Efficiency Standards
When your air conditioning goes on the blink again this year and you tell our technicians that you want to get one more season from it, you may actually be spending more accumulatively year after year than you would have if you had gotten a new unit sooner. The reason this is true is that you may have been saying, “Just one more cooling season” for the last several years, and you have been running an outdated, energy inefficient system.
Maybe it’s time to consider a change. If you are like most consumers, the first step is to learn what is available. When you start the search, you will start seeing terms like SEER and HSPF. What do they mean, and why are they important? In this blog, I’m going to try and present what these and other terms mean and more importantly how they can affect energy efficiency, but I’m going to say it in layman’s terms.
SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) is a cooling efficiency rating for heat pumps and air conditioners. This takes into account the change in the season and how it impacts the efficiency of the equipment during these climate changes. The higher the SEER, the less it costs you to operate. This number is good to look at, however, doesn’t paint the full picture of the actual efficiency of the system.
HSPF (Heating Seasonal Performance Factor) like SEER, a heating efficiency rating for heat pumps that calculate the efficiency of a heat pump system over the changes in climate. Again, the higher the HSPF, the less it costs you to run. This is an important number for customers to consider. Even though the temperature is getting hotter now, we are in more of a heating climate, than a cooling climate. A higher HSPF rating will pay back faster than a high EER number, as we need more heating than cooling in our area.
EER (Energy Efficiency Ratio) Cooling efficiency rating. This rating reflects the ratio of energy spent to run the equipment vs. the amount of cooling it will provide.
COP (Coefficient Of Performance) $1.00 spent to run a heat pump, $4.00 worth of heat/cooling is given, this would be a COP rating of 4. I like to use this to help illustrate why heat pump systems are a great alternative to an electric baseboard, ceiling cable heat, or other resistant electric heat sources. Electric resistant heat (electric baseboard, electric ceiling cable heat, electric space heaters, toasters, etc.) all have a COP rating of 1. $1.00 spent=$1.00 worth of heat delivered. Most geothermal systems have a COP rating of anywhere from 3.5 to 4.5.
If you have questions or would like to speak to one of our Energy Specialists, give us a call at 717-397-2577, or contact us using our online contact form. There has never been a better time to purchase a new energy-efficient system with our special financing for 60 months with approved credit.