In the hot and humid climate of Southwest Florida, air conditioning is practically a necessity during the hottest parts of the year, and a quality system can increase the value of your home significantly. Many older homes lack a central air conditioning system, so here are a few tips that will help when installing air conditioning in an older home:

Prepare Your Home

For an air conditioning system to run efficiently without dramatically increasing your energy costs, your home must be reasonably sealed and insulated. Drafts around windows, doors and other penetrations in your exterior walls can allow cool air to escape, significantly increasing your cooling costs, and a lack of insulation will make it hard for your home to maintain a cool temperature. Before installing air conditioning in an older home, consider having an energy evaluation done to find out where your home needs proper sealing and additional insulation.

Choose a System Type

If your home has existing ducts for a furnace, adding a central air conditioning system can be a relatively inexpensive choice. If, however, ducts must be added, the costs will increase dramatically. In that case, you may want to consider adding a ductless mini-split system, which can cool one or more rooms without the need for traditional air ducts. If you are upgrading your heating system at the same time, another option may be a heat pump, which requires air ducts, but can both heat and cool your home efficiently and cost-effectively.

Size It Correctly

Often, especially in older homes, air conditioners are oversized to compensate for any problems with air leaks or poor insulation. An air conditioner that isn’t properly sized will run inefficiently, increasing energy costs. Oversized systems will cycle on and off frequently, preventing proper dehumidification and stressing components like the blower motor and fans. Systems that are too small will work harder to maintain a comfortable temperature. A professional should be used to size the system, using the proper Manual J procedures.

For more tips on installing air conditioning in an older home, talk to our team at Conditioned Air.

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A dependable air conditioning system is vital to weathering the hot and humid conditions of Southwest Florida comfortably, but as your system ages, it may become ineffective at cooling, inefficient and expensive to operate. Here are a few signs that indicate upgrading your air conditioner may be a wise investment:

It Requires Frequent and Expensive Repairs

Air conditioners require annual maintenance to run efficiently and properly, but if your air conditioner starts requiring frequent repairs to keep it running, or if a major component like the condenser or compressor must be replaced, it may be time to consider upgrading your air conditioner. As those repair bills start to add up — especially on an older system — they can quickly approach the cost of a new, much more efficient air conditioner.

It Runs Inefficiently

As an air conditioner ages, it will begin to run less efficiently, reducing your comfort and significantly increasing your energy costs. While some of that efficiency may be gained back through frequent maintenance, eventually the costs of operating the system will outweigh the benefits, especially if it’s an older model with a SEER rating of less than 13. Today’s most efficient air conditioners have SEER ratings of over 20, which can significantly reduce your cooling costs, often by over 20 percent.

It’s Over 10 Years Old

If your system is over 10 years old, it’s time to consider an upgrade. Most air conditioners have a usable lifespan of 10 to 12 years. If your air conditioner is showing signs of age like reduced efficiency, strange noises, or increased maintenance costs (and it has already had a long life), upgrading to a new, more efficient model will improve your comfort and reduce your energy costs significantly.

By upgrading your air conditioner, you can not only save money on your cooling costs, but you can also make sure that your system will operate reliably through even the highest temperatures. Talk to our team at Conditioned Air in Southwest Florida to learn about the latest in energy-efficient air conditioning systems.

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Modern construction techniques have produced homes that are tightly sealed and thoroughly insulated, which dramatically improves their energy efficiency but introduces other problems. Without an adequate ventilation system, indoor air pollutants such as dust, pollen, pet dander and chemical vapors tend to stay in the air longer, potentially causing or contributing to certain health problems. A balanced home ventilation system can help keep the air in your Southwest Florida home cleaner, improving your comfort and health.

Why a Ventilation System Is Important

In great enough concentrations, chemical vapors, dust, pollen and other indoor air pollutants can cause symptoms like congestion, a runny nose, coughing or fatigue in healthy people, and it can make conditions like a cold, the flu, allergies, asthma and other breathing conditions worse. By installing a ventilation system, you can constantly circulate fresh air throughout your home regardless of the weather, eliminating pollutants like chemical vapors and filtering out dust, pollen and other particles.

Why Choose a Balanced Ventilation System?

There are several types of ventilation systems, including exhaust, supply, balanced and HRV or ERV. The exhaust system is relatively inexpensive and draws air out of the home, which is replaced by outdoor air through vents, windows or leaks in your home’s outer envelope. As it draws in the replacement air, often pollutants can find their way in.

Supply ventilation systems filter and bring air into the home, exhausting the air through vents, windows or leaks. By pressurizing the inside of the home, supply systems keep out more pollutants, but can lead to condensation and moisture problems.

A balanced ventilation system is a combination of both supply and exhaust systems, drawing in filtered air and simultaneously exhausting an equal volume of stale air. This prevents pressure changes in the home and ensures that the air inside is always fresh and clean. HRV and ERV systems are balanced systems that recover heat and energy from the air as it is exhausted.

