When you have a new air conditioner installed, one of the most important decisions to make is how powerful a new unit you need. This is called “sizing” an AC, and it’s more difficult than you may imagine. This isn’t a case where you can simply choose the largest system available. If your air conditioner is too large or too small, it will have serious consequences and the system will probably need early replacement.
Proper sizing requires calculations from HVAC professionals. Since professionals are necessary to correctly install an AC, make sure you have them on the job from the beginning. Call Design Comfort today to speak to our technicians who handle air conditioning installation in Salt Lake City, UT. They can assist you with finding the right system for your comfort.
Problems with an AC That Is Too Small
If you have an air conditioner that is too small to cool down your home, the system will start to run longer than it should to struggle to reach the desired temperature. This puts extreme stress on the AC and will wear it down rapidly. It will also fail to evenly condition the house, with many rooms developing hot spots because the system cannot produce effective cooling levels.
Problems with an AC That Is Too Large
It sounds logical that if an air conditioner is too large you can simply decide to run it less often. However, the problem that an oversized air conditioning system encounters is that it will start short-cycling: it will reach its target temperature so rapidly that the compressor will turn off early before completing the cooling cycle, only to turn back on again a short time later. This creates a huge power drain because the AC uses the most electricity when it turns on the compressor. The amount of strain put on the compressor will also threaten to burn it out after only a few years, and when this happens the whole air conditioner usually must be replaced.
You don’t want either situation to occur, so make sure you have AC installation done right the first time. Professionals will perform a heat load calculation which will factor the amount of heat your home traps and generates, and how much power is needed to overcome it and provide all rooms with even cooling. Once they finish the calculation, the technicians can select the air conditioner size that will work for you without draining power or wearing down rapidly.
Since 1982, Design Comfort has delivered quality air conditioning installation in Salt Lake City that has kept our customers cool and content through the hot summers. Make us your first call when you need a new AC for your home.
