Why bigger AC does not always mean better cooling

Which is worse for your HVAC system? Running your system with the fan set to on 24/7 or closing vents in unused rooms to save money? >> Mhm. Closing vents to save money. Uh it's not going to save money. Uh it's also going to cause some stagnant air in the house. So, closing vents. >> All right, what's worse? Closing your vents in unused rooms or or skipping the annual tune-up 2 years in a row? >> Uh you know, this one's kind of a hard one cuz the closed vents are going to cause problems. However, maintenance would catch those problems. So, I'm going to say skipping maintenance for 2 years in a row. >> All right, then what's worse? Skipping maintenance 2 years in a row or setting the thermostat to 62° and expecting the house to cool faster? >> Your thermostat, look me in the eyes. Your thermostat is not a gas pedal. It's not a gas pedal. Setting the thermostat to 62 is going to do nothing other than overwork your already tired AC. I'm tired, Grandpa. >> I'm tired of this, GRANDPA. >> IT'S TOO DAMN BAD. >> WHAT'S WORSE? Setting your thermostat to 62° or an oversized system that short cycles all dang summer? >> Oh man, this one's a hard one. So, both of these systems will break down sooner than they should. And this one's actually a tough one. I am going to go with the dark horse here, though, and it's an oversized system that short cycles constantly. >> Final question, what's worse? An oversized system that short cycles all summer or never once changing the batteries in a smart thermostat until it dies mid >> heatwave. I mean, I'm judging you if you don't change your batteries in your thermostat because that's like I mean, see like three rounds ago whenever we could have caught that during preventive maintenance. But, I'm going to say what's worse is the oversized system because that was in control of the contractor who put it in, and the thermostat is in your control. So, you could go do that right now.

For us in Oklahoma, air conditioning systems have to handle some really extreme weather. We've got really humid summers, we've got dry winters, and we've got really big temperature swings. So, air conditioners in Oklahoma have to really be matched to be able to handle really cold and really hot within a fairly short amount of time.

Improper sizing for an HVAC system is one of the biggest reasons why a house can be uncomfortable. Whenever a system is oversized cuz the general thumb back in the day was like, "Hey, we'll just we'll just bump you up half a ton." Anyways, it's a terrible idea because it doesn't remove humidity from your house if you oversize it. So, I don't want to oversize that system cuz that creates more problems than whenever the system was undersized. Cuz an undersized system actually does a better job removing humidity from the home than a system that is oversized. And so, if the system is oversized, some symptoms you may be experiencing is high humidity within the house. You may also be experiencing like, you know, during the winter time maybe the furnace is too big for the home as well where it's providing too much heat and you you know, it dries the house out too much. And so, you'll see if your lines on like the glue adhesives will will start to crack and so like that. So, you got you know, if the humidity level doesn't stay maintained within the house, it can those are some symptoms that can happen if it's if it's oversized. And then, whenever the system is oversized especially during the summer time is it'll turn off and on so which is called short cycling. Very very fast and what that does is it doesn't allow the oils that are within that compressor to effectively circulate through the system appropriately. And and so, it's it's very difficult on that system to to short cycle. And so, oversizing the system can result in premature breakdowns, the system not lasting nearly as long as what you want it to. And so, cuz at the end of the we want those systems to last gosh 15 to 20 years if they're sized if they're sized right for the home and you know, everything is it's a perfect install. And so, that's what we want. That's what we want to shoot for. And so, but if it's oversized, it's going to break down more frequently than than than what you want it to. Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this video. If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment. If you want to learn more, click the link below. Your home. >> [music]

Buying the wrong size system, holy cow. We see this all the time. This is a an epidemic in the home service world, in the HVAC world. Choosing the wrong size system can lead to an uncomfortable house, a humid house, or too dry of a house. This is a decision that is a soft science. There's no just plug and play because whenever we're designing a system for the home, it's designed in mind with one, how big is the house? How big are the rooms in the house? And what's the insulation level look like? And a lot of times from a new construction phase, they might not have had that in their calculations to begin with. Make sure that whatever company you're going with, ask them, how are you determining what size system I need and why? That is something that is just imperative. Do not buy the wrong size system, and bigger isn't always better. Your home

Think of comfort as a system. The AC equipment, honestly, really matters. But, so does the ductwork, attic, windows, thermostat location, airflow, humidity, and homeowner habits. Guys, for the best results, you know, they come from looking at the whole home instead of just one part of that home. So, take into account the entire house, how your insulation levels are, you what type of system do you have? Do you have any kinks in your ductwork? Windows in that room, are they big windows? Are they small windows? All of these things are contributing factors to how well your air conditioner's going to cool your house off on the hottest months of the year.

