A new air conditioner is a major investment. Whether you are replacing a worn out unit or upgrading your air conditioner to save money on utility bills, this is a decision to make with a lot of information in hand. Choosing the right air conditioner for your home means weighing a number of factors.

In recent years, the technology used to manufacture air conditioning units has improved dramatically. These days, upgrading your air conditioner may be a good decision even just because of the potential energy savings. However, if you buy an air conditioning unit without knowing exactly what you need, you might end up spending too much money — or investing in a system that wastes money.

Your air conditioner must be sized correctly for your home. An incorrectly sized unit won’t save you money. If your A/C is too small, it will have to work constantly to cool your home, reducing the service life of the unit. If it’s too big, you’ve spent too much money on it and it will work less efficiently than it was designed to. Your heating and cooling technician should perform a careful cooling load calculation on your home to determine the size A/C you need.

Another major consideration is the unit’s efficiency rating. The higher an air conditioning unit’s SEER rating, the more efficient the A/C. SEER stands for “seasonal energy efficiency ratio.” It reflects the unit’s cooling output over the total cooling season divided by the total energy input. However, the more efficient the unit, the more it’ll probably cost up front. While there are air conditioning units on the market today that are as high as 21 SEER, they are designed for much hotter climates than most of us experience in Colorado and Wyoming.

To get started upgrading your air conditioner, contact us here at the Rheem Pro Partner. One of our contractors can help you carefully assess your home’s cooling needs and identify air conditioning systems that will meet them — without breaking the bank or wasting your money.

Hvac expert image via Shutterstock