A common misconception about air conditioning equipment is that
Brand Name is the best indicator of quality. While it is true
that some brands are better than others, this is not the main
criterion you should use when making your buying decision. You
may do yourself a great disservice if you overlook this. The
most important factor regarding central air conditioners and
heat pumps, without exception, is the quality of the
installation.
A high-end air conditioning system installed in an
unprofessional manor, without regard for quality of installation
or proper
sizing will not perform any better than a low-end system
installed with emphasis on the quality of the installation.
Furthermore, using the above example, the operating and
maintenance costs associated with the high-end system may very
well
exceed that of the low-end system by a large amount over the
life of the equipment.
These expenses will show in increased monthly energy costs,
maintenance costs, and equipment breakdowns. There are also
concerns about indoor air quality, and noise.
One of the benefits of a properly sized air conditioning system
is humidity control. The operating characteristics of air
conditioners is similar to dehumidifiers. The evaporator coil
temperature is below the dew point temperature when in
operation. This results in moisture condensing on the evaporator
and reduces the moisture content in the air. This results
in lower humidity. The run cycles of an over sized air
conditioner will be too short for this dehumidification process
to
occur.
The run cycles of an undersized system will be too long and may
keep humidity levels too low. This system will loose a lot
of its capacity to the dehumidification process and only cool
effectively when humidity is very low.
Maintenance and repair costs can be higher than normal on an
over sized air conditioner. There are components in air
conditioners that require replacement from time to time because
they wear out. For example the compressor contactor. The
contactor is the device that operates the compressor. Each time
the compressor starts, the contactor closes. The more often
the compressor starts and stops the faster this part will wear
out. The compressor is another example. It is common knowledge
the greatest amount of wear on a car engine is at start up. The
same is true of an air conditioner compressor. There is oil in
the compressor and each time it cycles off the oil drains
from the bearings and gets picked up again at startup. Because
there is less oil for lubrication at startup, this is when
the greatest amount of compressor wear happens. If your air
conditioner cycles on and off 4 or 5 times per hour instead of
the normal 2 or 3 times per hour it only makes sense that this
causes more wear on the compressor.
These are only some of problems associated with over sized and
undersized air conditioning equipment. There are other
complications that add to these problems and cost you more
money. So when shopping for a new air conditioning system get
more than one or two prices and make sure the contractor does
proper load calculations so you can avoid these problems.
