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How These Undervalued AC Components Help (or Hurt) Efficiency

technician-working-on-hvac-ductwork

You may already know this, but your central air conditioner came with an efficiency rating known as SEER. This stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. The higher the SEER rating, the more powerful your air conditioner will be in general. When you’re installing a new cooling system installed, you work with an experienced team to ensure you’re being matched with the right SEER and the right sized air conditioner.

It’s also important to know what can help, or hinder, that efficiency rating. For instance, professional maintenance will help your air conditioner retain about 95% of its original efficiency rating. But each year you skip maintenance, your cooling system can actually lose 5% of that rating.

In addition to maintenance, the types of components and how well you take care of them make a difference too. Take your ductwork and your thermostat, for example. Read on to learn how these components can hurt or help your air conditioning efficiency.

Damaged Ductwork

Your ductwork is a vital component of your air conditioning system, allowing the chilled air to be evenly distributed throughout your home. If that ductwork is damaged or wasn’t properly installed to begin with, you can run into performance problems that will impact your overall AC efficiency.

Whether your air ducts need professional sealing, have loose joints, or have big tears in them that require replacement, it’s going to impact HVAC performance. In fact, you can lose up to 30% of the conditioned air that you’re otherwise paying for through holes and leaks in your ductwork.

Not only that, but when your ductwork is damaged, it lets stuff in as well. Think of things like allergens, dust, dirt, etc. These can get into your indoor airflow and cause a number of problems from cold and allergy symptoms to even asthma flareups for those who are susceptible.

The best way to tell if your ductwork is experiencing an issue is to keep an eye out for uneven cooling or heating in your home. Also, if you hear excessive rattling coming from the air ducts that you’ve never detected before, it’s a good idea to give our team a call.

Thermostat Troubles

Did you know that sometimes, your air conditioning problem might not be an air conditioning problem at all? It could instead be a problem with your thermostat. The thermostat serves as the brain of your air conditioner and is therefore very important.

Older, manual thermostats may not be totally accurate when you set your desired temperature. As a result, your air conditioner may run longer than it needs to in order to do its job, which hurts efficiency. Ask about our smart and WiFi thermostats, or at least a basic digital programmable thermostat!

Another thing that can happen is your thermostat might be installed in the wrong spot. Why is this a problem? Well if it’s installed in the sunniest part of your home, it can cause the component to heat up too quickly, and cause your air conditioner to cycle on much sooner than it would really need to otherwise.

Of course, if you install the thermostat in the coolest part of your home, then it may take too long for your air conditioner to cycle on, and when it does it may not run long enough to keep your home consistently cool.

For professional and reliable AC repair in Falcon, CO, look no further than Brown’s Heating and Cooling. Contact us today!

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