Due to the fact that the bulk of the unit hangs out of your window and is exposed to the elements year round, window air conditioners have a greater tendency of breaking down when you need them cooling the most.  Now, being the air conditioner guy that I am, you would expect me to tell you to call out your local AC repairman because it is usually an easy fix.  However, with labor prices going up and up, and the price of window air conditioners coming down (about $300-$400 for a descent air conditioning unit) the right move may be to scrap the old junker and order up a new one, especially if your existing unit is outside of any manufacturer warranty period.

If you run the numbers and decide that buying a new unit is the thing to do, then here is a way to cut your costs even further.  DO NOT THROW YOUR OLD UNIT IN THE TRASH.  You need to take it down to your local scrap metal place and cash it in for around $50 worth of Copper Tubing that is inside of the unit.  Most scrap metal places will pay you cash on the spot.  Now you just cut $50 off he cost of your new unit.  Either that or you can just pocket the found money and not tell your spouse that I told you about it (-;

I have not owned or worked on any Haier products before, so I did some quick research on them and found that they are an appliance manufacturer, not a manufacturer that specializes in air conditioning.  Needless to say, I don’t expect this thing to last for 20 years under heavy usage, but if I can get 10 years out of it and it works as it is supposed to, then I’ll consider it well worth the cost.

The reason that I even considered purchasing a portable air conditioner to begin with is the fact that we are empty nesters and there is just no reason to run the big central unit to cool off the entire house as much as we used to when the kids where here all of the time.  We still have it turned on so that the heat and humidity don’t ruin our stuff, be we can set it to something higher than a comfortable living temperature for the whole house, and now we can use the portable air conditioning for the bedroom so we can sleep comfortably.  If this works out, then we’ll be looking at a couple more units for the den and kitchen.

This particular model comes with separate air intake and air exhast duct ports, and a window adapter.  It can run in 3 modes: cooling, heating, and dehumidifying.  There is an LCD indicator that let you know when the condensation tank becomes full.  There are 3 an speed: low, medium and high.  There is a timer function that goes up to 24 hours that will turn the unit off automatically.  I’m not sure if and when I would ever use that, but it’s one of those “nice to know it’s there” features.  Heat pump included.  Temperature control.  Remote control included, for all of us lazy bastards that can’t get up out of the lazy boy unless it’s to get a frozen pizza or something like that.  It uses R-22 coolant which is not a good thing, but I haven’t seen an portable units that are cost effective that are using Puron yet.  The air filter easily snaps out from in front of the evaporator air intake in the rear.

That’s it.  As I get to know this guy a little better I’ll keep y’all posted.  Wish me luck!

Case in point.  I’m out working on the lawn yesterday and one of my neighbors was out and we started chatting.  Being the air conditioner guy for the neighborhood, the conversations always tend to turn in that direction, so we were discussing our electricity bills and his was more than DOUBLE what mine was for about the same square footage.  Now, you just can not attribute all of your energy consumption issues to air conditioning, but I was interested in learning why he was experiencing such a disparity with his bill and if this is something that occured year round.

We compared our elecricity bills and his only showed the spike that was causing concern in the summer months even though he was running higher that me for the rest of the year also.  We then looked around his place and there were some very obvious problems with very cheap fixes.

• Insulation around the doors and windows were worn out.  You could feel the cool air flowing freely from around the closed doors and windows from the outside.  This can be remedied for less than $5 per door and window.
• The AC filter in the return duct looked like a giant dust ball.  He claims that he replaces the filter quarterly, but I doubt it.  Even if he did, quarterly is not enough in my opinion.  I replace mine monthly to insure that the air is flowing freely.  As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is experiencing some freezing in his line because the AC unit is having to work overtime to compensate for the lack of air flow.  A simple $2 per month will save on a costly air conditioner service call if the line freezes over.
• Looking at the compressor on the side of the house, I see grass growing up into the coils on the bottom, hedge limbs poking into the coils on the side, and pine needles covering the casing on top.  He (and apparently a lot of home owners) don’t understand that the function of these coils is to channel the heat out of the home.  The fan blow air over the coils to cool them down and dispurse the heat.  That’s why when the unit is running and you put you hand over the top you feel hot air.  When the coils are obstructed, the air can not pass over them to get cool which means you are not efficiently pumping the heat out of your home.  Keep the coils clear and unobstructed.  In addition when you air conditioner is NOT RUNNING, take your garden hose and with low water pressure rinse off the coils of accumulated dirts and debris.  This wont cost you anything and will make a world of difference with your electricty bill.

