When shopping for an appropriate cooling system for your home, you might discover that the AC world has an alphabet entirely on its own. In order to successfully choose the unit that is right for your home, you will need to understand a few pertinent abbreviations which will help to distinguish AC models currently on the market.
The Aitken Home Team presents three AC abbreviations with which to familiarize yourself when shopping for a home AC unit:
SEER
SEER stands for “seasonal energy efficiency ratio” and is the system by which an air conditioner’s efficiency is rated over the period of an entire cooling season.
BTU
We have Britain to thank for this one. BTU, the British thermal unit, is a cooling capacity indicator and measures how quickly and efficiently an AC unit is capable of cooling a space.
EER
This is an important one as it is closely related to your electric bill. EER is the “energy efficiency ratio”: the relationship between cooling capacity and electrical output. You will be able to tell how efficiently an AC unit operates when referencing this figure. The EER rating is located on the AC unit’s yellow energy guide label and typically ranges from 8 to 11.5. Ten or higher is considered to be of utmost efficiency. If you are interested in purchasing a unit that is supreme in energy efficiency, check out a certified Energy Star AC system. Energy Star takes into account models with good SEER and EER ratings and will run approximately ten percent more efficiently than standard counterparts. Also, your state and local municipalities may offer rebates or incentives for energy-smart AC units.
Related: “5 Steps to Summer Savings”