What Size Air Conditioner is Right for My Home?

Choosing the right size air conditioner for your home is crucial for many reasons. A unit that is not the right size will not cool your home effectively. It may fail to take the humidity out of the air and generally won’t keep your home as comfortable as you want it to be. A mismatched unit will also run inefficiently, which means that you will be overpaying on your home energy bills. Here are some things to keep in mind as you decide on an air conditioner for your home.

What if an AC Unit is Too Big? 

If you misjudge the correct size of air conditioner for your home and get one that is too big, it will cool down your home very quickly and then shut off early. When this happens, the air cools, but because the unit doesn’t stay on for very long, the structure of your home does not cool off sufficiently. This means your home will quickly heat up again and your AC unit will kick on again and again, running far too much.

What if an AC Unit is Too Small? 

On the other hand, if you choose a unit that is too small for your home it will run constantly, trying very hard to cool down an area that is much too big. With the unit running all the time, you still may not get a comfortable temperature or humidity level and your energy bills will skyrocket.

Factors to Consider in Choosing the Right Size Air Conditioner

So, how do you know just which unit is right for your home? There are several factors to consider, which include:

• The square footage and volume of space in your home
• The number of windows and their age and condition
• The amount of shade or sun exposure your home gets
• The state of your ducts and ventilation
• How many windows face south

TON and SEER

Once you have a good idea of the factors guiding your choice of an air conditioner, you need to understand how units are rated. In terms of size they are labeled by tons of cooling capacity. The higher the TON rating, the bigger the unit and the more it can cool.

SEER rating is also important. This is the seasonal energy efficiency ratio and the higher the SEER rating the more efficient an air conditioner is. Choose a unit by appropriate TON first and then choose the one with the best SEER, which will save you money on energy bills.

Knowing all the factors and information that guide your choice of the right size air conditioner for your home is an important way to ensure you are getting the best. Still, it’s not easy to make that choice, so rely on one of our HVAC specialists to help you decide, and keep following our Airmaxx blog for more stories like this one.