1. 2010 is the magic date when Freon begins to phase out. No new equipment will be manufactured using freon (R-22) coolant. Once the network news turns this into their hot topic, then you’ll be behind the curve as everyone will be jumping on board and quality installers will be in demand.
2. If something happens with your job or other circumstances arise that require you to move, it will be much easier to sell a house already configured with PURON air conditioning. It will not add to the value of your home, but in a buyers market it is a strong incentive to choose one property over another.
3. Some (not all) New Home Air Conditioners will qualify for a tax credit of 30% of the total cost (including installation) up to $1,500 in 2009 and 2010. This is what we will focus on in this post.

In order to qualify for the tax credit, you must purchase and install either a SPLIT SYSTEM with a SEER rating of 16 or higher and an EER rating of 13 or higher, or a PACKAGE SYSTEM with a SEER rating of 14 or higher and an EER rating of 12 or higher. You don’t have to be replacing an older unit to qualify, but if you are you will most likely have to replace your heater too if it acts as the air handler for your home air conditioners. To verify if you are eligible for the tax credit, you will need the MANUFACTURERS CERTIFICATION STATEMENT for the equipment you plan to purchase. This is available through your contractor, or the equipment manufacturers website.

What is SEER and EER?
SEER is an acronym for SEASONAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY RATIO and it measures how efficiently home air conditioners will operate over an entire season. The calculation compares the cooling capacity in BTUs versus the energy in Kws that is consumed over the same time. This is just an FYI, because this calculation is done by the manufacturers and is clearly marked on the unit.

EER or ENERY EFFICIENCY RATIO is pretty much the same thing, but this time it is measured with a constant outside temperature. The number derived is BTU hours per watt and this number is also provided by the manufacturer.

In both cases, the higher the number, the more efficient the equipment is rated. As of January 2006, all home air conditioners sold in the US must have a SEER rating of at least 13.

SPLIT SYSTEM vs PACKAGE SYSTEM
A split system has THREE COMPONENTS, the outdoor cabinet with he condenser and compressor, an indoor cabinet with the evaporator coil, and an air handler that pushes the cool air through the ducts which is usually incorporated into the heater unit. With a split system, air is recirculated within the home.

A package system has all of these components located in one cabinet which is located outside of the home. With a package system, new air is circulated into the home from outside and return ducts are sent outside.

3:00pm – We just barely made it!  Any longer without the air running and we would have started cooking up here.  The water and Gatorade supplies are about gone.  Now we’re all looking forward to some cold beer after the job is done.  What’s left is conecting all of the ductwork and this can be done while the air is blowing cold into the attic.  The first part of this stage is fitting the junction box.  This is a pre-fabricated cube constructed of insulation with one face connected to the output of the air conditioner, and up to five branches coming off of it (in our case we only have three.  The first thing we’re going to do it measure and cut holes for the three duct branches.  We do this first beause it’s easier to do before the junction box is mounted to the air conditioner, and it will allow the air to flow freely after it is mounted.  Now we measure and cut a square out of the face of the junction box that will fit to the air conditioner.  We fit it in place and use a liberal amount of silver tape (the installers best friend).  Now we connect the duct branches to the holes we cut in the other three sides in pretty much the same fashion.

5:00pm – The cold air is now running throughout the house and the thermostat is slowly starting to inch downward.  We still have a few things left to do, like connecting the exhaust pipes for the heater and clean up inside and out, but overall we’re saying ‘mission accomplished’ and we’re sitting down for a few well deserved cold beers…ringht under the air conditioning vent (-;

10am – Now we’re on to the final piece of equipment, the Carrier 24ABB evaporator coil unit.  The same process takes place, clean off the flooring, place a new drip pan under the equipment, place and level the equipment for in-line installation, metal screws to attach to the heater then some silver tape to seal and the placement is complete.  We just need to connect the PVC drain pipe wiht a fitting and some glue, and also the plastic tubing for the overflow drain from the drip pan and we’re good to go.

