A Comprehensive Guide: Everything You Need to Know About EER and SEER
Comfort versus savings. This is often the issue with home equipment and appliances that are designed to make our lives more comfortable and convenient. Sometimes, we’d rather endure the discomfort rather than spend a sum of money for a more convenient lifestyle. Here in this article, we will look at everything you need to know about EER and SEER.
However, with the intensified impact of global warming, keeping your home protected from extreme heat and humidity has become a necessity. In countries with undeniably hotter climates, like Singapore, having an air conditioner at home is a MUST.
Air conditioning units, however, cost upfront expenses for the purchase and regular expenses in the form of higher electrical bills. Since these two things don’t sound so encouraging at all, we better look at our options. That’s where the efficiency of your cooling unit comes in. A more efficient AC means lower electrical bills but there’s a catch as well. Now let’s talk everything you need to know about EER and SEER and how they play a vital role in determining the cost of buying and keeping an AC.
What do EER and SEER mean?
EER stands for Energy Efficiency Ratio while SEER means Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. EER is for room ACs while SEER is for central ACs. EER measures how efficient a room AC works at a specific outdoor temperature. SEER, on the other hand, is the cooling efficiency of central air conditioners that measures the output for a typical cooling season over the total electric energy input needed on that same season.
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How will I know the EER/SEER of an Air Conditioner?
This is not hard to answer at all if you will buy an air conditioning system online. You will see all the details you need to know about an air conditioning unit at the online site, including the EER and SEER.
If you’re planning to buy onsite, just look at the yellow sticker near the manufacturer label which shows the energy guide or efficiency rating of the AC. One tip though, energy-star labeled ACs have efficiency ratings that are above the standards.
Which EER/SEER rating should I choose?
Basically, the higher EER/SEER means higher efficiency. Efficient air conditioners use less electrical energy to produce a cooling output. Normally, EER/SEER starts at 13 or 14 up to 25. Cooling units with higher EER/SEER also don’t need to work hard in order to cool down your home because they have a better capacity than those with lower EER/SEER.
To explain further, those ACs with higher EER/SEER can pull out more heat using a smaller amount of electricity than those with lower EER/SEER. However, you have to keep in mind that air conditioning units must be maintained regularly by air conditional servicing Singapore contractors if you want your AC to be efficient even years after you buy them. Take into consideration the size of your home or office as well to know which air conditioning unit you should buy. You can even use this calculator to help you out.
What’s the Catch?
You have to be prepared though, because ACs that are more efficient also cost a higher upfront price. This is why at the onset of this article, we emphasized the importance of choosing between a higher upfront cost of AC or higher monthly expenses on electric bills.
ACs that are more efficient use less electrical energy to cool your house down but they are more expensive. On the other hand, ACs that use up more electricity to remove heat from your house are less expensive. But they consume more electricity, thus, they cost higher in the long run. After buying an air conditioning unit, you also have to maintain it regularly if you want it to last for a long time. Get to everything you need to know about EER and SEER and about the common AC parts that need regular maintenance.