Posts Tagged ‘cost’

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What’s All this Talk about SEER Ratings?

July 18th, 2011

SEER ratings seem to be the deciding factor these days when it comes to replacing the air conditioning system, but few actually understand the concept of this energy efficiency rating system. So, I’ve been surfing the web to see what everyone was saying about SEER ratings, and I found that most people are talking a lot about the differences between a 10 SEER and 13 SEER air conditioners. What they don’t explain, at least to my satisfaction is what that means as far as how much you will save per year in the Chicagoland area.

Calculating Watts Per Hour

First off, a 10 SEER air conditioner gives you 10 BTU’s of cooling per watt hour of electricity. 13 SEER air conditioners would give you 13 BTU’s per watt hour. What does that mean? Basically, if you have a 3 ton air conditioner rated at 36,000BTU, it is assumed that at a 10 SEER this unit will use 3,600 watts in an hour. This would mean that a 13 SEER AC at 36,000 BTU would use about 2,770 watts in an hour. That would equal 830 watts of electricity you are saving per hour of run time. Its all a bit technical, but the difference between the watts use per hour between each unit determines how much you could save. » Read more: What’s All this Talk about SEER Ratings?

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Go Green, Money Saving

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Too Small to Keep Up

July 13th, 2011

Sizing an air conditioner for your home can be a tricky task if you do not know what you are doing. A mistake of choosing either too big or too small a unit can end in disaster, but more often than not, homeowners that try to buy a new air conditioner without the assistance of a trained professional purchase a unit that is too small for their home. Why is that? Well, a smaller system will typically be cheaper than a larger one. Everyone is looking for ways to cut costs these days, but the installation of a new air conditioning system is not an area you can afford to make drastic cuts. Doing so and making a mistake could cost you more in the end than hiring a professional and having a system properly sized.

Comfort

Air conditioners are designed to cool only a limited number of square feet. When a unit that is undersized for a space is installed, it encounters many problems. Since the unit is designed to cool a much smaller space, it will have to run for a longer period of time in order to meet the temperature set on the thermostat. The thermostat will not trigger the unit to shut off until this happens, so your unit could have cycles that are several hours long. In some cases, the home never gets to the desired temperature and rooms that are furthest away from the system receive little to no cool air. » Read more: Too Small to Keep Up

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Contractors, HVAC Repair

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Is Your Cash Flying Out the Window?

July 5th, 2011

I just left a service call that left me totally amazed at the lack of attention some people pay to their electric bills. The homeowner in question had a nice home in a nice neighborhood. Everything seemed normal until I tested the current draw on his air conditioner. What I found was truly shocking! His air-conditioner was robbing him blind. What do I mean by that? I mean that the air conditioner was using almost double the electricity needed to cool his house!

Paying Double

The only question I had for this customer was, “How long have you been paying double on your electricity bills?” The homeowner was confused and honestly couldn’t tell me how long this had been going on for. He just attributed the change in cost to the rising cost of energy in this country, and paid off his bills without ever questioning the extra expense. This has got to be the best reason for tuning up your air-conditioning system. A well tuned system will save you money, but more importantly it can alert you to an electricity thief living in your own home. » Read more: Is Your Cash Flying Out the Window?

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Money Saving, Value

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Common Causes of A/C Damage

June 7th, 2011

What do children, lawn mowers, and rodents have in common? At first guess you may think nothing, but they are actually some of the most common causes of physical air conditioner damage. This summer, a local teenager wielding a lawn mower, a family or mice, or you mischievous children could cost you hundreds of dollars in repairs to the air conditioning unit it you are not careful about protecting your system.

Be On the Lookout For:

  • Children: The air conditioner is not a toy, but though it may not look like one to you, your children will find the system very intriguing. Before you allow your condenser to become your child’s jungle gym, consider this. Children like to place toys, sticks, and pretty much anything they can get their hands on inside the air conditioner’s fan blades. Although they find it funny, a bent fan blade will cost hundreds to replace. » Read more: Common Causes of A/C Damage

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Consumer Protection, Maintenace, Safty

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Sun Powered Air Conditioners

May 30th, 2011

Are you still making excuses not to “go green” in your home? Of all the complaints we have heard about going green, cost has got to be number one on that list. However, we think that in the case of sun powered air conditioners, the money you will save defiantly outweighs the cost of installation. Grid tied sun powered air conditioners are more affordable than ever, and installing one this summer will cut a huge chunk of your electricity costs for years and years to come.

