If you live in Tucson, your home’s air conditioner is one of the most important features of your home. Tucson’s desert climate may have you running the AC for 8-9 months of the year, so it is important to select an energy-efficient HVAC system that can handle that high demand without driving up your utility costs. B & J Refrigeration can guide you toward the right system for your home and provide professional HVAC installation in Tucson, ensuring that you are ready for another hot summer ahead. Here are our tips for selecting an energy-efficient system for your home.
Shop for a New System Before Peak Summer Temperatures
Did you find that your air conditioner just wasn’t up to the task of cooling your home last summer? Have you seen your energy bills creeping up year after year without much change to your AC use? These are signs that it’s time to replace your system, and now is the right time to do it. May will see some hot temperatures, but it is still ahead of peak demand for your air conditioner. Don’t spend another summer struggling with poor indoor comfort and steep utility bills. Call us to get a quote for HVAC installation.
Consider Both SEER2 and EER2 Ratings
If you’re in the market for a new HVAC system, it’s probably been at least 10 years since you last shopped for a new unit. So, you may be unfamiliar with the latest energy efficiency standards. Instead of the SEER rating you would have seen on older HVAC units, you will now see a SEER2 rating, which takes into account real-world conditions for installed equipment. So, the efficiency ratio is more accurate.
The SEER2 (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio 2) rating of your unit measures its efficiency over an entire cooling season. The ratio is the cooling output of the unit over the energy used in Watt-Hours. This figure is calculated for outdoor temperatures ranging from 65°F to 104°F, and the SEER2 rating is the average efficiency over all these conditions.
In Tucson, it’s important to look beyond seasonal averages because the Sonoran Desert does not experience the average summer. We see temperatures over 90 degrees as early as March and as late as November. That means it’s critical to understand your AC unit’s efficiency at peak cooling demand. The EER2 (Energy Efficiency Ratio 2) rating of your unit will help you do just that. This ratio is what you should look to when choosing the best AC for hot climates, as it measures a unit’s efficiency when the outdoor temperature is 95°F, the indoor temperature is 80°F, and the humidity is 50%.
Ensure Proper Unit Sizing
Along with energy efficiency ratings, you should also consider the size of the unit you’re installing. You might think that bigger is always better because a larger unit can cool your home the fastest. However, air conditioners and heat pumps are designed to cool areas of a specific size, and they will not work properly—or as efficiently—if they are too small or too large for a given space. A unit that’s too small will simply never be able to keep up with cooling demands. You may have to run the unit much longer, which will in turn increase wear and tear and drive up your electricity bills. Conversely, a unit that’s too large will cool your space too quickly, causing the unit to short cycle. It will also not dehumidify the space properly. The professional, NATE®-certified technicians at B & J Refrigeration can help you with load calculation to select the appropriately sized unit for the size, layout, and features of your home.
If you are ready to upgrade your air conditioner for summer, contact B & J Refrigeration today for a quote. We have been serving Southern Arizona since 1970, so we understand the unique challenges of cooling Tucson homes.