Purchasing a new air conditioner in the middle of summer can be a tricky move. You want your new system to be installed as quickly as possible, before the lack of adequate cooling turns your home into a swamp. But at the same time, certain steps need to be taken to ensure that your new system is properly powered in respect to your home. Sizing an air conditioner, or determining its comparative power levels, needs to take place before an installation can be performed. Why? The answer lies in something we like to call the Goldilocks Rule.
Overpowered Is Just as Bad as Underpowered
You likely know that an underpowered air conditioner can be a big headache: running constantly all day long without ever getting your home cool. Conversely, the most powerful air conditioner you can afford initially sounds like the best choice, since it can cool your house more quickly than other units. Overpowered units can definitely do that, but unfortunately, that’s not a good thing.
Air conditioners use a lot more energy turning on and turning off than they do simply running. Starting up is also very hard on individual components, and can cause them to wear out over time. When your air conditioner is too powerful, it engages in a process known as short cycling: cooling the house too fast and shutting down, only to turn on again a few minutes later as the heat of the day warms the house up. That can be extremely hard on your system, causing it to breakdown far more quickly than it should.
Hence, all quality technicians rely on the Goldilocks Rule to determine the power levels of your new air conditioner: neither too large nor too small, but just right.
If you’re installing a new air conditioner in the Andover, MA area, call the pros at Cooling Unlimited, Inc. today!
