Upgrading Cooling Equipment? Cooling Lingo You Should Know

To the uninitiated, it may seem that air conditioning contractors talk funny. They can go on and on about ears, SEER and mini-splits, all the while selling you a five-ton A/C unit that clearly does not weigh that much.

It all makes sense if you understand the lingo, so we've put together a list of terms you might want to know before upgrading your cooling equipment.
•    EER: Energy Efficiency Ratio. EER is a measure of how much electricity an A/C consumes compared to the amount of cool air it puts out, under certain specified test conditions.
•    SEER: Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. The difference between SEER and EER is that SEER measures the average efficiency over the course of an entire cooling season.
•    Btu: British Thermal Unit. A Btu is the most basic measure of cooling power. One Btu is the power required to cool a single pound of water by a single degree.
•    Ton: A larger measure of cooling power. One ton of air conditioning can produce 12,000 times as much cooling output as a Btu, in a single hour.
•    Load: The cooling load of a house is the amount of work an air conditioner must do to keep the home comfortable. A contractor should do a load calculation before upgrading your system, to determine how many tons of air conditioning you need.
•    Split system: Most central air conditioning systems are split systems, meaning part of the air conditioner is located outside and part inside.
•    Condensing unit: The part of a split system located outside the house.
•    Air handler: The part of a split system located inside the house.
•    Ductless mini-split system: Combines several small air handlers with a single condensing unit, eliminating ductwork while allowing you to control the temperature in each part of the house independently.
•    Zoning system: A series of dampers placed inside the central A/C ductwork that gives you the zoned temperature control of a ductless mini-split system, without using multiple air handlers.
When upgrading your cooling equipment, contact us at Comfort Services first. We'll be happy to answer your questions about cooling lingo, and can provide professional A/C installation in the Columbia & surrounding areas.