Residential Air Conditioners
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Purchasing a new central air conditioning system? Read below to learn what SEER really means to you.
The SEER, or Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio, is a rating system used to rank the efficiency of most central air conditioning systems. Like its "mpg" (mile-per-gallon) counterpart in the automotive industry, the SEER gives an indication of the performance efficiency of the system. The higher the SEER, the more efficient the unit. And, the more efficient the unit, the lower the operating costs.
The air conditioning industry originally used an Energy Efficiency Ratio or EER to rate efficiency. This was a simple mathematical ratio of cooling output versus electrical power input.
Recently, however, the U.S. Department of Energy developed a more sophisticated test method that rates the performance of a unit over a wide range of operating conditions. The result -- the SEER -- is indicative of the unit's operation throughout an entire cooling season.
Bear in mind, however, that SEER ratings compare equipment only. Many other factors, including how you use your home and the condition of ductwork, affect energy use. That's why it's important to have a competent air conditioning dealer visit your home and evaluate your entire system.
It's also important to remember that the rating of an outdoor unit is based on a matching indoor component. As a result, if you replace an outdoor unit without replacing the indoor unit, you're not likely to get the efficiency you expect.
Experts at the Trane Home Comfort Institute say that by purchasing a system with a high SEER, you'll use less energy to cool your house, resulting in lower electric bills. In many cases, these savings are enough to partially or fully offset the cost of the new equipment within a few years.
They also recommend checking with your local utility about a possible rebate. Many utilities offer such programs based on the unit's SEER rating and cooling capacity. In most cases, the higher the SEER rating, the higher the rebate.
Finally, they point out that there's more to purchasing central air conditioning than just the SEER rating. You should also look into the reliability and durability of the system. After all, a "clunker" with good gas mileage is still a "clunker."
Do you know how an air conditioner actually works? If not read the guide below. You may find it very useful.
In terms of how the system actually works, it's more accurate to say that an air conditioner makes your home less warm, not cooler. What it's really doing is drawing heat energy out of the house and transferring that heat to the outdoors (where it's already so hot that nobody notices the difference).
| 1. | A cool gas (the refrigerant) flows into the compressor, where it is compressed into high temperature, high pressure gas. The compressor pumps this hot gas through the tubes to . . . |
| 2. | The condenser coil in the outdoor unit (also called the condenser.) As the hot gas passes through the condenser coil tubes, heat is transferred from the gas, through the metal fins surrounding the air. This causes the gas to cool and condense into liquid. A motorized fan forces air across the condenser metal fins to increase the rate at which heat is transferred. Meanwhile... |
| 3. | The liquid refrigerant flows through tubes to the evaporator inside your home. Once inside the evaporator, the refrigerant goes through a pressure reducing device that causes the refrigerant to quickly expand and to cool rapidly. Then the cold refrigerant travels through the tubes of the evaporator coil where it absorbs heat energy from the surrounding air and turns back into a gas (it evaporates). Also, humidity from warm moist indoor air condenses on the evaporator and drains away. Meanwhile... |
| 4. | A blower draws warm air from the house, moves it through the evaporator where heat energy is removed and blows this air on through the ductwork into your home -- cooler, dryer and altogether more pleasant. From there... |
| 5. | The cooler gaseous refrigerant travels through tubes back to the compressor where the cycle begins again. |
So you see, that air blowing out the top of your outdoor unit is so hot because it contains heat energy that was inside your house just a couple of minutes before. For more information on how air conditioners work, and whats best for you, please give us a call at 416 213 0303.
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