NEWS

A major part of your health relies on getting a good night’s sleep. That’s why it’s not just important to run your air conditioner during the hot summer days. You also need to keep your home comfortably cool at night as well.

At Air Care Heating & Cooling, we understand that depending on your air conditioner to run efficiently is crucial to helping you get the good night’s sleep you deserve. We also know how critical sleep is to everyday life, so we make it a priority to provide our customers in the San Jose, CA, area a cooling system that ensures the utmost comfort all hours of the day or night.

Getting It Right

According to a study published in the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), part of the US National Library of Medicine (NLM), it’s recommended to set your thermostat between 60 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit at night for a comfortable full night’s sleep. By comfortable, we mean not constantly waking up to add blankets or to turn down the thermostat in the middle of the night. Additionally, your body will not have to worry about regulating its own temperature, because your room will already be set to the ideal sleeping condition to do that for you.

Keeping It Right

By keeping your air conditioner in tip-top shape all year long, you can help prevent any potential problems that can arise during the times when you need your cooling system most. That means scheduling regular maintenance for one of our professionals to come out and thoroughly clean your unit of any debris, dust, or dirt, and confirm there are not any leaks or cracks.

The Right Benefits

Once you know your system is working in prime condition, here are three health benefits you can experience from lowering your thermostat’s temperature at night:

1. Helps your mood

It’s not just your physical health that will improve—your mental health will significantly change as well. Getting uninterrupted sleep is essential for staying alert, energetic, and keeping a positive outlook on life. The less signs of irritability and exhaustion you show, the more likely you will be able to function at your best.

2. Fights aging

Resting comfortably and staying cool are not the only advantages of lowering your home’s temperature before going to bed each night. While sleeping, your body is also more likely to release melatonin, a hormone that fights symptoms of aging and helps prevent getting wrinkles sooner than you should.

3. Contributes to weight loss

It’s not just a nutritious diet and getting regular exercise that are the necessary components to losing weight. You also need a healthy sleeping pattern to help shed those unwanted pounds. Without a comfortable and proper sleep schedule, your weight-loss plan will not be as effective and ultimately can increase your odds of losing muscle mass instead of fat.

Schedule Your Tune-Up

Follow our simple air conditioning tips, and schedule your seasonal maintenance today. Give our Air Care Heating & Cooling professionals a call at 408.317.2950 or request service online. We can help you live healthier by keeping you and your family comfortable at home throughout the hot summer months ahead.

In the heat of the summer, it’s easy to assume that bigger is better when it comes to air conditioning (AC) systems. Obviously, if you have an air conditioner that’s too small in your Saratoga home, you will not be able to keep your temperatures consistently low even if the unit is running constantly. 

However, if your air conditioner is too large for your home, it will quickly cool down the space and shut off. Once the temperature rises, it will kick back on again. This constant on and off cycling, referred to as short cycling, uses a great deal of energy and wears down your air conditioning system more quickly.

Air conditioner loads must be calculated carefully, so you can match the unit to your cooling needs. Our professionals at Air Care Heating & Cooling would be happy to help you select the best-sized air conditioner for your particular California home. In the meantime, here is a peak into how our trained experts calculate air conditioning needs.

Definition of Terms

In order to understand how to size an air conditioning unit, you have to know a little bit about how capacity is measured. Air conditioning systems are measured by tons, which specifies how much a particular unit can cool. For example, a one ton air conditioner can generate 12,000 BTUs.

A BTU is a British Thermal Unit, and one BTU is the energy needed to cool one pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit every hour.

Air Conditioner Sizes

The smallest air conditioner is 1.5 tons or 18,000 BTUs and they can increase in size up to 5 tons or 60,000 BTUs by increments of one-half ton or 6,000 BTUs.

For a rough calculation to select an air conditioner for your home, you can take your total square footage, multiply it by 25, divide it by 12,000, and subtract .5.

Of course, our Air Care Heating & Cooling heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) professionals use the complex Manual J load calculation to properly size HVAC systems. This rough calculation cited here will only provide a ballpark figure that should never be used to purchase a system on its own. There are other important elements that factor in to the calculations.

Other Important Factors

Before ordering that new air conditioner based on the simple math equation, you need to realize there are many other factors that should be considered before making a final decision:

• Ceiling height. Not all homes have standard ceiling heights. If you have a vaulted ceiling, loft area, or open floor plan, you may need to calculate the volume of your home, not only the square footage. High ceilings will require a larger air conditioner.

