It’s the end of February in West Palm Beach, Florida, which means the cooler winter weather is almost gone. If your current air conditioner is aging or on its last legs, now’s the time to start shopping for a replacement. Otherwise, you risk experiencing an AC breakdown in the middle of summer and suffering in sweat. But what do you look for when shopping for a new air conditioner replacement? Here are four features of modern air conditioning systems and their benefits:
VARIABLE SPEED COMPRESSORS
Trane was the first HVAC manufacturer to build heating and cooling systems with variable speed technology. Until then, homeowners in West Palm Beach were only able to choose between single-stage and two-stage systems.
A single-stage system only has one operational setting when it isn’t off: high. This doesn’t give you much control and is highly inefficient by today’s standards. A two-stage system is a bit more efficient. It offers an additional level of operation: high and low. The low setting is usually enough for most homeowners to reach their comfort needs, reducing frequent cycling and producing more even temperatures. A variable speed system changes the game, though.
Staging refers to an air conditioning system’s ability to operate at less than its maximum capacity to improve comfort and efficiency. A variable speed system from Trane, which has between 700 and 750 stages, eliminates temperature fluctuations and reduces how much electricity your AC system uses to adequately cool your home. That’s because the system runs at incremental speeds without shutting off, keeping your home’s temperature constant.
If you’re still not convinced, check out these efficiency facts about single-stage systems:
- It takes up to eight times more energy for a system to start and stop.
- A single-stage system stops and starts up to 72 times every 24 hours.
- It takes a single-stage system 20 minutes to reach full capacity.