To learn more about balanced home ventilation systems, talk to our team at Conditioned Air. We serve the Southwest Florida region, including Sarasota and Ft. Myers.

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Programmable thermostats are a quick and inexpensive way to reduce the heating and cooling costs of your Southwest Florida home by up to 20 percent, but conventional models can be difficult to program and may not be as flexible as your schedule demands. By incorporating the latest technologies, like touchscreen controls and Wi-Fi connectivity, a smart thermostat can make it easy and convenient to minimize your energy usage and costs.

Common Smart Thermostat Features

Most smart thermostats feature an intuitive interface with a touchscreen display, which makes it much easier to program and use than a conventional programmable thermostat, with menus that are simple to navigate and settings that are straightforward. With the included Wi-Fi connectivity, it’s also possible to program the thermostat remotely from a computer or a smart phone, allowing you to easily change settings while you’re away from home, or to create complex schedules without using the built-in interface. Some models also use Wi-Fi to connect with other smart devices in your home, such as smoke detectors or lighting, which enables some advanced home automation options. Others can use the connection to display critical information like the weather on the thermostat’s display, or to send alerts to your phone if there’s a problem with your system.

How a Smart Thermostat Makes Life Easier

A smart thermostat makes it simple to create complex programs, changing the temperature in your home as needed to accommodate your busy schedule. By lowering the temperature 5 to 10 degrees while you’re away in the winter and raising it during the summer, you can maximize your energy savings. It also makes it easy to adjust the temperature to adapt to unforeseen events, such as coming home from work early or extending your vacation by a few days. Finally, if your HVAC system develops a problem, it can help you get it repaired promptly by alerting you to the situation, avoiding damage to your home or HVAC system.

To find out which smart thermostat is perfect for your home, talk to our experts at Conditioned Air, serving Southwest Florida.

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In some homes, issues with heating and cooling may make it difficult to use a standard furnace, heat pump, or air conditioner. If this is the case, a zoning system is often the best and most practical answer. Here is a brief introduction to how they work to keep your home comfortable.

What Is a Zoning System?

Zone Systems concentrate heating or cooling in specific areas, or zones, of your home. Zones can be as small as a single room or as large as an entire floor of the structure.

They work in tandem with your existing HVAC system to ensure better and more precise control of comfort levels in the appropriate areas. They use a series of individual thermostats to control temperatures in the zones. Motorized dampers in the ductwork open or close in response to temperature needs, either increasing or decreasing the amount of heating and cooling reaching the zone. In this way, a zone system allows for precise temperature control within the one area without affecting temperatures in surrounding zones.

Why Use a Zoning System?

These systems are useful when you need better control over the heating and cooling in your home. For example, they help when:

• It is difficult to provide consistent levels of heating or cooling throughout your home because of large floor plans.
• Occupants need or want different levels of heating or cooling in their rooms. This allows individual temperature preferences to be met and eliminates conflicts.
• Certain rooms or floors of your home need more heating or cooling than others.
• Areas of your home need to have the amount of heating or cooling reduced because they aren’t being used.

Conditioned Air serves Ft. Myers, Sarasota, Bradenton, and the surrounding southwest Florida communities with top-quality HVAC services. Contact us today for more information on the uses and benefits of a zoning system and for expert advice on whether a zone system is the best choice for your home.

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Many new HVAC systems offer what is known as a variable-speed air handler, which is responsible for distributing heated or cooled air throughout your home. Unlike single-speed models, which run at full speed whenever they are in operation, a variable-speed air handler can speed up or slow down to adjust to changing conditions. This has several advantages, and can make your Southwest Florida home much more comfortable.

Improved Energy Efficiency

The motor in an air handler can use a large amount of electricity when it is running at full speed, typically between 300 and 500 watts. With a single-speed air handler, the motor will turn on and off as the demand changes, but it is always at full speed when it is on. A variable-speed air handler can run as fast or as slow as needed to deliver the required amount of air. This reduces the overall energy usage of the system because the air handler only needs to run at full speed when the temperature is significantly above or below average.

Reduced Noise

Single-speed air handlers can be extremely loud when starting and running. Variable-speed air handlers tend to be quieter, because they can slowly pick up speed when starting, and they typically run at a lower speed when temperatures are about average.

Better Air Filtration

With a single-speed air handler, the air is only being filtered when the fan is turned on. A variable-speed model constantly moves air at a slower speed, which improves air quality by constantly removing foreign particles. It also helps reduce humidity during the summer by preventing condensation between air conditioning cycles.

Greater Comfort

A variable-speed air handler increases comfort by delivering the precise volume of heated or cooled air required to maintain the desired temperature. A single-speed system will cycle on and off to maintain the temperature, resulting in uneven temperatures between cycles or extreme temperature swings.

To learn more about HVAC systems that feature a variable-speed air handler, talk to our heating and cooling experts at Conditioned Air today. We serve Southwest Florida, including Ft. Myers, Sarasota, and Naples.

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