Do You Have The Right A/C Unit For Your Home?
Have you ever wondered, “Do you have the right A/C unit for your home?” It’s a question our experienced HVAC contractors get asked all the time. Many Florida homeowners feel that “bigger is better” when it comes to the size of the air conditioning unit for their homes, but that isn’t necessariliy the case. In some instances “bigger” means it’s costing you more money to operate, but is not necessarily cooling your home any better than a smaller, fit-to-your house size would.
Do You Have The Right A/C Unit For Your Home?
The answer to the “correct size” air conditioning unit for your home isn’t as simple as it may seem. Homeowners, and even some HVAC contractors, use a rule of thumb calculation to determine what size A/C unit to install. This rule of thumb includes essentially calculating the square footage of the house then looking for a unit that shows it will cool a home of that square footage. It’s essentially guesswork and it’s guesswork that could cause your utility bills to be higher than they need to be.
What you’re looking for when you shop for an air conditioning unit — bottom line — is one that will keep your home comfortable.
You don’t want to guess when you’re making an investment in an air conditioning unit, especially when the heat and humidity of Florida weather kicks into high gear, right? How can you determine whether you have the right A/C unit for your home? You need to work with an experienced HVAC installer who will calculate the home’s heat gain.
What is heat gain?
The heat gain of your home is, at its core, “the heat that your home gains” during the day. Heat gain comes from:
- The ambient outside temperature
- Tthrough air leaks into and out of the house
- Because the home has improper amounts of insulation
- The amount of sunlight that streams into the house through the windows
- Your own body heat
- The heat generated by appliances such as your clothes dryer, oven and refrigerator
It’s more important to calculate the heat gain than it is the size of your home. The heat gain will be the determining factor in the size of the air conditioning unit you will need to invest in. Consider that your A/C unit has to produce as many BTUs of cooling power each hour as your home gains in heat on the hottest summer afternoon. (Each ton of A/C capacity is equal to 12,000 BTUs, or British Thermal Units, per hour.) If the air conditioning unit is too small to address heat gain, the house will not stay cool enough. If you still operate under the “bigger is better” theory of A/C and if you buy a unit that is too powerful to disapate the heat gain from your home, you could be faced with not only energy inefficiency, but potential humidity issues.
Other items to consider with A/C unit size
Talk with one of the HVAC professionals from Symbiont Service Corp and when you do you will find out that he will want to ensure that all areas of your home stay cool and he will make calculations for differences in heat gain for individual rooms — for example a sun porch will usually be much warmer than a back bedroom. This is a very simple example, but highlights the need to determine where the home needs to be cooled more as compared to rooms that are not as prone to heat gain. Adding a zoning system might make sense if there are widely-varying heat gains in individual rooms in the house. Zoning systems help assure that every part of the home receives the amount of air conditioning it needs and that you are comfortable no matter which part of the house you’re in.
At Symbiont Service Corp. of Englewood, Florida we tailor your new air conditioning system to your home’s specific heat gain requirements, this ensures you end up with an efficient system that keeps your family comfortable. Contact us today with any questions you may have.
Our goal is to educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For information, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Symbiont Service Corp. serves Englewood, Florida and the surrounding areas. To get started, check out our website.
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