We tend to take it for granted that our home has an air conditioner that will keep your conditioned space comfortable, but you’d be surprised how many homes in the Houma and Thibodeaux areas have the wrong size air conditioning unit, a problem that seriously compromises your home comfort.
An improperly sized air conditioning unit won’t cool your home effectively or efficiently, meaning your home won’t be comfortable and your power bills will be significantly higher than they ought to be.
Symptoms That Your Air Conditioner Is The Wrong Size For Your Home
- Short Cycling – If your AC turns on and off over and over again, it’s a sign that your air conditioning unit is too big for your home.
- Constant Running – When your air conditioner runs all the time, it’s probably because your unit is too small for your home.
- Drastically Uneven Temperatures – Uneven temperatures can be caused by a number of things, including having a too-small air conditioner; the AC unit can cool the room with the thermostat but struggles with the rest of the house.
- High Indoor Humidity – A properly sized air conditioning unit automatically dehumidifies your home as it cools; a too-large air conditioner cools too quickly to dehumidify, leaving you with sticky air.
- Recent Renovations – If you’ve recently remodeled your home and significantly changed the floorplan, an air conditioner that used to be the right size may not be any longer.
How To Determine The Right Size Air Conditioning Unit For Your Home
If you’re experiencing these signs and ready to replace your air conditioner, you’ll want to make sure you choose new equipment that’s properly sized for your home’s cooling needs. An unscrupulous HVAC contractor (not Doug’s!) might try to steer you toward a larger air conditioner in order to charge you more money, but bigger isn’t necessarily better.
An air conditioner’s size, or cooling capacity, is measured in British Thermal Units (BTUs), or possibly in tons which are equivalent to 12,000 BTUs. Without getting too sciency, a good rule of thumb for estimating the AC tonnage needed for your home is to get 25 BTUs per square foot. So a 1,000 square foot home would need a roughly 25,000 BTU, or 2 Ton, air conditioning unit.
This is a very rough measurement, however. The actual BTUs you need depends on many factors including room size and shape, which direction the windows face, room traffic and even what kind of trees provide shade! This is why it’s important to have a reputable HVAC contractor (like Doug’s) evaluate your home’s cooling needs and make a professional recommendation.
What Size Air Conditioner Is Best For Your Home?
If one or more of the symptoms of an ill-sized air conditioning unit is present in your home, your friends at Doug’s can help you determine whether it’s best to replace the unit or find other ways to resolve the problem—such as installing a dehumidifier or zoning your AC system. Give us a call at (985) 746-1116 to get started!
