Like fairy tales and urban legends, some cooling misconceptions just don’t stand up to the facts. Few people really know everything there is to know about the science and technology of air conditioning. However, certain basic truths are well-established and proven. Here are some common cooling misconceptions we often hear as temperatures heat up — along with the actual facts of the matter.
Air conditioners add coolness to your house.
It’s one of summer’s traditional cooling misconceptions. Technically, air conditioners aren’t coolness generators; they’re heat movers. The AC evaporator coil extracts heat from indoor air, then the refrigerant flow conveys the heat outside to the condenser coil and it’s dispersed into outdoor air. Cool comfort is simply the natural state that’s left behind after an AC effectively moves the heat out of the house.
Pushing the thermostat setting extremely low cools a hot house faster.
This is one of those cooling misconceptions that just won’t go away. An air conditioner removes the same amount of heat whether the thermostat setting is in the frigid range or it’s set to your normal comfortable temperature. If you’re coming home to an overheated house, consider upgrading to a programmable thermostat to automatically adjust temperatures to sync up with your daily schedule.
Closing vents in unused rooms saves money on air-conditioning costs.
Actually, your AC doesn’t know whether vents in your home are open or not. It extracts the same amount of heat per its rated BTU capacity to maintain the thermostat setting and consumes the same amount of energy, regardless of vent status. Closing vents actually unbalances airflow through the system and makes temperature control inconsistent.
You should replace air filters with the same frequency in both summer and winter.
Cooling misconceptions like this lower indoor comfort, raise operating costs, and increase wear and tear on the system. Air conditioners often require more frequent filter changes. One reason is that AC typically runs more hours per day cooling the house during the summer than the furnace runs keeping the house warm during the winter. Contact a qualified professional HVAC contractor about proper scheduled filter changes.
To get the straight story about cooling misconceptions, contact the professionals at Jackson & Sons.
