If you’ve been thinking about investing in a West Palm Beach, FL air conditioning installation, now is the time. Our temperatures are already warm, but spring is still a great season to take a good hard look at your air conditioner and decide if you’re ready to head into another Florida summer while relying on it. After all, you don’t want it to stop working on you on the hottest day of the year. If you think you have an air conditioner that’s at a high risk of failing you this summer, please give our team a call to talk about your replacement options.
Rushing into an AC purchase can end up being a mistake, as you can wind up with a system that’s not properly matched to your home. Our professionals can help you navigate the many factors that go into buying the most efficient cooling system for your needs, starting by looking at the systems’ efficiency ratings. We’re talking about an AC’s EER and SEER. Read on to learn more!
What Do We Mean By AC Efficiency?
This is a common question we get from homeowners. In simple terms, AC efficiency measures how well an air conditioning unit uses electrical energy and converts it into cooling power.
And when we say cooling power, what we’re referring to is the power to remove heat, which is measured by the amount of BTU’s—British Thermal Units—the air conditioning system draws from the air the blower sends into your living space.
High efficiency air conditioners produce the same amount of cooling as a lower efficiency system, yet use less electricity to do so (and therefore cost you less money to run). Does this mean you should get the highest efficiency air conditioner you can buy? Well, not necessarily, as there are other factors to consider (such as system model and system size). But let’s go back to discussing EER and SEER, and what they mean.
EER (Energy Efficiency Ratio)
This is the baseline measurement of efficiency. It describes the ration of the amount of cooling in BTUs an AC delivers to the amount of electricity consumed in watt-hours. It’s measured over a single test with set indoor and outdoor temperatures and humidity. The higher the resulting number, the more efficient the system.
SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio)
EER may be a baseline, but SEER gives you a better sense of the system’s overall performance, and how well it will conserve power, and money. It’s essentially the same measurement as EER, but it’s the average of multiple tests taken over a whole cooling season in a range of conditions. We can better assess the performance of an air conditioner using SEER.
So, Does EER Matter More or Does SEER Matter More?
We again want to stress that no matter how high either of these ratings are, if the air conditioner you choose is too big or too small for your space, or the system type doesn’t match your home, your system simply can’t work efficiently. Given that, we’d encourage you to take the SEER rating into account over the EER rating, but also encourage you to work with a professional when doing so.
For your professional West Palm Beach, FL air conditioning installation, contact Envirotech Air Quality Services today!