We got a message from Joe who asked, "I am looking for a 5-tonon condenser and the company we are dealing with suggested a champion. Is this a good product?" Hey, that is a good question. When it comes to manufacturer, I mean, obviously, there's going to be some manufacturers that are that are more optimal than others. You know, American Standard Linux are generally one of the top rated consumer air conditioners out there. I would really look at the company that's that's installing the system and really being sure that like hey we're installing this correctly that they're a reputable company that they're looking at as far as air flow is concerned that that you've got adequate air flow coming to the system adequate air flow leaving the system. You know generally you want to see about for every ton you know that you've got that you you know so for a 5 ton that what you were saying in your comment you've got 2,000 cubic feet of air that needs to be moved through that system. So, making sure you've got 2,000 cubic feet of air coming in and 2,000 cubic feet of air coming out, that your refrigerant lines are sized correctly, and then also that you're that the company installing it doing all the warranties. You know, you should have a equipment warranty through the manufacturer. Traditionally, those are if they're registered, uh, is a 10-year warranty on compressor, your parts, your heat exchangers. If you've got gas, the heat exchanger should be about 20. I know for from Linux and American Standard, that's the case. and then any labor warranties that that you might want uh through that company. So, you know, I don't know anything about Champion specifically. Um but those would be the things that I would be asking any company doing any sort of installation is what are their processes and procedures. Something that we uh tell our customers is, you know, hey, you know, 80% of a systems life is established on the install. And so, just doing your due diligence on the company that's doing the install is going to account for, you know, 80% of its life. and then making the the decision with the type of system you want whether it's Linux, American Standard, Champion because if air conditioners are stall installed correctly by a company that knows what they're doing should last you a long time. Hope that helps. [Music]

Hey y'all, it's Stephen here. I'm the service manager. So, I'm the one who signs off when a repair turns into a replacement conversation. I want to tell you about the three situations where I flat out will not let that conversation happen, even if you're ready to sign. One, your system's under 8 years old with an easily fixable fault, a capacitor, a motor, a contactor. I see these tickets every single day, and that system's got good years left. Replacing your equipment would be like lighting your money on fire. We fix it and we go home. Number two, your real problem is an airflow problem wearing the disguise of an equipment issue. And my techs get called out for the AC's not keeping up all the time. And half the time, the equipment's innocent. The ducts are leaking or choked, and a shiny new system on bad ducts, that's going to disappoint you exactly like the old one did. So, we fix the actual problem, and it's usually a fraction of the cost. And number three, the repair is small and the system is healthy. If $500 could buy you three more good years, I'll tell you that. Hand you the honest timeline, and you can plan the replacement on your schedule, not in a panic during a heat wave, which I promise you is when everybody else does it. So, why am I telling you this? Cuz you've probably met the other kind of tech, the one who turns every service call into a sales pitch. That's not how you last 40 years in Oklahoma. Replacement conversation happens when the math says so, not before. And when it does, you'll already know we weren't just selling you something. Love y'all. God bless.

is bigger better. Air conditioning really doesn't quite work that way. Whereas bigger is better, so if somebody's got a I don't know, 1,500 sq ft house and you know, three or three and a half ton unit would take care of their unit. They're going to go, "Just go ahead and give me a five. Let's cool this puppy off." You know, and that's kind of a tough deal, too, because, you know, we we we size units to take care of the heat that's in the house. And if we oversize a unit and make it too big, now then we're not going to get the run time on the unit to take the moisture and the humidity out of the house. You know, so if we put a five ton unit where should have been a three ton unit, we can cool you off and we can get you to 70° in a heartbeat, but we do that so fast that the unit doesn't run long enough to take the humidity out of the air, too. So, you may have 70° air inside, but your humidity may be 70%. You know, and that'll feel sticky and clammy to you. Whereas if we can get a little bit of run time with it and we can take out the humidity with the air and lower the temperature at the same time, now then we can get it down to 70° or whatever and maybe get our relative humidity down to 55%, 50% along in there, which feels a whole lot more comfortable. So, bigger is not always better. So, I would say that myth is probably busted.

Community level tells me a lot on how I need to size the system for the house. So, we live in Oklahoma and Oklahoma can vary as far as temperatures that you doing the summer time we can have extremely hot temperatures during the summer time and we can have a lot of rain. We've had we've had months within the last 10 years where we had a month of rain and so that that increases the humidity level in in the area. And so if you look at the master okay, well you know as far as like you know the different zones the average temperature of that of that specific area, you know, we're we're right in central Oklahoma so we can vary very easily as far as average throughout the summer time. And then we can also vary depending on the year. We can have we can have high precipitation years or we can have low precipitation [music] years and that is very difficult because it makes for very inconsistent temperature and humidity levels throughout each summer. And so so we want to size that system for for that average. And so we want to make sure that we're not sizing the system based off of the exception. Hey guys, hope you enjoyed that video. If you're interested in instant estimate for either HVAC or plumbing upgrades, click the link below. We have all of our pricing available on our website. Young Rhodes [singing] [music]

