When it comes to heating and cooling a Tulsa-area home, homeowners are at a disadvantage. Why? HVAC terms require time to understand them, and heating and cooling is generally not an area of expertise for the average homeowner. With just a little knowledge under your belt, however, you can use these HVAC terms to effectively communicate with your HVAC technician the next time your equipment requires service or repair, or you’re ready to upgrade. Here’s what you need to know:
Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER), the cooling efficiency rating that reveals a unit’s performance capacity. This rating is used with central air conditioning and heat pumps
Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE), the rating used to show the efficiency potential for furnaces (and boilers)
Heating Seasonal Performance Factor (HSPF), the heating term used to show a heat pump’s potential for heating efficiency
Air handler, the unit that’s located indoors. Consisting of a motor and a fan, the air handler pushes conditioned air into the home
Condenser, or the heat exchanger, employed in air conditioning and heat pump systems to condense refrigerant into a liquid, which facilities heat transfer
Heat exchanger, a separate component of the furnace that helps to transfer heat that’s generated by the burners
Ductwork, the system of interconnected pipes that snake throughout your home to supply conditioned air to the living spaces
Ventilation system, a mechanical device that encourages air circulation in the home, and facilitates the equal exchange of outgoing and incoming air
Air filter, the device that filters out impurities from the air before that air supply moves into the heating/cooling system
Load calculation, a method for calculating the home’s unique heating and cooling load, which is used to help the contractor select the right-sized system
Manual D, the methodology employed when sizing ductwork
Manual S, the method used to size the heating or cooling system, used in conjunction with the load calculation
With a few HVAC terms under your belt, contact Air Assurance Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing for more information about installing, repairing or maintaining your home’s heating and cooling systems. We've served homeowners in greater Broken Arrow for nearly 30 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Image courtesy of Shutterstock