{"id":620,"date":"2022-05-23T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/?p=620"},"modified":"2022-05-20T15:27:31","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T20:27:31","slug":"sizing-an-air-conditioner-why-this-job-is-so-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/air-conditioning-service\/sizing-an-air-conditioner-why-this-job-is-so-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Sizing an Air Conditioner: Why This Job Is So Important"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ac-unit-from-top-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"ac-condenser\" class=\"wp-image-621\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ac-unit-from-top-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ac-unit-from-top-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ac-unit-from-top.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>When it\u2019s time for a new <a href=\"\/services\/air-conditioning\/air-conditioning-installation]%5C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">air conditioning installation in Conway, AR<\/a>, what are the most important steps to take? The first we recommend is calling our technicians to help with the job. Having professionals with you from the start will make the other steps easier because you can trust the experts to know which one to take and how to do them correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Few steps are more important for installing a central air conditioning system than <em>sizing<\/em> it. We don\u2019t mean determining how physically large the air conditioner is, but rather its cooling capacity. Sizing isn\u2019t a guesswork job\u2014it requires precision, otherwise your home will end up with a system that won\u2019t work right and will rapidly drain money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How AC Size Is Measured<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve looked at the stats for window air conditioners, you\u2019ll see their cooling capacity listed in BTUs, or British Thermal Units. One BTU is the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of a pound of water by 1\u00b0F. (If you want the full technical specs, 1 BTU = 1,055 joules. Now you can impress your friends.) The BTUs for a window AC is the amount of heat the unit can remove from a room in an hour. Window units have capacities from 5,000 to 12,000 BTUs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Central ACs have much greater cooling capacities because they have a larger volume of space to condition. Rather than use BTUs, the measurement for these units is <em>tons<\/em>. One ton equals 12,000 BTUs. Most homes will require an air conditioner of at least 5 tons.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Oversized and Undersized AC Problem<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What will go wrong if your home has an AC that\u2019s underpowered (undersized) or overpowered (oversized)?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Undersized: <\/strong>The air conditioning system cannot remove enough heat from the house to cool it down to the comfortable temperature people need. The AC will run in long cycles as it struggles to reach a temperature that\u2019s out of its range, resulting in massive power waste and the system running down. The house will remain too warm.<\/li><li><strong>Oversized: <\/strong>It\u2019s easy to think that erring on the side of too big isn\u2019t that much of a problem. But it is! An oversized AC will short-cycle, meaning it will turn on and off rapidly because it lowers the indoor temperature too rapidly. This drains power and puts enormous stress on the system, leading to an early replacement. The house won\u2019t receive even cooling because the system will continue to shut down too early.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How We Size Your New AC<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The way we found out the proper tonnage of your new central air conditioning system is to perform a <em>load calculation<\/em> for your house. This calculation uses various factors about the house: its size, the number of people in it, how well it\u2019s insulated, the amount of heat given off by lights and appliances, the number of windows and the direction they face, etc. We\u2019ll find the precise size necessary for your new AC to perform exactly the way it should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Dewees HVAC proudly serves the Conway area. <\/strong><a href=\"\/contact\/schedule-service\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Call us for air conditioning installation and other AC services\u2014we\u2019re here to keep you comfortable!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Few steps are more important for installing a central air conditioning system than sizing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[40,87],"class_list":["post-620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-conditioning-service","tag-air-conditioning-system-installation","tag-conway"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":622,"href":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions\/622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dewees-hvac.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}