SEER stands for seasonal energy efficiency rating. It is your air conditioners efficiency rating. SEER is based on the combination of the indoor and outdoor unit together. The higher the SEER the more efficient the air conditioner. The minimum SEER rating on air conditioners today is 13 SEER. The highest SEER is up to 21. In 2006 the US mandated that residential air conditioners sold in 2006 and on have to have a minimum of 13 SEER. Energy star rated air conditioners have to have a SEER of at least 14. SEER is measured by the total cooling of the AC during the normal cooling season as compared to the total energy input in watt hours used during the same period.
In 2015 changes are being made to the minimum SEER rating based on what state you are in. Different parts of the US have different weather than the rest so they want to account for that. For example, if you live in Maine, you don’t necessarily need a high SEER air conditioner because they don’t get hot enough often enough to justify it. The southeastern and southwestern states will be required to have a minimum SEER of 14. These states include Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona, California, Nevada, and New Mexico. All the rest of the states in the country will stay at 13 SEER being the minimum in new air conditioners installed.
You can calculate the cost of running your air conditioner by knowing a few things. Air conditioners sizes are rated in tons of cooling. One ton of cooling equals 12,000 BTU/h. 1 ton of cooling equals the amount of power that needs to be applied continuously, over a 24 hour period, to melt 1 ton of ice. In order to do the calculation to see how much you spend on cooling, you need to know how much you are charged per kilowatt-hour. You also need to know how many tons your AC is. So if you have a 4 ton AC you have 48,000 BTU/h. You get that by multiplying 4 times 12,000BTU/h because if you remember 1 ton is equal to 12,000 BTU/h. You then take that 48,000 BTU/h and multiply it by how many hours you run the AC a year, we will use 960, and then multiply that by how much you pay per kilowatt-hour we will use $.10kw/h. That number is then divided by seer rating and further divided by 1000 W/kW. The equation looks like this unit size, BTU/h × hours per year, h × energy cost, $/kWh ÷ SEER, BTU/Wh ÷ 1000 W/kW. So you would take (48,000 BUT/h)X(960 h/year)X($.10 kw/h) ÷ (13 seer)÷(1000W/kW) That comes out to $354 a year you spend on your AC energy bill. You can interchange the SEER numbers to see how much a higher or lower SEER would save you or cost you more. This is something to consider when looking into a new AC. The SEER you choose and how often you run your air conditioner will dictate how much you will be paying yearly to run it so do your research. The higher the SEER the more efficient the AC but that also raises the initial cost of the unit. If you plan on staying in your home a long time then a higher SEER can save you money down the road even though it is initially more expensive. You also have to take where you live into account when choosing SEER. If you live in the southern part of the United States a higher SEER is a good idea because it gets extremely hot.
Bartlett Heating and Air can give you a free quote on a new air conditioner installation so give us a call today!
