Buy a Room Air Conditioner That is Right For Your and Your Family

Follow these tips and buy an efficient, durable air conditioner to keep your home and family cool and happy.

If you don't have central air conditioning in your house, you may already know that the cost to install a central air conditioning unit is expensive and the installation can be a nightmare. These units can cost $4,000 to $10,000 to install depending on the size and configuration of your house and the available ductwork.

If you decided to consider a room air conditioner instead, you are like millions of others who opt for the simple, less expensive route to cooling their home during the hot summer. But there are so many room air conditioners out there. The choices are confusing!

Before you buy an air conditioner, consider where you want to put the unit. A room air conditioner is vented through a window or a hole in the wall, so you will need a suitable sized window OR clear wall space where you can cut a hole to vent the unit to the outside. Consider the cost of having a carpenter cut a hole in the wall and insulate it so that you don't lose air around the unit during the winter.

Next, you need to think about the square footage you want to cool with your air conditioner. The unit you need for a small bedroom is different than what you will need to cool a living room or family room.

The capacity of a room air conditioning unit is measured in BTUs (British Thermal Units) to tell you the size of the room that air conditioning unit will cool. Measure your room or cooling area before you go to the store to buy the air conditioner.

If you are looking at a used air conditioner, be sure you check the age of the unit, its BTU rating AND the efficiency of the air conditioner. Old units are not efficient in their use of electricity. You may save something on the purchase price, but it will cost you a lot more in electricity over the year.

Some new units also have automatic thermostats to turn off the air conditioner, as necessary to keep the room temperature constant.

Check the environmental efficiency rating on new units versus the used air conditioner you are considering. You want to look for environmental efficiency to be sure that the unit does not damage the ozone layer.

You should also check the available warranty on the air conditioner you buy. Check to see what parts and major components are covered by the warranty and for how long.

Less expensive air conditioning units may cost you more in the long run if the parts and major components are not covered by a good warranty. Reputable brands cover major components for ten years, and warranty smaller parts for 1-5 years.

Reduce the electricity cost to run your air conditioner by keeping your blinds and drapes closed on hot days. This helps to reduce the build-up of heat in your house so your air conditioner does not have to work as hard or as long.

Clean the vents and filters on your air conditioner as recommended by the user manual, to ensure that your air conditioning unit is running at maximum efficiency.

Learn everything you need to know to buy a room air conditioner that is right for you and your home. Visit our website: Room Air Conditioner

Raleigh Renfree hates to be to hot! He has search through a number of different air conditioning options. See what he has learned.Learn everything you need to know to buy a room air conditioner that is right for you and your home. Visit our website: http://www.airconditioningdnld.com/airconditioning

HVAC Maintenance

Does HVAC Maintenance Pay For Itself?

Most people would not even consider not changing the oil in their vehicle. Maintaining your HVAC system is no different. By getting involved in a quality maintenance program you will reduce energy costs, extend equipment life, optimize comfort conditions and increase system reliability. Just knowing your equipment is operating safely is a peace of mind in itself.

Many businesses use what I call ?the breakdown maintenance program.? In other words ?I?ll worry about it when it breaks.? We all know this almost always happens at a inconvenient time like when it?s 20 below zero or 95 degrees in the shade. This way of handling things is also very hard on your equipment and may decrease the life of it by as much a half. Maintaining is much cheaper than replacing.

Here are some of the savings you can expect from a quality maintenance program:

Adjusting operating sequence of equipment 25-35%

Cleaning Coils 5-15%

Changing dirty air filters 10-15%

Removing scale from condenser coils 25-30%

Adjusting air/fuel ratio of burner 15%

Cleaning burner assembly 15%

Removing soot from fire side of burner 9%

Eliminating V-belt slippage and pulley alignment 15-20%

Not to mention the money saved in break down service calls.

So if your not already set up with some type of HVAC maintenance program you may want to seriously consider talking to your local HVAC contractor about getting set up with a program to meet your needs.

Information provided by Terry Manlick of HVAC Maintenance & Supplies Other HVAC related articles as well as maintenance supplies can be found at http://www.mainsupplies.com