When shopping for nearly any electronic these days, you’ll find some kind of information about its energy efficiency as you compare products. Washing machines, TVs, and even landlines and fax machines may all carry the ENERGY STAR label, which shows that a system has met the energy requirements set forth by the EPA.
Air conditioners can also earn the ENERGY STAR label, but this only means that the system has met the minimum requirements to be considered “energy efficient.” If you live in Florida, you need more than the bare minimum. That’s why it’s so useful to look at the SEER.
When an air conditioner won’t work properly, people often assume what they know to be common air conditioning problems. They may ask us, “Does it just need more refrigerant?” Or, “Is the thermostat broken?” We should let you know, before we move on, that while refrigerant leaks are common, simply refilling the refrigerant is rarely a solution. You must seal the leaks, too.
Winter is coming, and that doesn’t mean much when you live in the Tampa area. You can expect cooler weather, sure, but there are unpredictable moments when you may still want to use your air conditioner. Still, it gets a nice break during this season, which helps you to save energy—especially if you’ve got an older air conditioner that no longer runs efficiently.
We all know how draining the effects of high humidity can be. If you live in Florida, you deal with it all the time. You’re thankful to have a central air conditioning system to come home to on a hot, humid day. But is this really the solution your home deserves?
Did you know that the first air conditioner built in 1902 was actually designed to dehumidify? The fact that it could cool the air was only a secondary consideration, as Willis Carrier simply needed a system that could help with humidity problems at a printing company.
Leaks around the home are often a big deal. If you notice a roof leak in the middle of a rainstorm, you might go running to the neighbor’s house to borrow a tarp and frantically search through the phone book for an available roofer. When a leak springs from a pipe, you put down buckets and call a plumber as soon as you can. These leaks can do a lot of damage, no question, but it’s easy to catch them early on.
If you’re not sure how often you need to change the air filter in your home—and you’re not even sure why it’s so important—you’re not alone. To be honest, most of the people we talk to about the air filters that serve their air conditioning systems (and heaters) are misinformed about many aspects of their purpose and how to maintain them.
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Hopefully, you don’t have to purchase new large appliances for your home often. When you have the right appliance in your home, it should last you many years—over a decade in the best cases—and that means you might not have much experience picking out something like a central air conditioning system.