Saving Money by Going Solar

Building a solar powered system in your home is best done in pieces. Adding a couple panels at a time will help spread out the cost of insulation, and the first appliance you should hook up to the panels is your air conditioner. Of your home’s entire energy consumption, the air conditioner usually eats up about 12 to 17% of the energy you pay for. That percentage translates into a lot of money just for a little relief from the summer heat, but you can cut that cost by having the sun generate energy for your air conditioner. » Read more: Sun Powered Air Conditioners

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Go Green, Home Improvements

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Energy Efficiency and a New Air Conditioner

May 18th, 2011

Looking for a new air conditioner this summer? If you are, you have come to the right place for a bit of advice. One of the most important decisions you will have to make concerning this purchase is the energy efficiency of the new air conditioner. Choosing a SEER rating and checking system compatibility are the main concerns, and making the wrong choices could seriously impact your future savings.

SEER Ratings Explained

First let’s take a look at SEER ratings. Like AFUE ratings for furnaces, SEER ratings tell the homeowner just how energy efficient their air conditioner will be. The ratings range from 13 to 21 and the higher the SEER rating is, the more energy efficient that unit will be. The number corresponds to the number of BTUs per hour per watt of electricity that the system will create. The more BTUs your unit can make per watt of electricity the better! However, you can’t blindly choose a new air conditioner without first considering the furnace. » Read more: Energy Efficiency and a New Air Conditioner

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Money Saving, Value

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Why Does it Cost So Much to Clean an A-Coil?

April 26th, 2011

Why does it cost so much to clean an A-COIL? The truth is it doesn’t have to! I was recently asked by a customer why we had to pull out the a-coil to clean it. The answer was because it had so much dirt packed in-between the fins of the coil we needed to power wash it. We don’t see them this bad that often, most of the time they can be cleaned in place, but every once in a while we see a coil that is so dirty there is no other way to clean it but to power wash it outside of the system.

10 Steps to a Clean Coil

There are 10 steps to cleaning a coil that is plugged badly. This repair is more involved because any refrigerant in the system must be removed before a major cleaning can be performed. This is a simple summery of how the repair may go, and an explanation of how the cost can easily skyrocket for this service: » Read more: Why Does it Cost So Much to Clean an A-Coil?

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Maintenace, Money Saving

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Bad Dog!

April 14th, 2011

Every year for the past four years I would do a spring time clean and check on my friend’s air conditioning unit. The clean and check usually took about an hour to do. We would clean his unit and then cook a few burgers on the grill and drink a few beers. Well for the past couple of years I told him the corrosion on his coil was getting worse and that it looked like a dog was urinating on the coil of his air-conditioner. I warned him he needed do something to keep it from ruining his A/C. For some reason he didn’t believe me until his unit sprung a leak early last summer. He waited too long to react. It was way too late.

The Effects of Urine on You’re A/C

The chemicals in the urine start to eat away at the aluminum and cooper coil very quickly. The aluminum will start to turn white or gray and then it will just crumble away. The fins start to crumble and fall off in big patches. All of the tubing will start turning green where ever it’s exposed to these chemicals. Under the right conditions in just one cooling season an air-conditioning condensing unit can be destroyed. » Read more: Bad Dog!

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Posted in Air Conditioning, Consumer Protection, Information, Money Saving

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The Portable Problem

January 20th, 2011

If you are in the market for an air purification system, you have probably already acknowledged that you have an air quality problem in your home. Whether you have a child with asthma or musty smells in the basement, air purifiers are one of the best ways to take care of your indoor air quality problem.

While searching for a new system, you may have noticed that there are both “whole house” and “portable” air purifiers to choose from. When deciding between the two, as yourself one question. “Do I want to clean the air in my entire home, or just one room?” The answer should be simple, but if you need a little more convincing, here are a few more reasons why you should choose a whole house air purification system over a portable unit:

  • Limited Coverage: Portable air purifiers have only a specific amount of square footage that they are able to cover, and many only have a small fan to help circulate air through the filtering devices within the unit. This can leave plenty of areas in the home unaffected by the benefits of owning an air purifier. » Read more: The Portable Problem

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Posted in Air Purifier, Air Quality, Information, Maintenace

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