Air Conditioning Repair

If you find yourself in the market for a new air conditioner, a number of factors will need to be considered.  Choosing the right air conditioner will ensure your home is cool and comfortable, that you do not spend a fortune on cooling, and that your home will be safe.  Unfortunately, a number of low quality condoning units can be found, which obviously is what you want to avoid.

If you choose the right air conditioner, it will be able to keep the entire home cool.  If not, you will end up with a system that runs day and night, trying to keep up with the size of the house.  If the unit were too small, it would not be capable of cooling the home whereas one too large would be cycling on and off too often, which only wastes energy, while increasing our electric bill.

To ensure you buy the right air conditioner, you need to measure the room or home’s space, multiplying the length by width, which would give you the overall, square footage.  From there, match the room or house size by BTU rating.  British Thermal Units or BTUs are used to measure heat an air conditioner is capable of removing.

Typically, air conditioning units sold range between 5,000 and 24,000 BTUs per hour, information usually found on the unit itself.  Keep in mind, the higher up in BTUs you go, the more expensive the unit.  As an example, if you were interested in a BTU of 8,000, one for cooling a single room, you would pay a little under $200.  However, if you wanted a window unit that was capable of cooling several rooms, perhaps around 10,000 BTUs, the price would increase to $250 or $300.

Special Considerations

Choosing the right air conditioner should also take into account a number of special considerations.  For instance, if you live in Arizona, Las Vegas, or another part of the country where temperatures are warm, then you will likely need a higher BTU.  Additionally, for rooms that are typically hotter than other rooms, to include the bathroom or kitchen, again you would need more BTU.  Then, a standard air conditioning system for an entire house is the most effective, followed by window units and then portable systems.

Sound Ratings

Most people trying to find the right air conditioner give little to no thought, regarding sound.  However, if you have ever paid attention, some air conditioners are loud and obnoxious.  To ensure you end up with a quiet running system, you should check the sound rating.  For this, air conditioners typically operate between eight and nine bels, which are similar to decibels.  The quietest unit would be one operating at 6.8 bels.  A unit that makes anything more would be loud.  Therefore, you will need to consider a low RPM condenser rather than piston-driven compressors.

Efficiency

Today, more and more people are concerned with energy savings, which is why the number of air conditioning units designed as energy efficient is available.  Although these units might cost more initially, they will save money in the end.  In this case, the right air conditioner for saving energy would display the “Energy Star” label.  From there, you can read the information provided to determine the level of efficiency offered.

Features

When choosing the right air conditioner, you should also pay attention to any special features.  While these features are not usually mandatory, they can make the unit more efficient and more enjoyable to use.  For instance, you could consider a two-speed unit.  With this, you could run it on low speed, using about half the normal required energy 80% of the time.  These units also have fewer on/off cycles, which help control temperature changes and cut cost.

Then, some air conditioning units are designed with automatic thermostats, which detect the temperature in the house and start and stop operation accordingly.  The benefit here is that you are not always moving the temperature up and down manually.  Instead, you choose the temperature you want and the air conditioner will ensure it stays within one-degree of your choice.

Always remember that if you have problems making the right choice, you can visit an air conditioning store or home improvement store to ask for assistance.  After all, there are many variables and making the selection of the right air conditioning unit is not always so clear.  Consider the information provided in this article and then if necessary, you can conduct a search on Google.com or some other search engine to further research the many possibilities.