureModerate sun
Climate zoneTemperate / coastal
What type of system suits you: A single wall-mounted split system is usually your best bet here — efficient, quiet, and sized just for this room.
Renting, or can't install anything permanent? A portable air conditioner is the flexible fallback, though they're generally less efficient and need a hose out a window — size up a fair bit versus the numbers here.
This is a rule-of-thumb estimate, not a full heat-load (Manual J–style) assessment — a proper calculation also looks at window glazing, exact orientation, roof colour, other heat sources, and how the room's actually used. For anything beyond a straightforward single room, or before a big purchase, get a couple of installers out for an on-site measure and quote.
Bigger isn't automatically better: an oversized unit cools the room fast but shuts off before it's properly removed the humidity, leaving it cold and clammy. Matching the size (or only slightly over) usually beats sizing up "to be safe".
Most Australian split systems are reverse-cycle (heating and cooling in one) — if you want heating too, look for "reverse cycle" in the name. Heating capacity is usually similar to or a bit higher than the cooling figure shown here.