When you discover you need to replace your air conditioner unit you will begin shopping around looking for efficient and affordable brands and models. Another important aspect of an air conditioning system is its size. An air conditioner is designed to cool a certain amount of interior space. It is important to find the right size air conditioner for perfect cool balance and efficiency. Ambient Heating & Air Conditioning will share how to calculate the perfect size of an air conditioner for your space.
What Happens if My AC Unit is Oversized or Undersized?
The average household spends 40% of their energy budget on the cooling system alone. Older units can have an even bigger effect on the power bill. There has been a lot of effort to design and create more energy efficient cooling systems. Simply by replacing your old air conditioner with a modern one, you will see an improvement in your power usage. However, finding the right size unit can improve your energy use even more. If an air conditioner is too small, the unit will need to run more often which will increase your power usage. Too large of an air conditioning unit can have even more negative effects. When installing an oversized unit, you will have short cycling, overheating problems, and premature wear and tear on the air conditioning unit. You will also have increased humidity inside the home if the unit is too large. For perfect comfort and a more efficient cooling system you will want to find the perfect size unit.
How to Calculate Air Conditioner Size for My House?
To find the right size or load, there are a lot of complex steps that must be taken. You will first need to determine the square foot volume inside the home, often referred to as the cooling space. Once the cooling space of the home has been calculated, the next step is the home insulation. A home’s insulation rates will vary. Not all insulation is equal. Poor insulation means you will have more cooling demand. The number of windows also has an effect on the home’s cooling efficiency. More windows allows more sunlight to heat the inside of the home. Additionally, the more windows in the home the higher chance of leakage there may be. Once all of the different elements to the home has been taken into account, you now have the home’s “load” which you will use to find the right size unit. You can now compare the home’s load to the cooling capacity of the different air conditioner units you may be interested in. The cooling capacity is measured in BTUs per hour. Some units may measure in the tons. The conversion for tons is one ton equals 12,000 BTUs per hour. You will want to ensure the unit you are interested in is capable to fulfill the load requirements.
Air Conditioner Maintenance, Repairs, Replacement, Emergency Repairs & More in Springfield, Granby, Holyoke, South Hadley, Monson, Chicopee & Agawam, Massachusetts
It can be somewhat confusing to calculate your home’s load and find the right unit for your home. A professional HVAC service can help you calculate the load and find you a reliable and efficient air conditioner system. For quality HVAC repair, installation and more, contact Ambient Heating & Air Conditioning today.
