How Can Summer Heat Affect My A/C?

HVAC efficiency is so key and during months like July, we want our money going towards fun things and away from unreasonable energy bills. When it’s scorching hot, we have to use our air conditioners, that’s why we have them in the first place. But if we can take some time to understand them, we will have a better chance at reducing costs and maintaining efficiency. Keep reading to learn more about how the heat impacts your A/C and we even offer a tip to level the playing field:

Higher Starting Point

In the winter time, water heaters tend to have a tougher time than they do in the summer. Do you have any idea of why this might be? It’s because the starting temperature of the water, or the air, is further away from where you want it to be. Therefore your unit needs to work harder to bring the temperature down and your heat exchanger and compressor need to work double time make sure you are satisfied. This can cause problems if the air conditioners are older and already working inefficiently.

Some Science Stuff

Thermodynamics is the relationship that heat energy has with other forms of energy. The second law of thermodynamics states that warm air will naturally flow from where it is hot to where it is cold to establish equilibrium. Air conditioners simply take this natural process and reverse it. They take the hot air that is in your home and ‘exchange’ it for colder air from the outdoors that is passed over cooling coils. If the air outdoors is hotter than usual, your unit will have a harder time passing it through the heat exchanger.

Less Efficiency

We already touched on this in the first point, but efficiency is vital to maintaining a successful air conditioner experience. Efficiency is usually measured by dividing the amount of cool air distributed by the amount of energy it took to cool that air. You obviously want the top number to be as high as possible and the bottom number to be as low as possible. Unfortunately, increasing outside temperatures will negatively impact your efficiency by about 2% for every degree. So for example, your unit will work at 90% efficiency at 78°F, but only 84% at 81°F.

Pro Tip: Shade Your A/C

If you have a window air conditioner or an outdoor central air unit, there are things you can do to help boost their performance. The easiest being to use a little natural shade to lower the temperature surrounding your A/C. If you can lower the temperature surrounding the A/C, you can increase it’s efficiency based on the formula we touched on in the previous point.

If you would like to have your A/C inspected for damage caused by the heat, we would be more than happy to send someone out to your home. We will offer tips to increase efficiency and we will get your unit working properly in no time at all.

To schedule an appointment, call (203) 378-4700 or contact us online for faster scheduling!