With summers turning increasingly hot and humid, air conditioners in Ottawa are becoming more of a necessity than what was once thought of as a luxury.
When purchasing a new air conditioner for your Ottawa home, you’ve got several factors to consider.
One of the primary factors you may have heard of when researching which Ottawa air conditioner to purchase is called “SEER” or “SEER Rating.”
In this article, we’ll cover what SEER means, why it should influence your Ottawa air conditioning decisions, and what SEER (rating) you’ll want to look for when buying a new air conditioner for your Ottawa home.
SEER: Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio for HVAC Use
SEER stands for “Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio.”
In the HVAC world, a common term is “SEER Rating” – though there is, in fact, some redundancy in this term as “ratio” and “rating” are referring to the same thing.
Nonetheless, SEER is an important measurement when it comes to Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration.
SEER Rating measures air conditioning and heat pump cooling efficiency.
SEER is the ratio of an air conditioner’s cooling output (over the course of an Ottawa cooling season, say June through August with a few days possibly scattered in May and/or September) divided by the energy used by the air conditioner (calculated in Watt-hours).
What’s key to remember is that a HIGHER SEER number means a more efficient air conditioner. That means lower hydro bills for you!
It’s probable that, during your research of air conditioning in Ottawa, you may have come across air conditioners with a SEER number of anywhere from 12 SEER up to 25 SEER or more.
Which SEER Air Conditioner Is Right for You?
From what we’ve said thus far, you might be thinking, “Well, just get the highest SEER air conditioner on the market, right?!”
If money were no object, the answer might be “yes.”
But another important factor is the right size air conditioner to match the size and configuration of your home as well as the air conditioning needs of you and your family.
In other words, you’ll want to find the right balance – a happy medium, as it were – between an A/C unit that’s under-powered and one that’s too big.
At the same time, you’re also looking for happy medium between:
- the low end (a SEER that’s too low will mean higher hydro bills)
- and the high end (a SEER that’s too high will means spending too much up-front on the cost of the air conditioner; oversized A/C units can also lead to cooling cycles that are too short, leaving too much moisture)
It’s the Goldilocks thing all over again, but the HVAC version: finding the right size & SEER air conditioner for your Ottawa home.
Count on Advanced HVAC for the Right Size & SEER Air Conditioner for Your Ottawa Home
There’s no one-size-fits-all (or one-SEER-fits-all) solution for Ottawa air conditioners.
When you choose Advanced HVAC for your air conditioner purchase and installation, you’re getting the experience and A/C know-how of a leading team of Ottawa air conditioning experts.
We’ll inspect your home and let you know the right size and SEER number for your new air conditioner.
Contact us today to get started.
