With fall coming to Hammond, LA, we’re finally at a point where you can turn off your air conditioner for a few days. And if you have an older air conditioner, now is the time to think about replacing it. When looking for a new air conditioner, pay careful attention to the SEER rating, which stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. The higher the rating, the more efficient the air conditioner. What are SEER ratings specifically, and how do they work? Read on for the answers.
How It’s Derived
The SEER rating is actually a fairly simple formula measuring the cooling power the system produces (in British Thermal Units or BTUs) against the energy it uses in watt-hours to do it. So an air conditioner with a SEER rating of 13 would produce 13 BTUs’ worth of cooling power for every watt-hour it consumed. Keep in mind that this efficiency has nothing to do with the power levels of the air conditioner. A high powered system might have a much lower SEER rating than a lower powered system, meaning that it doesn’t use its energy as efficiently.
Why It Matters
The more efficient your air conditioner, the less it costs you to cool your home. It’s as simple as that. When purchasing a new air conditioner you should look for a system with a higher SEER rating than the one you have. By federal law, no air conditioners can have a SEER rating lower than 13, but a good cheating method is to look for air conditioners with the Energy Star sticker, given to units with a SEER rating of 14 or higher.
SEER ratings go down over time as wear and tear take their toll on your system. For quality air conditioning repair as well as installation, call the experts at A Professional Heating and Air!