There are a lot of considerations to make when you’re shopping for a new air conditioner for your home. You want to be thinking about the size of the unit that you need, the brand, the professional that is going to handle the installation, and the energy efficiency. The energy efficiency aspect of shopping for an air conditioner revolves around what’s known as the SEER rating. If you have never heard of SEER before, it stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER), and it should be pivotal as part of your AC Jacksonville search.
What the Rating Is All About
The SEER rating is all about energy efficiency. Think of it as a grade that your air conditioning system gets for how much energy it’s going to use to get your household to the temperature that you desire. The Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute put out standards back in 2008 that defined exactly what the rating is in detail. There’s a similar standard in Europe known as the European Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio or ESEER.
It’s a measure of the total energy input regarding electricity used against the cooling output in a typical cooling season. The SEER rating is going to be a requirement based on exactly where you live in the United States as well.
Geography Matters
There are standards that AC Jacksonville manufacturers have to follow when it comes to SEER standards. This means that individual air conditioning systems have to have a SEER rating at a required level to be legally manufactured and installed in homes.
Older systems that don’t meet the SEER requirements are perfectly fine to continue functioning, but you’re going to have to understand that more energy will be used and wasted. The older your system and the lower the SEER rating, the more electrical input is going to be needed to get the cooling output you want.
SEER requirements are going to vary depending on where you live. A state such as Florida is going to have a higher SEER requirement than a state such as Massachusetts. This is because the unit is going to be running that much more and will be using far more of its power to get to the needed temperature.
Ranges of SEERs
It’s true that when you have two units, the unit that has a higher SEER rating is also going to have a higher price tag. The energy efficiency gains that you get are going to be offset in the short term due to the higher price you are paying upfront. As time goes by, this is more than going to balance itself out and you’ll find that the savings you get over the years will outweigh that higher price tag you paid.
The SEER ratings are commonly seen to be around 15 but ratings now for some of the most energy-efficient units can exceed 20 now. A perfect example of the savings you can get comes from several studies out there that have found a SEER rating increase of around four rating points reduces energy consumption by as much as 30%. This can help you save more than $300 in energy bills annually.
The SEER rating is something you certainly want to focus on as a consumer shopping for a new AC in Jacksonville. The units that have higher SEER ratings may cost more upfront but will give you energy efficiency gains as the years go by. Our team of professionals can work with you to help determine the optimal energy efficiency balance to find that ideal SEER rating for you.