In other parts of the country, it probably seems pretty strange to be talking about air conditioners this time of the year, unless they’re talking about winterizing them. But winterizing just isn’t a thing here in the Gulf Breeze. Even though our fall and winter seasons are notably and relatively cooler than our summers, it doesn’t mean they are cool.
There’ve been years where homeowners in our area use their air conditioners all the way through December, only to start them back up again in February or March. That’s just the nature of being a Florida resident, right? But what doesn’t have to be a given is how much you’re paying to use that air conditioner.
There are quite a few things you can do to improve your air conditioner’s efficiency, all of which will save you money in the long run. Read on to learn more!
First off, you might be wondering what R-22 is. It’s refrigerant—the substance needed for your central air conditioner or heat pump to function at all. Perhaps you have a basic understanding of how refrigerant works, and you might have even had someone tell you that refrigerant needs to be refilled (called recharged in the HVAC industry) every once in a while.
On our team, we understand just how important it is to have a great air conditioner in place. After all, we don’t get much reprieve from the heat—it may be fall, but while other parts of the country get out their scarves and start buying pumpkin spice lattes, we’re wondering when the heat and humidity will dissipate.
Did you know that a system that is too large for your home can be just as detrimental to its efficiency as one that’s too small?
This includes looking at not only the square footage of your home, but also how many windows and doors are in your household, what type of insulation you have, and what materials make up your home’s construction.
If you’re wondering what a new air conditioner will look like on your property, check out our recent residential job highlighted in these images.
We get it, your air conditioner is the main HVAC system of choice for pretty much 90% of the year. When you use your heater—if you use your heater—it’s for a very brief amount of time, maybe even only at night.
You might think that a UV air purifier is “just another air cleaner.” However, it’s quite different from a standard ionization or electronic air cleaner—more on that below.
“Wait, isn’t ice development a normal part of air conditioning? After all, it is a cooling system right?”
The reason we talk about repair needs and malfunctions so much this time of the year is because this is the time of year they’re most likely to occur! And AC repair is one of those services you need to schedule ASAP and not wait on. We see a lot of systems, unfortunately, that are near failure simply because homeowners waited too long to call for repairs.
Not all air conditioning repair needs are catastrophic. In fact, not all air conditioning repair needs are actually air conditioning repair needs. For instance, you might have a miscalibrated thermostat, or a thermostat that was accidentally set to heating mode. Or you could have damaged ductwork.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we had air conditioners that could self-diagnose malfunctions and report them back to the homeowner, in detail? We’re sure that will exist someday, but in the meantime, we have to rely on other methods for an air conditioner to send warnings that something is wrong. Perhaps it’s a drop in cooling power, an unexplained spike in energy bills, or frequently tripping circuit breakers.