One of the most important steps in assessing an HVAC system is determining its efficiency. With that, you can accurately analyze the potential energy savings and efficacy of the system in both cold and hot systems. Therefore, as a home owner, it is critically important to do a comprehensive efficiency assessment as part of the homework to determine a system that’s suitable and perfect for your house.
Efficiency assessment is done through three primary factors- AFUE, SEER, and HSPF. So, what exactly do they mean? How can you determine the AFUE, SEER, and HSPF of a system?
AFUE
AFUE is the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency. It is the value of efficacy according to the amount of fuel your HVAC utilizes at a certain period of time. The best way to accurately determine the efficiency according to the fuel is comparing it to the amount of heat produced. Therefore, you can have an HVAC system that uses less fuel but is possibly not efficient as one utilizing even double the amount of fuel. According to the US department of energy, all HVAC systems should have AFUE of more than 78 percent.
SEER
SEER refers to the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. It is used to assess the efficiency of the central air conditioner according to the amount of electricity it uses. The ratio is obtained after comparing the two values. The higher the ratio value, the higher the efficiency of your system. To protect Americans against inefficient appliances and ineffective systems, the government made it mandatory for companies to only market and sell systems with SEER values higher than 13.
HSPF
HSPF is the Heat Seasonal Performance Factor. It the comparative measure of the total heat generated by the heat pump to the amount of electrical energy consumed over the same period. The energy efficiency is therefore directly proportional to the HSPF value.
For additional help in assessing all the critical factors relating to HVAC efficiency and other home comfort systems, kindly contact us. We provide our professional services in the Greater Cleveland Area.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Cleveland, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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