Hot weather comes early in Louisiana, and that means your home needs a reliable air conditioner to stay cool. If your system is on its last legs and you don’t think it’s going to last for another one of our long summers, now is the time to replace the system. Doing so gives you the chance to schedule the replacement at your leisure, while the weather is still cool. It also gives you a chance to enjoy the benefits of the new system as soon as the temperatures start to rise.
Those benefits depend on selecting the right unit for your home, and ensuring that it matches the specifics of what you need. Here is where a good air conditioning technician can be invaluable: guiding you through your various options and helping you find the perfect new air conditioner before installing it.
More specifically, there are three things to look for in a new air conditioner that can help you make the right choice.
1. Power Levels
The power levels of the air conditioner determine its cooling output, and need to be balanced against the specifics of your home. If it’s underpowered, it will run and run all day: causing your bills to spike and never really getting your home cool. If it’s overpowered, it will engage in a process known as short-cycling: turning on and off rapidly throughout the day. That, to, wastes a great deal of energy and will increase the strain on the system: creating repair problems sooner and more often than it should.
Your technician will make careful calculations to determine the proper power levels for your new system, including such details as square footage, insulation levels and sunlight exposure. That way, your new air conditioner is neither too larger nor too small but just right.
2. Efficiency Levels
Once you’ve determined the power output needed for your system, the next step is to determine how efficient it is. Air conditioning efficiency is measured in a SEER rating, which stands for seasonal energy efficiency ratio. The higher the rating, the more efficiently the system works and the less it will cost when compared to similar use with a less efficient system. You should look for the system with the proper power levels and the highest SEER rating in your price range.
3. A Dehumidifier
Air conditioners serve as dehumidifiers by default, since cooling the air removes the moisture in it. But they do the job imperfectly at best, and the results can create a huge amount of strain on your system. That’s a huge concern in parts of the world like ours, where humidity levels can soar in the summer.
A whole-house dehumidifier makes an outstanding addition to your air conditioner. It provides more precise levels of control over the system – helping your home be as comfortable as possible – but more importantly, it eases some of the strain off of your air conditioner and helps it do its job more efficiently.
At Professional Heating & Air, we’re offering a $400 discount on air conditioning replacement services in the Springfield, LA area. Call us today!