You may have heard about SEER ratings. Today, we’ll go over what these ratings mean and why they matter. SEER is all about efficiency, so anyone installing a new A/C system or replacing an old one should know what their new unit’s SEER rating is. It affects your energy costs in the long term, as well as the performance of your cooling system. In a hot, humid climate like ours, this is especially relevant. Air conditioners here have to work hard to keep homeowners comfortable, so energy efficiency is pretty important.
SEER stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. The U.S. Department of Energy established this designation to educate consumers about the energy efficiency of air conditioning units. SEER is the ratio between the cooling of the unit over one season and the total energy it consumes during that same period. So, the figure measures the overall efficiency of the unit over an entire cooling season.
The higher the SEER rating, the higher the efficiency of the unit. For you, a higher SEER means lower energy costs each month. So, although these high SEER systems cost more up front to buy, they usually pay for themselves in energy savings within a few years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about Indoor Air Quality and other HVAC topics, click here to visit our website.
Very helpful post! I am looking to purchase a HVAC system in the near future and am hoping to find one as energy efficient as possible. Knowing what the SEER rating is now and being able to understand it will help me to choose one the most energy and cost efficient hvac systems available. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWell, Shirley, I'm glad we could be of help to you.
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