What does the snowflake mean on an aircon remote?

Cool mode, which is normal cooling. The compressor runs until the room reaches the temperature you set, then cycles or slows depending on whether the unit is an inverter. It is the setting you want almost all of the time in this climate.

What does the water drop symbol do?

Dry mode, which pulls moisture out of the air with the fan turned right down. It makes a damp room feel more comfortable without making it much colder. It is widely believed to be a cheaper way of cooling, and it is not: it is for a room that is already cool and feels clammy, and used on a hot room it will simply leave you warm.

What is the difference between Auto and Cool?

Cool means you have chosen the mode. Auto means the unit chooses, using its own sensor, and it may sit on fan or dry while you are waiting for cold air. If you want cold, ask for cold.

My aircon is running but the room is not getting cold. Which symbol should I check?

The fan symbol first. Fan mode moves air and runs no compressor, so the unit looks and sounds like it is working while doing no cooling at all. It is the commonest accidental setting on a remote. If the mode is right and the room still will not cool, that is a fault rather than a setting.

What does I Feel or Follow Me do?

It makes the unit read the temperature at the remote rather than at the indoor unit. Useful if the unit is high on a wall and you are down at bed level. It also means that leaving the remote somewhere unrepresentative, in a draught or under a blanket, gives the unit the wrong idea about the room.

Why is a light or symbol blinking on the indoor unit?

A steady symbol is a setting. A blinking one is usually the unit telling you something is wrong, and what it means depends on the manufacturer and the pattern. Count the blinks and note the colour before switching it off, because that pattern is the fastest thing a technician can work from.

Aircon remote symbols

Most guides to these are written where heating matters and cooling is the afterthought. Here it is the other way round, so this one starts with the buttons that change what your room feels like tonight.

Every symbol, and what it actually does

Remotes differ in layout and wording, and the symbols themselves barely change from one to the next. Drawn below and described underneath, so you can match them by shape or by name, whatever your remote looks like.

Drawn for this page from the twelve symbols its table describes. Generic rather than any one manufacturer's, because the shapes barely differ between makes, which is what makes a key worth having at all.

The symbol: Usually labelled; What it does
Snowflake: Cool; Normal cooling. The compressor runs until the room reaches the temperature you set. The one you want almost all the time here.
Water drop: Dry, or Dehumidify; Pulls moisture out of the air with the fan running slowly. The room gets less cold and less clammy. Not a cheaper way to cool a hot room. It is for a room that is already cool and feels damp.
Fan blades: Fan; Moves air and nothing else. The compressor does not run, so no cooling happens at all. The commonest accidental setting. If the aircon is on, quiet and blowing warm air, check this first.
Sun: Heat; Runs the system in reverse to warm the room. Many units sold here are cooling only and the button does nothing. On the ones that have it, it is the button nobody in this country needs.
Circular arrows, or the letter A: Auto; The unit picks the mode and the fan speed itself, aiming at the temperature you set. It decides using its own sensor, so it can sit on fan while you are waiting for cold air.
Stepped bars, or a fan with numbers: Fan speed; How hard the indoor fan blows: low, medium, high, or auto. High cools the room faster. It does not make the room colder than the temperature you set.
Arrow swinging up and down: Swing, or Air direction; Moves the louvre so the air sweeps rather than pointing at one spot. Worth using. A fixed louvre cools the ceiling or one chair and leaves the rest of the room behind.
Clock: Timer; Switches the unit on or off after a set number of hours. Two separate settings on most remotes, timer on and timer off, and it is easy to set one thinking it is the other.
Moon, or the letters Zzz: Sleep; Lets the temperature drift up slowly through the night and slows the fan. Cuts running time while you are asleep and not noticing the difference.
Rocket, lightning bolt, or the word Turbo: Turbo, or Powerful; Runs the fan and compressor flat out for a set period to pull the room down quickly. Useful when you walk into a hot room. It is a burst, not a setting to leave on.
Leaf, or the letters ECO: Energy saving; Caps how hard the unit works, usually by limiting the compressor. Saves while it holds a room. In a room that is still hot it simply takes longer to get there.
Small person, or the words I Feel or Follow Me: Sense at the remote; The unit reads the temperature where the REMOTE is instead of at the indoor unit. Leave the remote on the bed and the unit cools to the bed, not to the wall. Leave it in a cold draught and the unit thinks the room is done.
Padlock: Child lock; Ignores button presses until it is unlocked. The usual reason a remote "stopped working" with no batteries changed.
Light bulb: Display light; Turns the bright display on the indoor unit off. Nothing to do with cooling, and the thing people hunt for at bedtime.
Snowflake with drops, or the words Self Clean: Self clean, or blow dry; Runs the fan after shutdown to dry the coil out. Helps with smell. It is not a substitute for a real clean, because it moves no dirt.

