You wouldn’t want to invest in an air conditioner that uses an excessive amount of energy to do a poor job at cooling your home. This is avoidable thankfully by the fact that modern systems are made to be as energy-efficient as possible. This is shown with the rating information that is clearly visible on each model. However, if you are looking at the energy efficiency ratings of an AC but you don’t know what they mean, they won’t do you much good.
How do you know if the energy efficiency rating on a system is the right level for your home? Is there such a thing as too much? These are questions we are happy to help answer. Let us give you a brief introduction on what you need to know about energy efficiency ratings on air conditioning systems so you can make an educated decision when it comes time for an AC replacement in Birmingham, AL.
Understanding EER and SEER Ratings
There are two main acronyms you need to know to understand AC efficiency ratings. The first is the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) and the second is the Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER). Understanding the numbers attached to these terms will go a long way in helping you discover if your next AC is the right efficiency level for your home.
EER
The Energy Efficiency Ratio is about what it sounds like–the ratio of how much energy is used to cool a certain amount of space. The EER rating is calculated against a specific outdoor temperature of 95°. The higher the number for your system’s EER rating, the more efficiently it will perform in times of high heat.
SEER
The Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio for an AC measures how efficiently the system runs throughout the course of a cooling season. This means it takes into account the hottest of days and the more common hot-but-not-too-hot days. While it is good to know how well your AC can perform on those sweltering 90° days, it is still important to understand how well your AC will perform throughout the course of an entire summer season.
Choosing an Efficient AC Unit
Based on all this, it may sound like the higher the numbers on your air conditioner are, the better off you’ll be. But that isn’t always necessary. If you are in an area that only sees temperatures in the 90s a couple of days out of the year at most, you may not need as high of an EER rating, and that SEERT rating may be more important.
At the end of the day, when it comes to choosing an efficient and effective system, you are going to be better off working with a professional to choose the best option for your home. The technicians at Douglas Cooling & Heating are experts in our field so we can translate the technical information on an AC into plain language for our clients and work with them to determine which system suits their cooling needs.
Your experience is what matters most! Contact the pros at Douglas Cooling & Heating today to get started.
