Now that summer has officially arrived and warmer weather has set in, it’s time to start running those air conditioners.
Whether central units that cool an entire house or window units that cool a room, air conditioners are now almost a necessity for many people.
But they are also a very costly item, energy-wise.
Because air conditioners are used only a few months out of the year, and not often every day, air conditioners remain somewhat mysterious machines.
We’ll try to demystify these devices by explaining a few of the technical terms often associated with air conditioners:
Air change: This refers to the measure at how much air in a home or room is replaced by air conditioned air. The formula used for this is usually dividing the cubic feet per hour by the volume of air in the room.
ASHRAE: The acronym for the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
Blower: This is the fan unit in an air conditioner that pulls in air from a return duct, runs it over a cooling coil and then pushes it back into the living space by a supply duct.
Compressor: This is the component of the air conditioner that pressurizes the refrigerant and allows it to flow through the system.
Condenser: This is the part in an air conditioner where the refrigerant condenses from a gas to a liquid when it is depressurized or cooled.
Condenser coil: The part of an air conditioner, found on the outside of the house, in which the refrigerant is circulated and releases heat as a fan blows outside air over the coils.
Condensing unit: A component of a central air conditioner that extracts heat absorbed by the refrigerant and pumps it outside.
EnergyGuide: This is a label that appears on an air conditioner that estimates the energy consumption of the unit and its annual operating cost based on the national cost of electricity.
Energy Star: A government seal of approval for an air conditioner (or other type of electrical device). This label means the air conditioner exceeds minimum federal standards and is considered one of the most energy-efficient in its class.
The Energy Star label is issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy.
EER: An acronym for the energy efficiency rating applied to room air conditioners. The higher the EER, the more efficient the air conditioner is.
Kilowatt: A unit of electrical power that adds up to 1,000 watts. A watt is an international system unit of power equal to one joule (A unit of electrical energy that equates to when a current of 1 ampere is passed through a resistance of 1 ohm for 1 second) per second.
Kilowatt hour: This is a measurement of electrical power that adds up to the work done by one kilowatt acting for one hour. Electric bills are measured by the electricity a home consumes in kilowatt hours.
SEER: Stands for the seasonal energy efficiency rating of a central air conditioning systems. Like an EER, the higher the SEER, the more efficient the system is.
UL listed: A safety certification for air conditioners and other electrical devices from Underwriters Laboratories, an independent safety-testing facility.
