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Why is my electric bill so high, yet my air-conditioned home feels so uncomfortable?

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”425″ img_size=”360×170″ alignment=”center” el_class=”pull-right m-b m-b-xs m-l-lg”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Within the air conditioning and heating industry, it is well understood, but not universally accepted that there is a direct relationship between inefficient construction practices and a lot of wasted energy and money.

When our homes leak air, it has been demonstrated that the indoor air quality is degraded.  Biological spores, dirt, moisture, and other harmful environmentals are brought into our homes by leak.  These entry points include the floors, walls, ceilings, windows, doors, and the AC system itself.

When your home and your AC duct systems are all leaking, it causes these systems to run excessively in peoples homes and businesses wasting tons of energy, and never achieving truly comfortable conditions.

As construction standards for homes continues to improve with improved minimum code requirements, it is critical that our heating and cooling systems also improve to ensure we do not create even worse conditions inside the home.  Providing old school design to HVAC systems in newly constructed homes will result in an improperly designed system.  Moving forward, it is imperative that our home’s energy footprint decrease to conserve the resources of our planet.  Likewise, the size of our heating and cooling system must also decrease.   Most contractors will tell you 500-600 square feet per ton is the right size.   The reality is, it can be as much as TWICE the number of square feet per ton (1000-1200).  This could mean you purchase and run a cooling system twice as large as you actually need.

 An Example

My parents’ home was built in 1983, and had typical of the time, R19 insulation in the attic, and R-13 walls.  The windows were basic metal double pane windows but nothing special about them to say the least.  Add to that, very little oversight on installation and inspection, and you have a very leaky early 80s brick ranch home.  Sizing up an air conditioner for that home would yield numbers of approx. 500 square feet of space for each ton of cooling.  It is about a 1800 square foot home and has 3.5 tons of cooling.
Now, if we built that same home today, we would have a minimum rating of R30 in the attic, and sometimes up to R50 insulation.  The penetrations around pipes into the attic, and through the subfloor would be better sealed.  The underside of the roof might have a radiant barrier.  This more efficient structure would home more winter warmth and resist taking on more summer heat.   We would of course perform the load calculation to be accurate, but there’s a fair chance the new numbers would come out to be around 750 square feet per ton.   Now this same home would be cooled by a 2.5-ton system.

For those of you who own a couple of those fancy double wall plastic insulated cups, do you know why they keep your drink cold longer?  Do you realize why a wet ring doesn’t form on the table around the base?   This is because the R value of the double wall design does not allow as much warmth from the air to pass through the cup and warm the beverage inside.  Likewise, it resists the cup from getting too cold on the outside. If the outside of a cup drops below the dew point of the humidity in your house, it will cause moisture drops to form on the outside of the cup, and run down around the bottom causing a ring on your nice table.    These same principles are applied to your home by separating and isolating the outside from the inside, just on a much larger scale.

In my above example where that home has a 2.5-ton system, vs the older homes 3.5-ton system, that is HUGE when you consider that a lot of residential installation prices charge as much as $3,000 per ton.   Each and every day it turns off and on to heat and cool your home.  The power to start and stop that larger system is around 40% more.  Now if you realize that up to 50% of your electric bill is in heating and cooling your home, and you could reduce that by 40%, then that is a net savings of over 20% on your power bill right there.  Wouldn’t you like to have your power bill reduced by 20% forever?

Call us today to see how we can help.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

150 thoughts on “Why is my electric bill so high, yet my air-conditioned home feels so uncomfortable?”

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