If you live in a house, you probably have a central heating
and air conditioning system to handle your comfort. Since we’re now looking toward
warmer weather, this is the right time of the year to begin considering a new
air conditioning installation if your current one is more than 15 years old or
has shown other signs it’s starting to wear down. High cooling costs, hot spots
around the house, and noisy operation are all signs to make the leap to
installing a new AC.
The first step is the most important one. Instead of shopping around for options for the type of air conditioner you might need, or checking with friends to see if they know some guy who can do the job for cheap, pick up the phone and call us instead. When it comes to air conditioning installation in Malvern, PA, you always want the best pros on the job from the start.
The Importance of HVAC Professionals
There are many reasons to only rely on experts for your AC
installation. But from the start, you’ll need them to help you find the ideal
unit and size it correctly.
Sizing is an essential part of AC installs and replacements.
It has nothing to do with the physical size of the unit. It means how much
cooling power the unit can put out. In HVAC terms, we refer to this as tonnage.
The standard air conditioner in a house will have between 5 to 10 cooling tons,
depending on the needs of the house.
This is where part of your mind will click on and think, “What’s
so wrong about just going as large as affordable? Better to err on the larger
size.” That’s not how it works, however. Air conditioners that are oversized
are as much a problem as ones that are undersized. Here’s how it breaks down:
- Undersized: An air conditioner that
cannot remove enough heat from the house to cool all of it will run almost
constantly. Not only will the house still be too warm, but the electrical bills
will be astronomical and the AC will run down early.
- Oversized: The air conditioner removes
heat too fast so that the thermostat in the house registers that it’s reached its
set point before it has spread through the rest of the building. The thermostat
shuts off the AC, only to turn back on again a short time later, then shut it
off again, and over and over. This is called short-cycling, and it wastes
power and leads to an early system failure.
The secret to getting an air conditioner sized in the middle
is something called a load calculation. This is a job your professional
installers do before selecting an air conditioner unit and size. The
calculation determines how much heat the house needs based on various factors: insulation,
heat-giving fixtures, number of people, window facing, etc. Once the
calculation is done, the professionals will know the exact size of central air
conditioner to install so you’ll enjoy cooling without energy waste.
Michall Daimion Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. is Main Line’s Premier Service Provider since 1976. Schedule air conditioning service with us today.
Continue Reading