A central air conditioning system is being installed in about 80 percent of newly built houses in the US. Most homeowners consider air conditioning to be an absolute necessity, although that hasn’t always been the case. The good news is that it’s relatively straightforward to have central air installed in your home, even if it was built without central A/C.
There are some factors that should be considered if you are planning to have central A/C installed in your home. And of course, having the work carried out by a reputable and licensed technician who gets the job done safely and affordably is one of the most important things.
The efficiency of A/C units is typically measured by the SEER system, which stands for seasonal energy efficiency ratio. Installing a new SEER rated unit and getting rid of your old unit which may not be working as it should, can cause a noticeable reduction in your energy bills. Lower energy usage and improved overall efficiency are becoming increasingly important to more homeowners, and HVAC manufacturers have been forced to provide products that deliver.
Different homes have different requirements when it comes to air conditioning, and a specialist HVAC company will be able to recommend and design the perfect system for your needs. It generally costs more and it’s a more complex procedure to install a central air conditioning system, although that’s something that most bigger homes usually need. Ultimately, your home’s size, your specific needs and your budget will determine the system that’s best for you.
Why Install Central Air Conditioning?
Because cooled air is supplied directly to every area of your home, even if all the doors are closed, it’s the most effective way to cool or heat your entire house. However, your family’s needs and your budget will determine which brand or size of A/C system will do the best job for you. One way to approach the problem is to contact several HVAC companies for quotes and then compare. Don’t contact an outlet such as Home Depot; contact companies that specialize in HVAC and who have a good reputation.
You may find that a Galveston air conditioning company strongly recommends a particular brand of air conditioning unit, as they have a relationship with that manufacturer. It’s important to do some initial research so you get the brand you want and that works for you, not one pushed on you by the A/C company.
Although an experienced HVAC technician can offer the best advice on this, you’ll probably find that the best location for your system’s condenser is somewhere in the back yard. Exposure to sun, the general climate in your area, and how your house was built will all affect this. It’s also important to make sure that you have the ductwork in place in your home so that it does the best possible job, as well as the ceiling outlets (diffusers) in each room. Make sure you get accurate information on where the diffusers go; it’s common for inexperienced companies to simply give you the wrong information and advise against installing a diffuser, despite the need for one.
Because a central air conditioning system consumes a lot of electricity, it’s also important to make sure your home can comfortably and safely meet this capacity. It will increase your total installation cost if you have to upgrade the mains system in your home if the existing system can’t accommodate a central air unit.
Maintaining Your Air Conditioning System
Most homeowners understand just how essential regular maintenance is; after all, you want your system to effectively heat and cool your home for many years to come. That said, many homeowners only bother to check their system when they notice it isn’t blowing cold any longer, and it’s easy to take it for granted.
Making sure the outside condenser is as clean as possible is one of the most important things to do when it comes to ensuring your air conditioning unit lasts as long as possible. And to ensure the smooth and efficient flow of air throughout your home, it’s also important to keep the indoor return air filter clean. In fact, keeping the outside condenser free of leaves, plants, weeds and other debris is one of the simplest yet most important steps you can take to ensure your system works as it should for as long as possible.
When it comes to keeping your home cool, there are several different types of air conditioning, although room air conditioning and central air are the two that are most widely used.
If you have ducts installed and ceiling outlets in different rooms throughout your home, and cold air comes out of these, it’s known as central air conditioning. Basically, hot air is converted into cool air and then circulated around your home through ductwork. It requires the system to work at a steady pace to maintain the same temperature all over your home.
Room air conditioning makes use of those small units that you see mounted in the window of some homes, and they work in much the same way as the air conditioning system in your car works, bringing in warm air from outside and converting it into cold air. Pluses of this type of air conditioning unit are that it’s portable and can simply plug into a power outlet somewhere in the room it’s being used in. The drawback of these window units is that they can only cool a certain amount of space, often just the room in which they are being used, so to cool your entire home, you need one in each room. However, if you have the doors open in your house, eventually one unit would cool the entire floor. These window units don’t take any hot air out of your home, so if you live in a two story home, the heat on the lower floor will rise to the next floor. In other words, you’ll generally need several of these room cooling units to effectively cool your entire home.