Air Conditioner

As a homeowner, one of the toughest decisions you’ll have to make about your air conditioner is when it’s time for a new home AC system. You’re researching online or have heard talk about variable speed AC compressors, two-stage compressors and the single stage compressor and Seer ratings. let us help by explaining some of those AC systems and related terms.

An air conditioning systems energy efficiency is classified by the S.E.E.R. rating. The SEER, which stands for (seasonal energy efficiency ratio), rating of the energy efficiency an air conditioning unit during a full season of operation. Using an air conditioning system with a higher SEER rating means the AC system uses energy more efficiently than an air conditioning unit with a lower SEER rating. Higher Seer rating saves you money on your home cooling utility bills. The SEER rating is seems to be based on the average of 83 degrees Fahrenheit. So for every 5 degrees warmer than 83 degrees, deduct 1 from the SEER value. An example would be if you have a 10 year old AC system that has a SEER value of 10 and its 98 degrees outside you would have a 7 SEER system. Where the highest SEER system we sell and install has a 26 SEER rating, at 98 degrees, it would still be a highly efficient 23 SEER.

We know that the air conditioner’s capacity number of tons doesn’t refer to its actual weight. This number actually refers to the amount of heat In British Thermal Units (BTU) the air conditioner system can remove from a house within one hour. One ton of AC capacity is 12000 BTU’s per hour. So why ton you ask, i know your wondering so here we go, believe it or not is based on a 1 ton block of ice which is 2000 pounds.

I will explain, before the invention of refrigerators and air conditioning, people who could afford it, used ice to cool their homes and food. The math is based on the melting (heat transfer) of a 2000 pound block of ice over a 24 hour period at 32 degrees f. If that block of ice melts evenly over the course of the day, it absorbs heat at the rate of 11,917 BTU/hour. Rounded up, we get 12,000 BTU/hour, or one ton of AC capacity.