• House style. Two homes that have the same square footage may require different-sized air conditioning systems. A single-story sprawling ranch home requires more cooling power than a three-story townhouse.

• Local climate. If your home is located in a hot, humid location, you will need a different-sized air conditioner than if you live in a milder, dry climate. Temperature and humidity play a significant role in how much cooling and dehumidifying you will need your air conditioner to do.

• Size, type, and number of windows. Windows tend to leak energy out of your home more easily than solid walls. You must take into consideration the size and number of windows as well as how well they are sealed and their energy ratings.

• Insulation. In a similar way, a better insulated home requires less cooling energy than a poorly insulated one. If you are building or doing a major remodel, it may be a good decision to increase insulation before selecting your new air conditioning system.

• Other factors. Even considerations like the existing ductwork, type of window coverings, and number of residents and how often they are home can affect the load requirements of your air conditioner.

We Will Help With Your Air Conditioning

Call our professional team at Air Care Heating & Cooling in Saratoga, CA, to help you make the right choice in selecting your air conditioning system. Call [acf field=”company_phone” post_id=”54″] or request service online today.

As a homeowner here in California, it’s always a good idea to learn as much as you can about your appliances. That means knowing their basic operations, what features are included, and if any necessary upkeep is involved. Needless to say, this is no exception for your air conditioning (AC) unit.

How It All Began

The modern air conditioner is designed to transfer cool air throughout your home to keep you comfortable during the year’s hottest months. This marvel was originally invented in 1902 by Willis Haviland Carrier. He developed the air conditioner to solve a humidity problem at a printing plant in Brooklyn, New York, and was ultimately credited with creating a system of chilled coils to maintain a constant temperature.

Today, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that 87 percent of homes in the United States use air conditioners and account for nearly 12 percent of total energy costs each year. That’s why we at Air Care Heating & Cooling in San Jose want you to know all about your cooling system and what it takes for your trusted investment to keep running efficiently for years to come.

How It Works

As a consumer, it’s important to understand the key elements of your cooling system, and that starts with knowing your air conditioner’s five main functional components and how they work together:

1. Compressor—the key to refrigerant conversion

Working like a pump inside your unit, this is often considered the “heart” or “engine” of your air conditioner. The compressor is located in the outdoor portion of your system, which is referred to as the condenser. Once the system is activated by your thermostat, the compressor starts to pull in a low-temperature, low-pressure refrigerant in gas form from your system. The gas is then compressed to a higher pressure and temperature before being released to the condenser coil.

2. Condenser—outdoor coil

The condenser coil is also located in the outdoor portion or your system. It’s made up of a piping sequence with thousands of small fins on it. The refrigerant runs through this coil after exiting the compressor. A fan pulls outside air across the coil to remove the heat from the refrigerant with the assistance of the fins for maximum heat dispersement. This process causes the refrigerant to convert back to a high-pressure liquid state prior to entering the expansion valve. 

3. Expansion valve—mechanical component regulating refrigerant 

This critical part of the system is responsible for controlling the conversion and amount of refrigerant passed through to the evaporator. This is typically located on the indoor portion of your system. High-pressure liquid refrigerant is forced through a small orifice in the valve that causes the pressure reduction as it passes through. The refrigerant expands to a liquid/vapor mix at this point that’s allowed to enter the evaporator coil.

4. Evaporator—indoor coil

The evaporator is a series of piping creating another coil that the liquid/vapor refrigerant passes through and absorbs the heat from the air passing over it. This lowers the temperature of the air that is then distributed throughout your home by way of its ductwork, lowering the temperature throughout the space. The cycle continues when the refrigerant makes its way back to the compressor to keep the air in your home regulated to the desired temperature setting on your thermostat.

5. Blower—indoor fan

The blower is a fan that pulls warm air through the air filter in the return ductwork. It pushes that air over the evaporator coil to be distributed via your ductwork throughout your home.

In addition to cooling your home, an air conditioner can also help address humidity in your home by humidifying and dehumidifying. Some units include a moisture collection pan that absorbs the moisture from the air as the refrigerant absorbs heat.

Call Us Today About Your Air Conditioner

If you have any questions about your air conditioner or would like to schedule service or maintenance for your system in San Jose, CA, call our Air Care Heating & Cooling experts at 408.317.2950 or request service online today.