Air Conditioning • Comfort Pro • HVAC Cooling off in the summer and early fall is a constant thought. No matter what your plans are for the day, you must figure out a way to stay cool to avoid heat strokes, sunburns, and other nasty problems that can occur. We want our neighbors to stay comfortable year-round. One of the primary concerns in terms of cooling a home is the cost. Heating and air conditioning accounted for 47.7% of the average U.S. household’s energy bill in 2009. In more recent years, electronic devices are taking over as the majority, but the cost of heating and cooling is continuing to rise as oil prices rise. Air Conditioning Unit Energy Consumption Air conditioning (AC) units are constantly running through the hot seasons to keep your home and offices cool. So just how much energy does it take to keep your home cool? Well, let’s take a look at the big picture first. The average U.S. household consumes about 700kW of energy each year, according to the .

Keep in mind this energy is spread across the seasons, not the seasons. Now let’s jump into the specifics for AC consumption. In reality, there is no guaranteed number. You’ll just have to look at the specifications for your unit, specifically. The energy usage per unit truly varies a lot; however, we can give average estimates and examples of popular units that are installed. Here are some specifics: As the sizes of central ACs vary, the wattage will vary. The more tons you have, the more usage you’ll use. The 3500W average estimate is based on averages from 2.5 ton units. If you’re interested in installing a 2.5 ton unit, or already have one installed, then you’ll use anywhere between 3200W-3800W. What Does “Large” or “Medium” Mean, Specifically? The real difference between small, medium, and large window units is the BTU. If you notice, when purchasing an AC they give you the square footage covered, which is based directly off of the BTU. Here are some estimates on large, medium, and small units in terms of their BTU for your reference:

These numbers are all variants, as there are smaller units that go down to 3000 BTU and sometimes even lower. In fact, there are some window units that use up to 25000 BTU. These units use about 2600 Watts of energy to run. Central AC units can use a whole lot more than 3500 Watts of energy, but they can also use a whole lot less. It all depends on how efficiently you manage the system. Some of the factors affecting the energy usage of all air conditioners, which prevent specific estimations, include:air conditioning unit installation costs What’s it going to Cost Me?carrier ac parts for rv Cooling your home can be costly if you don’t pay think it through. office air handling unitThe cost to run an AC unit depends on the size of the unit, as well as the factors listed above.

However, the average costs for each size unit can be found below: The above estimates are based off of an energy rate of $0.14/kWh, and the unit is run for 16 hours/day. To lower your energy bill during the summer, take a look at some of and if you’re in need of AC maintenance, repairs, or installation! You are hereHome » Blogs » ckmapawatt's blog blogHow much electricity does my AC consume?For many urbanites, summer means being constantly dripped on from the air conditioners that fill virtually every city window. These ubiquitous boxes must consume a tremendous amount of energy. From an environmental perspective, aren't central air conditioners better?Air conditioning accounts for more than 15 percent of the energy use of the average home—somewhere around 183 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in the United States per year, according to a 2001 analysis by the Energy Information Administration. Generating that much electricity creates about 119 million tons of carbon dioxide, or roughly the amount of CO2 spewed by 20 million cars each year.

Remarkably, the percentage of homes with central air more than doubled, from 27 to 55 percent, between 1980 and 2001. When deciding on how to air-condition your abode, you have two basic choices: single-room units or a centralized system. Anyone who's been to a big-box hardware store has seen the single-room air conditioners. They're heavy, steel boxes designed to wedge into a window and dangle precariously over passing pedestrians. (In case you were wondering: Yes, they do fall on people.) Inside, there's a condenser, an evaporator, a thermostat, and a couple of fans. Central air conditioners have a different structure altogether. The condenser typically sits on the roof or in the backyard. A set of pipes runs coolant from the condenser into an air handler, which is usually located near the home's furnace. The air handler blows the cooled air through the home's duct system and into individual rooms. A central air system's energy efficiency is measured two ways. The more basic rating is the energy efficiency ratio, or EER, which describes the unit's energy consumption while cooling a prescribed volume of 95-degree air over the course of an hour in a specialized laboratory.

The seasonal energy efficiency ratio, or SEER, is a bit more complicated and considers the average energy use at various temperatures and humidity levels. Window units are rated only by EER, and lose out to central A/C by this metric. An Energy Star-certified central unit must have a minimum EER of 12, while window units only need to achieve between 9.4 and 10.7, depending on size, to be certified. (It's possible to buy a window unit rated higher than this minimum, but the same goes for central units. Overall, the central units are still rated higher.) One reason window air conditioners have lower ratings is that it's impossible to fit much advanced hardware into that little box. While modern central air conditioners can work at a range of speeds, for example, the condensers in most window units only have two: on and off. (This is, incidentally, the primary reason window air conditioners don't get SEER ratings.) This can make a significant difference in energy use. Air conditioners not only lower air temperature;

they also remove moisture. Just how much moisture is removed depends on how much air passes through the air conditioner. A machine that only works at full speed (or not at all) can drop a room's temperature quickly by cooling just a small volume of air to an extremely cold state. In contrast, an air conditioner with variable speed settings can have the same effect by processing a larger volume of air, but cooling each unit volume by a smaller amount. The latter situation results in greater dehumidification because more air runs through the machine. While this seems like a technical point, it's quite significant, because it means users can set central air conditioners to a higher temperature and feel just as comfortable, because the air is less humid. But the window units have their advantages, too. Central air conditioners suffer from "duct losses." As cooled air passes through the system of ducts on its way to the rooms, it warms up and often leaks through the fittings. These losses can decrease an air conditioner's energy efficiency by up to 30 percent.

Window units that block the sun from your room, buzz, and shake violently every time the condenser switches on are basically begging for attention—very few consumers walk out the door without remembering to shut off their window units. The quiet and unobtrusive functioning of central air conditioners, on the other hand, can lead to accidental overuse. Industry observers note that people tend to set their central air conditioner to a comfortable temperature and never change it. Window units also offer room-by-room control. For singletons or couples who occupy only one bedroom at night, cooling a single room consumes a small fraction of the energy that a central air conditioner would. Central air units are getting smarter, though, and accordingly more efficient. Programmable thermostats can make up for forgetful central A/C users by shutting the unit off when no one is home. Some central air systems even divide homes into separately controlled zones, so you don't have to cool the kitchen at 3 a.m. just to keep your bedroom a sleepable temperature.