How do you know [music] if your HVAC system is under sized in your home? Some some symptoms that you may be experiencing is maybe hot or cold spots within certain parts of the house. You also know notice where during the summer time it's that [music] system is running all the time. So if you hear it kicking on you and it's and it's continuing you and you never hear it turn off. And so some other symptoms that you may be experiencing within your house is during the summer time that system is running you you're probably going to experience maybe some higher utility bills than what you anticipate because the system just never shuts off. Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this video. If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment. [music] If you want to learn more, click the link below. Your bros. >> [music]

If you're experiencing issues where your unit's running for a really long time, it's never quite reaching the temperature that you're that you're setting it to on the thermostat, it's possible that you could have an undersized unit. So, I was at a house yesterday and the issue was that his unit was constantly running and the temperature never reached what the thermostat was set to. So, his unit, being a 3 and 1/2 ton, was undersized for for the square footage of the house. And so, it was constantly trying to remove 42,000 BTUs. His house was gaining more than 42,000 BTUs. So, the unit was constantly running and never able to reach the the set temperature at the thermostat. Um if you have questions, comments, concerns about and we'd love to talk to you about it and uh see what we can do to get you get you get you some help.

Within the United States, there's millions of air conditioning systems that are being installed. And often not, those systems are maybe not sized correctly for the house. If the system's not sized appropriately for the square footage and the the different, you know, the heat load of the house, then what happens is is that system is not going to keep up to your ideal temperature settings. And you would think that well, a smaller system maybe it'll save me a little bit more money on utilities, but you have to think about that run time. And so, if that if that system is too small, then it is going to run all the time and it's never going to shut off. And so, we don't necessarily want that. We want the system to have to have a reasonable run time, but we don't want it to be running all day. Um that doesn't That's not good for the for the health of the system and your utility bill. Your home. >> [singing] [music]

When buying an HVAC system, how do I size this system appropriately for my house? Let's get into it. [music] What you want to do is you want to design that size of the system to match the heat load on that house. And so, your your your home can have a specific heat load during the summer and the wintertime. And that is they also use you the BTU, so how much how much how much thermal capacity is being added or taken away from that house. Um and so, you want to make sure that you match that tonnage to match the effective load on your home. And you want to make sure that you're not sizing the system by square footage alone because there are a a lot of variables that come into play that can affect the heat load that happens to your house on a seasonal basis. Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this video. If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment. Uh >> [music] >> if you want to learn more, click the link below. Your >> [singing] >> bros. [music]

Here's how to make sure that you get the right HVAC size for your home. Make sure that whenever you're sizing your system, you size it for the average temperature throughout that throughout that summer time. You don't want to size it for the [music] exception. You want to make sure that you size it for what the system is designed to do. And trust that the system will it will run longer. It will last longer for you and whenever it's designed properly for the house. And so make sure [music] that you've got you size the system, you know, square footage, understand your construction type, and understand what improvements that you can do [music] to help reduce your heat load on the home, understand the humidity that's within the house and and how much humidity do you have in your area, and then understand the temperature of the zone and climate that you live in. Hey guys, hope you enjoyed that video. If you're interested in an instant [music] estimate for either HVAC or plumbing upgrades, click the link below. We have all of our pricing available on our website. Your Rose. >> [music]

if you have any uncomfortable spots in your house that's where I'd really start having those questions with your HVAC professional of is my system the right size What's the total square footage of the house what size duct work do you have on that system are we actually moving enough air and have proper air flow so that we can even accommodate the size of HVAC system that we're looking at putting in make sure to ask your HVAC salesman is my system the right size and how are you determining what size system I need

Do not size your system for the exception of the year. Please don't do that cuz that can cause problems. Don't make the exception the rule. Um >> [music] >> and so cuz at the end of the day you want to size your system for the majority of the time. And oftentimes those those times where you are uncomfortable and you're you're just If you design the system for an exception, then oftentimes you're going to oversize your system or you're going to undersize your system and it's not going to be sized appropriately for the house. And so I always try I always like to use those averages throughout the year [music] to really dictate what needs to happen. And so I understand that there are days where it gets up above 105. You're like, "Well, I want to size my system where I can cool my house down when it's 105, 110°." [music] But that only happens like one day out of the year, two days out of the year depending on where you live. Like in Oklahoma, like we can have really really hot days, but it may not be for a super long day's time. We can have some summers where it is. And so [music] we want to size that system appropriately for the average, not the exception. Hey guys, hope you enjoyed that video. If you're [music] interested in an instant estimate for either HVAC or plumbing upgrades, click the link below. We have all our pricing available on our website. Y'alls rules. >> [singing] [music]