How do you move an air conditioner? Commercial air conditioners and central air conditioning units should only be moved by a licensed air conditioner repair firm that can safely disconnect coolant lines. Air conditioners contain coolant that can be harmful if allowed to leak out. Angie's List or your local Yellow Pages should have listings of licensed and bonded air conditioner repair companies. Portable window unit air conditioners just need to be unplugged and pulled out of the window before being moved to another window. Air conditioners should remain upright when they are moved. Large window unit air conditioners require several people to move, possibly with a hand truck. Take care to not damage the condenser coils. Never grab an air conditioner by the condenser coils or lay it down so that the coils can be smashed. If you are moving to a different home and want to take your air conditioner with you, then make sure to remove the filter and pack it well in a box padded with old newspaper or bubble wrap.

Most people do not move a central air conditioning unit once it is installed, since a technician must do this. Usually, outdoor AC units are only moved if a home expansion or renovation requires it. Consumer Reports ranks the GE AEM05LS, the LG LW8014ER and the LG LW1214ER among the top room air conditioners on the market as of 2015; ac units in arizona As of 2015, Robinair produces air conditioner servicing equipment rather than air conditioners. air handling unit connection detailsThe company has two product divisions: one for automotive a...exterior ac unit price What size air conditioners does Trane sell besides 2-ton? Trane sells 13 lines of air conditioners in various sizes besides two-ton models, which have an equivalent capacity of 24,000 British thermal units.

What are the advantages of programmable thermostats? Is it better to buy a cheap or energy efficient Coleman gas furnace? What are some popular types of window fans? How do you adjust the programming of a thermostat? Does a Frigidaire furnace come with a warranty? Where can you find Carrier HVAC replacement parts? Remember that article I wrote about ducts installed against the roof deck and how I said it was probably the absolute worst single location for installing ducts?  Well, in the comments, Dave Roberts, a senior engineer at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), wrote about a paper he co-authored last year and included a link to it. Up against the deck may be the worst place in the attic to install ducts, but Roberts shows that putting them in the attic at all is the worst place in the house you can install ducts. The report, Ducts in the Attic? What Were They Thinking?, summarizes the research that's been done about putting ductwork in unconditioned attics and basically says it's about the stupidest thing we do in homes that do a lot of air conditioning.

I encourage you to download and read this report. If you're building or remodeling a home, make sure the general contractor (if it's not you) and the HVAC contractor get copies. I love the analogy they use to introduce one of the main problems with this location. "Heat exchangers," they write, "are designed to transfer as much heat as possible from one fluid to another." Comparing this configuration to a solar water heater, they make the case that putting air conditioning ducts in a hot attic is an effective way to heat up the conditioned air as it travels from the air handler to the conditioned space inside the home. If you've studied heat transfer at all, you may recall that the rate at which heat moves from a warmer to a cooler body depends on the temperature difference, which we abbreviate as ΔT. An attic can get up to about 130° F in the summer, and the conditioned air entering the ducts is about 55° F or so. With hundreds of square feet of ductwork surface area in the attic and a ΔT of 75° F, the air coming out of the vents in your home will be significantly higher than 55° F. Throw duct leakage into the mix, and the problems are even worse.

What Roberts and his co-author Jon Winkler did, in addition to reviewing the literature about this topic, was to model the savings possible when you relocate the ducts from an unconditioned attic to the conditioned space inside the building envelope. They chose Houston, Phoenix, and Las Vegas as the locations for their modeled houses. The table below summarizes the main results. In addition to comparing ducts in the attic to ducts inside the building envelope, Roberts and Winkler also looked at electricity savings of other measures, such as adding insulation, installing better windows, and using higher efficiency air conditioners. The table below shows that moving the ducts inside is the first thing you should do to save the amount of electricity you use. In addition to saving on air conditioning operating costs, the upfront cost of cooling equipment is lower in efficient homes. Roberts and Winkler looked at moving the ducts inside compared to other building envelope improvements, and again, moving the ducts inside beats all the other methods for achieving this objective, as shown below.

This report, which the authors delivered at the ACEEE (American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy) Summer Study in August 2010, shows definitively that putting ducts in attics in cooling dominated climates is a practice that needs to end. Download the paper here: Ducts in the Attic? What Were They Thinking?Central air conditioning seems like a good proposal for most homeowners, especially if you live in an area that’s warm or hot all year long. Add on the adoption of smart home automation, you can stay cool during the summer while being energy efficient. But air conditioning isn’t necessarily a panacea. It has downsides you need to consider before making this purchase. Let’s have a look at some benefits and drawbacks of central air: That’s the major benefit of this type of air conditioning: A consistent temperature everywhere in your home, all year long. If you live in a southern area, or somewhere with very hot summers, it’s the best way to keep your home cool, constantly, in every room.

That’s the most common reason why homeowners buy this type of air conditioning. Pushing cooled air to every room of your home can increase your energy bill if you’re moving from no air conditioning at all to central air conditioning, obviously. According to Energy.gov, “In an average air-conditioned home, air conditioning consumes more than 2,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.” If you don’t have an air conditioning unit already installed, consider that your energy bill will increase dramatically, especially if you like your home around 68 degrees. You can save money by increasing the overall temperature to 72 degrees or 73 degrees, turning it down at night and keeping it well maintained. If you think you only need a few rooms cooled, such as your bedroom and the living room, consider buying window air conditioning units. It’ll be more efficient, and it won’t increase your energy bill by as much as a central unit. One of the other benefits of this system is the air pushed through the ducts is filtered.

The air quality of your home will improve, which means fewer allergens and potentially harmful gases. However, this benefit requires maintaining and changing the filter regularly. Modern units have filter indicators that’ll tell you when you need to change your filter. If you live in an area with high levels of humidity, filtering the air also means lowering the humidity level. This increases the comfort level of your home, too. However, keeping your air clean will require frequent duct maintenance, as bacteria and mold can build up if you don’t. You’ll need to keep a close eye on the cleanliness of the ducts and have them professionally cleaned at least once a year. If you live in a northern state with colder winters, you’ll be happy to learn that packaged units contain both an air conditioner and a heater. This means you can simply choose a temperature for your home, all year long, without having to worry about dealing with two different systems. It also makes your entire home more efficient, since you only need to deal with one unit instead of two, or several.

Often, this is what the decision comes down to: ductwork. If you already have it — from a furnace system, for example — then all you need is to hook up the air conditioning unit to your home’s duct system. However, if you don’t, you’ll need to consider the fact installing ductwork is a major renovation that involves opening up walls and floors. Although it’ll certainly increase the value of your home in the long run, it’s a major investment that’ll require planning and a good budget. Central air is a great choice for general comfort and energy efficiency. Multiple window units are definitely less efficient than a single, central system that controls the entire home. However, concerns over budget, ductwork installation and maintenance, and increased energy bills can be major obstacles. Buying an air conditioning unit is a major home purchase, and should be considered carefully. Look at your budget, plan for maintenance and energy costs and make a decision accordingly.