When replacing heating and cooling (HVAC) equipment, bigger doesn’t always mean better. If the unit is too large for your home, you will be less comfortable and might actually have higher utility bills. For example, an oversized central air conditioner will operate in short run cycles, not allowing the unit to reach efficient operation and remove humidity from the air ?
Resulting in an uncomfortable home. Your contractor should determine the right size for your heating and cooling equipment by using ACCA/ANSI Manual J or an equivalent sizing calculation tool that takes into account specific information about your home. Visit ENERGY STAR Heating and Cooling for more information.
Summer is here with record highs across the country, and with the vast majority of homes having some type of air conditioner, it’s the best way to get out of the heat. As you are relaxing in your comfortably cool home or office, thankful that your air conditioner runs well, let’s look at how an average central heating and cooling system works.
Your air conditioner works the same way as your refrigerator, but obviously compared to keeping a little space cool, it has to cool your entire home. Both use a refrigerant that converts swiftly from liquid to gas, back to liquid again. In your air conditioner, the refrigerant is on a constant loop from the exterior to the inside of your home. It goes into the home as a sub-cooled liquid that evaporates and gathers or absorbs heat from your indoor air, expands back into vapor, then back to the outside condensing unit where it dissipates the heat and is switched back to a sub-cooled liquid.
