How to Calculate the Right Unit Size for Your Home

 

When it comes to the size of your home’s HVAC unit, most homeowners have been told that bigger is better, but surprisingly, that is not always true. An air conditioning unit that is too large can lead to moisture issues inside your home. The larger system won’t run a long enough cycle to pull the humidity out of the air. The larger unit will also use more energy than is necessarily needed for your home. However, a unit that is too small won’t cool or heat your home to an even proper level, leading to discomfort and elevated energy bills when your system struggles to cool your home properly.

How do you find the right size ac unit for your home? To help answer that question, our team of skilled experts at Air Design have taken the time to create a checklist for you.

Measure the area

The very first step in finding the correctly sized unit is to measure the area you want cooled, whether you are just looking to air condition certain rooms of your residence, or the entire thing. Measure the length and width of each room, hallway, or space in your home. You can also often look at your mortgage or deed paperwork which will have your homes square footage listed. When taking these measurements, there is no need to include closets or an attic.

 

Determine square footage

Unable find your mortgage documents? Don’t worry, we can walk you through calculating it yourself. You will want to do this equation for each room. (Length times Width = SQFT) Then add each room together to get the total square footage of your household.

 

Calculate cooling power

The measure of how fast an air conditioning unit is able to cool the air is measured in BTUs per hour. In a warm climate like Pensacola, you will want roughly 30-35 BTUs per hour for every square foot of your homes space.

 

Have a professional come out to assist

When in doubt, you can also give us a call at 202-COOL. We will do all the measuring for you and fit your home with the perfect size unit. Our professionals are very friendly and will walk you through exactly what you need and offer fair pricing, upfront for your new unit. We don’t try to oversell, and we do quality work the first time.