As with any major purchase, when you buy a new air conditioner for your home, research is essential as well as taking care to avoid making certain common mistakes. Consider the following when shopping for a new air conditioner.
What type should you get? You’ll want to decide between a room air conditioner, a package system, or the most common variety, a split-system air conditioner. For whole-house cooling, the split-system A/C is usually the best option. As for brand name, you’re always better off going with an established brand with a reputation for quality. Do some research, and discuss your options with a trusted HVAC contractor
How efficient should it be? Cooling efficiency is measured by SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio). The higher the number, the more efficiently the A/C will cool your home, the less you’ll pay on electric bills, and the higher the upfront cost of your new air conditioner. However, consider this: In our northern climate, you won’t be using the A/C as much as someone farther south. As a result, it will take longer to reap enough energy savings to defray the extra cost of a high-efficiency A/C.
Should you get a maintenance contract? To take advantage of a higher-efficiency air conditioner, you’ll want to provide it with annual professional maintenance. A comprehensive maintenance contract will ensure that your A/C get the TLC it needs to operate efficiency and effectively.
How big should your new A/C be? Make sure your contractor takes the time and effort to calculate your home’s cooling load before recommending the capacity of your new A/C. Oversizing an air conditioner can be just as bad as undersizing it, causing energy waste, stressed parts, and uneven cooling.
What advanced features should you get? Your A/C will operate more efficiently if it’s equipped with a variable-speed air handler, thermal expansion valve and multi-stage compressor.
For help choosing your Calgary area home’s new air conditioner, please contact us at Arpi’s Industries.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Calgary, Alberta about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about air conditioner shopping and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide.
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