An air conditioning installation in Shreveport, LA should always be left to professionals. The work involved in putting a new central air conditioning system into a home is far too complex for an amateur, and it risks voiding the warranty. But one of the most important jobs that a professional does when installing an AC takes place before the actual installation: finding the right size of air conditioner.
When we refer to the “size” of an AC, we aren’t talking about how much physical space it takes up, but its cooling capacity. Professionals go through several steps to properly size a new air conditioner so that it matches the specific cooling requirements of a house. It’s important to have this job done correctly, since an AC that’s the wrong size means serious trouble.
The Undersized Air Conditioner
You can probably already imagine why having an air conditioner that’s too small for a house is going to create problems. If you’ve been in a room with a window AC that has limited power to cool the space, you’ll understand the problem. Not only does the small AC only manage to cool down part of the room, but it will also continue to run and run, trying to achieve a cooling level that it can’t reach.
The same will happen with an undersized central air conditioner in a home, but on a larger and more expensive scale. The AC will fall short of its cooling goal and will run without stop as it attempts to reach the thermostat setting. This means an uncomfortable home and cooling bills that are sky-high.
The Oversized Air Conditioner
At first glance, this might not seem like much of a problem. After all, why not err on the side of an AC that’s too powerful? You can always turn it down! This thinking is what often leads amateurs to make the oversizing mistake—and it is definitely a mistake.
What happens with an oversized AC is that the unit will shut down too early because it will lower the indoor temperature so rapidly that the thermostat will erroneously detect that the cooling system has already finished its job and shut it down. It will then turn the AC back on a short time later, and the process repeats. This is called short-cycling, and it has the effect of not keeping the AC on long enough to cool the house fully while also running up energy costs because the system draws on the most energy at start-up. All the strain on the AC will shorten its service life as well.
Professionals Will See You Have the Right Size AC
Avoiding undersizing or oversizing of a new air conditioning system is simple: call on our professionals the next time you plan on an AC installation or replacement. Our installers will size the new air conditioner using important information about your home. We’ll pick a new air conditioner that will deliver the perfect level of cooling for your comfort and for your energy costs.
Moon’s Air has provided whole-home comfort since 1971. Call us for service today—it’s good to be Mooned!