When it’s time to upgrade your air conditioning system, there are many things to consider, not the least of which is cost. Everything that goes into the equipment from the engineering standpoint, refrigeration, the engineering that’s involved on a unit is pretty extensive – and from a consumer’s standpoint there are things like air flow temperature ratings, BTU ratings and more that you’ll have to take into account.
So, let’s try to make this simple, shall we?
When looking for the right system for your home, remember, not every home is the same. The old 1950′s/60′s era rule of thumb for Phoenix was “400 square feet per ton” (where one ton is believed to effectively cool 400 square feet). So, if you had a 2,000 square foot home you needed a five ton AC unit. If you had a 1,600 square foot home you needed a four ton. But what if you have 1,800 square feet to cool? They don’t make a four and a half ton unit, so if you’ve got 1,800 square feet. Do you buy a four or a five?
The fact is, today, a lot of the homes in the Valley have undersized or oversized equipment, because in keeping with the 400 square feet per ton rule, it didn’t matter if your ceiling was eight feet tall, twelve foot tall, how many windows you had, how many windows were facing south. It just didn’t matter, it was all the same.
To get a true and accurate measure of your home’s cooling needs today, you actually have to do load calculations in order to get the proper efficiency out of your equipment. That’s where we come in. We measure all the walls, the windows, consider the type of construction (ie: stucco, brick or block), note the level of insulation in the attic, the duct type system, ceiling heights and more. We take all this information and we factor in yearly bin data on weather temperatures from either Phoenix Sky Harbor airport or Luke Air Force Base. Only after taking all of these factors into account do we have an accurate telling of what size unit needs to go into your home.
So, if you’re looking to hire a contractor to help you assess your cooling needs and do the installation, I’d say that any contractor coming to your door with reports and seeking information like what I’ve just described up front – that’s the contractor to choose. Anyone coming to you with just a measuring tape touting the “400 square feet per ton” rule – you should just show them the door. Another red flag – and sadly, this is fairly common – is a contractor walking around to the side of the house, looking at the unit that’s already there, and offering you a new version of the same tonnage unit. A responsible contractor will take the time to make sure the cooling needs assessment was done right in the first place – and will take care to make sure you’re getting the right unit for you home, not just the right priced unit for your budget – or theirs.
To read more about proper home assessments you can visit our A/C installation page or call us at 623-209-8333.