Many A/C clients know the term “seer rating”, but, haven’t been told why it’s so important!

Air Conditioning Service & Repair Ft Myers

Servicing, repairing, and installing air conditioning units in Ft Myers often requires us to educate and inform our clients along the way. I use A/C terminology just about every day, and it is easy to forget that to those not familiar with the parts, components, and factors that affect the operation of their equipment I might as well be speaking in another language. As a result often times the need arises for us to explain, in an easily understood manner, just what we are talking about. One of the most common questions we are asked is…

“What is a “seer rating”, and why is it important to me?”

They squeezed every nickel out of this A/C … BUT …

Paid far higher electric bills every month …

FOR YEARS!

The term seer is an acronym for the words “seasonal energy efficiency ratio”, thus a seer rating is an approximate rating of how efficiently your air conditioner can be expected to work with regard to not only the cost to run it, but, it’s overall effect on the environment as well. Your air conditioning unit is one of the largest contributors to your (and everybody’s) electric bill, inefficient cooling systems create incredible demand for local power companies, the more demand placed on the power companies … the greater their impact is on the environment. For this reason many local power & utility companies offer rebates to those customers that upgrade their air conditioners from a low seer rating unit to one with a high rating.

“In Ft Myers, Florida upgrading from an 8 seer unit to a 16 seer unit could save the homeowner $2,000 to $6,000

over the life of their a/c equipment!”

With a decent rebate and the reduced cost of operating your unit over the life of the equipment it is entirely possible that installing an air conditioner a higher seer rating could pay for itself … and then some over the life of the equipment! In 2006 the Federal Government passed a law requiring that any new central air conditioning equipment installed must have a seer rating of 13 or higher. Today 16 and 18 seer units are becoming common while a short list of pioneers/manufacturers have developed equipment with seer ratings in the low 20’s, although it appears they are still working out a few of the fine details. In the future, with the development and refinement of new technologies such as airflow aerodynamics and design, integration of variable capacity controls, microchannel coils, rotary compressors and inverter driven technologies the future looks bright for increasingly efficient systems, lower cooling costs, and a better environment.