SEER stands for Season Energy Efficiency Ratio. Seer is defined by the American Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). The seer rating is the cooling output in BTU during a typical cooling season and they divide that by total electrical energy input in watts at the same period of time.
Example: 5000 BTU/h X 8 hours a day X 125days a year =5,000,000 BTU a year cooling output
You take 5,000,000 and divide it by the seer, lets use 13. That equals 384,615 Watt Hours usage a year
As of January 2006, all residential air conditioners sold in the US are to be rated at least 13 SEER, and 14 SEER for an energy star rating. When you switch to a higher seer you save money. For example, if you switched from a 9 seer to 13 seer you use 30% less energy with the new unit which can save you up to $300 a year on your energy bill. The seer rating is looking at changing the requirements in January 2015 based on your geological location. Having a higher seer in a place like Maine isn’t necessary because you don’t typically need that massive amount of cooling there where as in Texas you are better off with a higher seer to meet the cooing needs of such a hot place in the summer. If you are located in The Southeastern Region includes the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Similarly, split system central air conditioners installed in the Southwestern Region must be a minimum 14 SEER. The Southwestern Region consists of the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, and New Mexico. Split system central air conditioners installed in all other states outside of the Southeastern and Southwestern regions must continue to be a minimum of 13 SEER, which is the current national requirement. They do this because of the heating demand in the area. The industry trade groups are trying to fight this as of now.
The following equation is how they come up with energy cost per KW/h so you know how much it cost you each hour you run your air conditioner- unit size, BTU/h × hours per year, h × energy cost, $/kWh ÷ SEER, BTU/Wh ÷ 1000 W/kW
Call Bartlett Heating and Air today to get a free estimate on a new higher rated SEER air conditioner!