The three that cause the most trouble

Fan, pressed by accident. The unit hums, air comes out, and none of it is cold, because the compressor never starts. People spend days assuming the aircon is broken. Before calling anyone, check the mode is on the snowflake.
Dry, used as a cheap cool. It is genuinely useful in this climate for a room that is cool and clammy, and it is not a way to cool a hot one. It runs the fan slowly on purpose, so a hot room stays hot while the air gets drier. More on dry mode.
Auto, expected to mean cold. It means the unit decides, and its idea of comfortable is based on a sensor behind the grille near the ceiling, which is the hottest air in the room. If you want cold, choose cool and set a number.

A steady symbol is a setting, a blinking one is a message

Anything lit and still on the indoor unit is telling you what mode it is in. Anything flashing is usually telling you it has a problem, and the meaning depends on the make and on the pattern. Note the colour and count the blinks before you switch it off at the wall, because that pattern is the fastest thing a technician can work from, and it disappears the moment power is cut.

1Lit and still. The unit is telling you which mode it is in. Nothing is wrong, and the symbol beside the lamp is the answer to what it is doing.
2Flashing. A fault, and which fault depends on the make and on the pattern. Note the colour and count the blinks, then tell us the count: it is the fastest thing to work from and it is gone the moment the power is cut.

Drawn for this page from its own paragraph on steady and flashing lights. The instruction that goes with it is the part people skip: count the blinks before you switch it off at the wall, because cutting the power erases the pattern.

The setting that saves the most

Of everything on the remote, the temperature you choose moves the bill furthest, because the compressor runs longer to hold a colder room. Sleep mode is the next one, since it lets the temperature drift while you are not awake to notice. If you want to see what any of it is worth in your own money, put your rate into the estimator.

Estimate the running cost Check the size your room needs

Questions people ask

What does the snowflake mean on an aircon remote?: Cool mode, which is normal cooling. The compressor runs until the room reaches the temperature you set, then cycles or slows depending on whether the unit is an inverter. It is the setting you want almost all of the time in this climate.
What does the water drop symbol do?: Dry mode, which pulls moisture out of the air with the fan turned right down. It makes a damp room feel more comfortable without making it much colder. It is widely believed to be a cheaper way of cooling, and it is not: it is for a room that is already cool and feels clammy, and used on a hot room it will simply leave you warm.
What is the difference between Auto and Cool?: Cool means you have chosen the mode. Auto means the unit chooses, using its own sensor, and it may sit on fan or dry while you are waiting for cold air. If you want cold, ask for cold.
My aircon is running but the room is not getting cold. Which symbol should I check?: The fan symbol first. Fan mode moves air and runs no compressor, so the unit looks and sounds like it is working while doing no cooling at all. It is the commonest accidental setting on a remote. If the mode is right and the room still will not cool, that is a fault rather than a setting.
What does I Feel or Follow Me do?: It makes the unit read the temperature at the remote rather than at the indoor unit. Useful if the unit is high on a wall and you are down at bed level. It also means that leaving the remote somewhere unrepresentative, in a draught or under a blanket, gives the unit the wrong idea about the room.
Why is a light or symbol blinking on the indoor unit?: A steady symbol is a setting. A blinking one is usually the unit telling you something is wrong, and what it means depends on the manufacturer and the pattern. Count the blinks and note the colour before switching it off, because that pattern is the fastest thing a technician can work from.

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