Air Conditioning Installation and Replacement
If you’ve lived in Florida for long, you’ll know that your air conditioning unit is one of the most important appliances in your entire home. Without a working air conditioning unit, the relentless Florida heat can make any home or business completely miserable. In Florida, comfort requires a working and efficient air conditioning unit. Without it, life becomes miserable.
But between the many different brands, sizes, and types, choosing the right A/C unit seems like a daunting task. If you’re installing a new unit or replacing an old one, here’s a few things to keep in mind that will help you along the way.
New Air Conditioning Systems: What You Need to Know
Half the battle when looking for new A/C units has little to do with the unit itself. In fact, perhaps the most important part of a new A/C unit isn’t the unit at all; it’s the contractor who is going to install it. When choosing a new A/C unit, it is absolutely imperative that you choose the best contractor and company for the job. In many ways, your air conditioner’s efficiency, the thing that’s going to save you the most money in the long run, is determined by how well the unit is installed. You could have the best unit in the world, but if the installer is inexperienced or cutting corners, it’s only going to end reducing your system’s efficiency and costing you more money long term.
The size of the A/C unit is one factor that many homeowners fail to consider, and while an HVAC professional can help you choose the best unit based on the size of your home, it’s important to understand why an A/C unit’s size is important. In short, if an air conditioning system is not properly selected for the square footage of the home, problems can quickly arise. If a unit is too small, the home may prove difficult to cool, leaving some areas of the home overly warm even though the A/C unit is working overtime to try and cool it. If a unit is too large, the system may cycle between on and off too frequently, wasting energy and costing you money.
At 5 Star Air, our HVAC professionals often choose the best unit for a home by a test known as load calculation. By taking into account the size of your home, your local Florida climate, your roof material, and other pertinent factors that may affect cooling, we are able to match your home’s thermal characteristics to the proper A/C system, making sure that your home is cooled as efficiently as possible.
If you’ve shopped around for A/C units, you may have come across a score for the A/C unit. That score is known as its SEER rating. Standing for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER), the SEER rating measures the energy efficiency of the A/C unit. In general, the higher the SEER rating of an A/C unit, the more energy efficient that unit is. The highest score, 21, is an A/C unit that practically pays for itself, and while it may be great to have a unit that efficient, they are usually quite costly. We typically advise that customers install a unit that has a score of at least 14 as the U.S. Department of Energy considers that the minimum for a unit to be an energy-efficient classification.
After the installation or replacement of an A/C unit, we recommend signing up for a routine maintenance plan. Our maintenance plans ensure that the unit is always running at peak efficiency, while also being inspected and cleaned regularly. This preventative maintenance will keep your A/C system operating efficiently.
Contact our office today to learn more about your air conditioning system installation and replacement options. We welcome the opportunity to educate you of your options and earn your business.