|
Some Things You Should Know
About Your Heating & Air Conditioning System
At Biggs Heating and Air Conditioning, we want all of our customers to make
an informed decision regarding their heating and air conditioning. There have
been quite a few changes in the last few years and there are more to come.
The first major change, the North Carolina Energy Code, went
into effect in 2003. This code states that any heat pump or air conditioning
system installed must be a matched system. What this means is that the heat
pump and air handler or air conditioner and evaporator coil have to be matched
together by the manufacturer or a third party called ARI (Air Conditioning and
Refrigeration Institute). This code was adopted to protect homeowners. Without
a matched system, there is no way of knowing the capacity of the equipment
(measured in tons), the efficiency of the system (measure in SEER (Seasonal
Energy Efficiency Ratio)), or what the proper amount of refrigerant in the
system should be. There are contractors out there that will mismatch equipment
because it is cheaper and more expedient. Biggs Heating and Air Conditioning
will not install mismatched equipment.
In January of 2006, the United States Government
increased the minimum air conditioning efficiency from 10 SEER to 13 SEER. This
efficiency increase required major changes by all manufacturers in order to
comply. The most noticeable difference between the old 10 SEER equipment and
the new 13 SEER equipment is its physical size. Increasing the size of the
coils is how the efficiency is increased. This added to the problem of
mismatching equipment. Several manufacturers provided match ups for equipment 5
years old and newer, while others would not provide any matches between the old
and new equipment. Biggs Heating and Air Conditioning will search for possible
matches to existing equipment in order to provide our customers with all
options.
The next major change in our industry will occur
on January 1, 2010 but should effect the decisions made right now. There are
two major types of refrigerant in use for residential homes today, R-22 and
R-410a. The R-22 refrigerant is being phased out due to its ozone depleting
characteristics.
|
Jan. 1, 2004 |
annual allowable amount of
HCFCs reduced by 35% |
|
Jan. 1, 2010 |
annual allowable amount of
HCFCs reduced by 65% |
|
Jan. 1, 2010 |
no new R-22 equipment
manufactured or imported |
|
Jan. 1, 2015 |
annual allowable amount of
HCFCs reduced by 90% |
|
Jan. 1, 2020 |
annual allowable amount of
HCFCs reduced by 99.5% except HCFC-123, which can be imported or
manufactured until 2030 to service large air conditioning units
(chillers) under the remaining .5% allowance. No new HCFC equipment to
be manufactured or imported |
The R-22
and the R-410a equipment are not compatible. Any equipment installed today with
R-22 will have to be replaced again after 2009 if one component in the system
fails. What this means is if a system is installed today and (for example) an
air handler or evaporator coil develops a leak after 2009, homeowners cannot
replace these components because they will no longer be manufactured with a
compatible refrigerant. The entire system must be replaced.
At Biggs Heating and Air Conditioning we would
like to build long lasting relationships with our customers. We want you to be
able to make an informed decision regarding your heating and air conditioning
that is best for you.
Please feel free to call us @ 919-329-8288 with any
questions you may have or you can email us @
Question from the web |