10:30am – Now that everything is in place, it’s time to connect all of the wiring and tubing.  The wiring is pretty straight forward.  We strip the ends off of the old power and control wires, splice in with the new units and cap off and place it back in the enclosures.  As with any installation that is not new construction, you don’t get to see everything that is needed until you tear out the old equipment.  In our case, the physical dimensions of the old heater was much longer than the new equipment, and then factor in the absence of a transition piece between each component, and it was easy to see that the old gas line was not long enough to extend to the new heater.  Now we need to make a parts run to extend the gas line and some extra silver tape will always come in handy.

12pm – The heat of the day is catching up with us and we’re close to firing up the system.  The gas line extension is fitted in after the emergency cut-off valve.  We turn the gas on and bubble test the connections for leaks and there are none so we’re in business with a heater.  Now it’s time to run the copper tubing for the air conditioner, sweat solder it in place with the torch (and it’s a good thing there were no gas leaks!).  Now the installer goes outside to the blower unit to charge the system with Puron while the helper bubble tests all of the solder joints for leaks.  No leaks!  So we have a full charged Puron home ar conditioners system ready to test.

1:00pm – We power up the system and ther is frosty cold air blowing into the attic.  Without the ductwork connected, all of the cool air is blowing into the work area, so now the fans are no longer needed.  Now since we don’t have to worry about cooking ourselves in the attic we can take a lunch break while the system runs.  This is important not only for cooling off the work areas for our comfort, but to make sure everything is working properly, and especially that the drain is draining.  The worst thing that could happen is that the condensation flow is obstructed or improperly routed and you end up with water damage…not good.  The guys head out to get a bite to eat while I keep an eye on the condesnsation flow, and it’s a good thing because the placement of the unit was on a slight tilt that backed up the condensation flow back into the unit instead of out through the drain pipe.  So now I need to turn off the air conditioner until the guys get back so they can re-level the system and re-test.

Time for another Kolache break.  I promise that I’ll finish the story in Part 3.

6am – The helper and I are unboxing the new equipment and stageing it in the appropriate areas while the installer turns off the power to the old units, drains the freon and reclaims it.  by 7am, the new outside equipment is hooked up and ready.  Now we need to tear out the old system from the attic.

7am – I have a power strip connecting every fan that I own blowing whats left of the cool air into the attic space where they are working.  The fans are strategically positioned so that sweat doesn’t fall on them causing a short circuit.  Sweat is already pouring steadily.  The space is too small for all three os us to fit in there, so I’m going to run out and get them some kolaches while they do their thing.

9am – The front lawn looks like a nightmare trailer park scene from a “B” movie with scrap metal, wires, duct work, and torn insulation strewn all over the place.  I’m sure that if the neighbors knew what we were planning they would have re-scheuled their garage sale for another day, because we probably scared away half of their business.  It’s time for a kolache break and much needed re-hydration.

9:30am – We’re back on the clock.  The one piece of equipment that I’ve decided to leave in place is the Honeywell air purifier, an electronic filter that removes particles from the air with an electronic zap.  It works fine and is easy to maintain.  I just put the filters in the dishwasher once a month then let them sun dry and we’re good to go.  So basically the way things are going to be configured is from the air intake first comes the zapper, then the heater, then the air conditioner.  The installer has sold me on the idea of installing each component butt-up against each other rather than using a transition piece of insulation between each component.  This will streamline the installation and cut down on potential energy loss.

Enough for now, I’m getting hungry talking about kolaches (-;  I will continue the saga on the post.

About a month ago as the temperatures were sustaining in the 100+ range here in Texas, we noticed that our 20-year old Trane system was running for about 5 minutes, cutting off for about 2 minutes, thn kicking in again.  The temperature was getting down to the 81 degree setting on the thermostat (…you see Mr. Obama, not everyone sets their air conditioning to 78), but the humidity was never getting below 50% because the unit didn’t run long enough to effectively bring down the humidity.  Basically it was short-cycling.  Now, we’ve never had this problem in the past so we ran a full perventative maintenance on the system and found that the freon level was down about 20%, but mostly that the clutch on the blower motor was starting to fail.  It was drawing some serious amps in order to kick in.  I could only imagine what the electricty bill was going to look like for this month!

