Image from Amazon
Utility bills are a sizeable part of any household budget. When you live in a cold or warm climate, and especially one with severe summers and winters, your HVAC heating bills can leave you feeling like there’s a hole in your wallet. Some households must even go on level payment plans to afford their bills during the hottest and coldest months. To keep their homes affordable, households need to slash energy costs wherever they can. Did you know that the size of your HVAC unit is one of the biggest factors in heating/cooling costs? That’s why we found the answer to the question, What size HVAC do I need?
What Size HVAC Do I Need?
Determining HVAC size needs relies on calculating the British thermal units (BTU) required to heat/cool your home. Once you have the BTU number, it’s a matter of selecting an HVAC unit with the right BTU rating.
Image from Amazon
Accurately determining BTUs requires an extensive calculation, which can be performed by an HVAC professional. Though you can guesstimate BTU needs based on square footage, there are too many other factors for the estimate to help you fine tune your HVAC setup and save on your monthly bills. Here are the two steps you must follow to answer the question: What size HVAC do I need?
Step 1
Image from Amazon
To answer the question, What size HVAC do I need, you first must calculate how many BTUs your home requires to stay adequately heated or cooled. HVAC pros often use a manual calculation to make this determination. This method is preferable because it uses precise measurements to calculate a much more accurate answer.
The manual calculation considers the following factors:
Many utility companies will complete an energy audit that determines BTUs needed at no cost to the customer. If your utility company doesn’t provide this service, you can hire an independent energy auditor or an HVAC dealer to conduct the audit. They will produce a report that shows how many BTUs are needed to keep your home comfortable.
It’s also possible to use your home’s square footage to gain a rough estimate of BTU needs. Though more convenient, using square footage just doesn’t provide the accuracy of the manual calculation. Square footage estimates can’t account for factors like climate, window types, insulation, shade/sunlight and other factors unique to your home.
Image from Amazon
The below chart provides a rough estimation of BTU needs based on just square footage:
House Square Footage | BTUs Needed |
|---|---|
100 – 150 | 5,000 |
150 – 250 | 6,000 |
250 – 300 | 7,000 |
300 – 350 | 8,000 |
350 – 400 | 9,000 |
400 – 450 | 10,000 |
450 – 500 | 12,000 |
500 – 700 | 14,000 |
700 – 1,000 | 18,000 |
1,000 – 1,200 | 21,000 |
1,200 – 1,400 | 23,000 |
1,400 – 1,500 | 24,000 |
1,500 – 2,000 | 30,000 |
2,000 – 2,500 | 34,000 |
Step 2
With your BTU calculation in hand, it’s time to select the best unit for your home. An HVAC dealer can advise you on the myriad of options. In some cases, your options may be limited by the type of HVAC infrastructure you have and the size of the space where it must fit. Many apartments and condos require a certain model, which unfortunately can eliminate choices that may provide more efficient heating and cooling.
Assuming your choices are not limited, the HVAC dealer can demonstrate the units that suit your BTU size. Often, BTU calculations land inbetween sizes. This should cause no concern, simply go with the bigger size. Having a unit that’s a little larger than needed is the best practice anyway. It ensures adequate heating and cooling and provides some extra capacity should the BTU change. For example, if you need more power for air conditioning because of the loss of shade trees. Also, you are covered for unusually cold- or hot spells.
Getting an excessively large unit should always be avoided. When the units are too large, they heat/cool the home too quickly, resulting in too frequent on/off cycles that cause uneven heating/cooling and higher energy bills.
Pro tip:
Limit the maximum size of the unit to 15% over the BTUs needed for cooling and 40% over the BTUs required for heating. Heat pumps, which handle both heating and cooling, should never be larger that 25% of BTUs.
Central Air Conditioning Tonnage and Size
Tonnage
How Much Tonnage Do You Need?
Tips for Saving Energy
Getting the right sized air conditioner is a great first step, but there are many other ways to save on your utility bills. Considering that HVAC typically represents 50% to 60% of utility costs, it’s well worth the effort to shore up your HVAC system for increased performance.
Follow
Leave a Reply