Even though the Trane unit was still working, we decided it was time to get serious about replacing this old unit before we experienced an outage and at the same time, reduce our electricty bill.  Another thing that factored into our decision was that the adjoining central heating system was one of the old pilot light jobs that have been phased out some years ago due to safety concerns.  We contacted a couple of home air conditioners installers who quoted us on a new central air conditioning and heating systems and we finally settle on a Carrier 24ABB4 (14 SEER Rating) split system with Puron refrigerant, and a Carrier 58STA/STX heater.  There were more energy efficient systems available with a better SEER rating that would quality for the new tax rebate, but we could not justify the increased cost vs savings.  The system we chose will give us the best bang for the buck.

Now that we’ve signed on the bottom line and scheduled the installation date, all that is left is the perparation.  In the next post, we’ll tell you all about the installation process and the decisions we needed to make along the way.

The new de facto standard is call PURON.  Chemically, Puron refrigerant is an environmentally sound 50/50 blend of two separate refrigerants, R-32 and R-125 and has been given the designation of R-410A which is marketed under various names by differnt manufactueres. Consumer products featuring Puron refrigerant were first marketed in 1996.

Some of the reasons that home air conditioners manufacturers prefer Puron are:

• Higher energy efficiency
• Costs less over the life of the unit than continuing to use Freon
• Safer for the environment
• Considered Non-Toxic
• Non-Flammable

Some of the negative points associated with using Puron are:

• It is a relatively new product that can most likely be improved upon
• Careful installation is required to keep out moisture
• Requires a much higher operating pressure than Freon, so it can not be used in equipment designed for Freon

The bottom line is that we welcome the change, and with the proper planning a home owner can save substantially by chaning over to the new Puron-based systems.  Don’t get caught with your pants down by trying to stretch the life out of a Freon-based system after 2010.  Your maintenance costs will go up and your unit efficiency will go down.  Make the change, even if you have a few more good years left in your Freon unit.

Use Programable Thermostats

A programmable thermostat lets you establish different temperature settings based on the time of the day or in some cases the day of the week.  There’s no need to run your home air conditioners all day long while you’re at work, but turning it off or setting it to an uncomfortably low level during the day is not a good idea either.  You are not saving much if you have to run your air conditioner overtime when you get home to get the temperature and humidity back to a comfortable level.  Use the programing to save while you are away, then gradually lower the temperate back to comfort levels for the time you usually get home.

Zone your Home

By setting up ‘zones’, you will be cooling the occupied areas of your home and saving by not cooling the unoccupied areas.  Creating zones is most effectivly accomplished when installing a new system.  You can save money by installing multiple smaller units for cooling each zone rather than one large central unit for cooling your entire home.  Even if you are not in the process of installing a new system, you can still implement a zoning control system with your existing air conditioning unit by installing a zoning control system.  A zoning control system divides the home into multiplet zones, with a thermostat in each zone. The control system includes automatic dampers that fit into the ducts and a control panel that allows for the feedback of information between the programmable thermostat, indoor climate and damper positions.

Keep the cool air in

Air conditioning is most prone to escape through poorly sealed doors and windows.  Check for worn weather stripping.  Feel around your doors and windows from the outside during the heat of the day.  If you can feel the cool air then it is time to replace your weather stripping and/or caulking.

Keep the heat out
Use landscaping, awnings and overhangs to provide shade around the outside of your home. A shaded house is much easier to cool than one in direct sunlight.  Close your drapes and blinds to keep the sun out. Consider installing reflective films or solar shade screens on windows with the greatest exposure to the summer sun.

Maintain your Air Conditioning Units

Proper maintenance helps your air conditioner run more efficiently. Replace disposable filters or clean permanent filters every few months during the cooling season. It’s a good idea to have your entire system checked annually by a qualified air conditioning contractor.  Clean the outside condenser coils at the beginning and the end of the air conditioning season. Clean the coils with diluted detergent, then rinse them off. Trim back shrubs and remove anything that might obstruct air flow.

By following some common sense energy saving ideas revolving around your home air conditioner, you can effectively save 30% or more of your annaul operating costs.  Who doesn’t want to lower their utility bills?  Take a few dollars from the money you’ve saved by applying these tips and have a cold beer on us!