Consumption and Real Estate
Air conditioner size?
Question : Air conditioner size?
I have a 2,600 sq. foot house. This does not include the basement, which is not usually included in the sq. foot calculation. However, i have a finished 400 sq. foot basement that is heated and cooled by the central air system. Therefore, if i include the basement, the total sq. footage that is supplied heating and cooling is approx. 3,000. The house is well insulated and originally had a 3.5 system in it (this system caused the first floor to be about 7 to 10 degrees cooler than the 2nd floor). The old system was installed before we moved in and was only about 7years old before it died (a few days ago. We were told that the system was probably overworked b/c it was too small for the house). We had 2 A/C people come over and give 2 different size requirements for A/C. One said 4 ton and the other said 5 ton. I am not sure what would be the best solution and we do not want to have to go without A/C for much longer, so did not want to have to shop around any longer. Neither of those that gave us quotes did any analysis on the house to determine the proper size of the system. They just used the square footage as the basis (as did our home warranty company). I don’t want to get too big of a system (5 tons) and have humidity problems (and potentially mold and mildew), but i don’t want to buy a system that is too small to cool the house properly and potentially risk overworking the system. Can anyone provide me with any advice. Thanks in advance for any information provided.
home warranty quote
Best answer:
Answer by Anneliese Scarlett
Since your basement has central air, why don’t you get central air all over the house? I have it all over mine and it’s a dream!
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#2 written by alwayson 1 year ago
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#3 written by abradley57 1 year ago
I’m not sure where you live. I live in Arkansas and the rule of thumb here is that you need 1 ton of cooling for every 500 sf of house. The problem being that most manufacturers only make up to a 5 ton unit for residential use. My house had two units, a 3.5 ton and a 2 ton. This year, I had them both replaced with a 5 ton. The house is 2140 sf. I think I would have been better off with two units, but one was cheaper.
For a two story house and your square footage, I would definitely go two units. Depending on the square footage per floor, maybe a 3.5 ton upstairs and a 3 ton downstairs. If you go with a 12 SEER unit, it will be somewhat efficient and still be resonably priced. If you go to a 19 SEER unit, you are looking at some high dollar equipment.
The best thing to do to make sure would be to get someone out there that can do a load study and look at the duct work as well. This is the only way to be sure you get one that is the correct size for your house. Too big won’t cause excess moisture, but it will cause the unit to not be as efficient. Too small and the efficiency isn’t the only problem. The house will not cool properly either.
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more or just as important is having a reputable installer,I have 1200 sq ft my unit is a 2 ton which struggled for years,
I finally needed a replacement , i wanted a larger unit this time but the people i hired told me that if it’s installed properly a 2 ton is perfect,bigger units which shut off too quick are not better they need to run to remove the humidity ,he explained what was done wrong the first time,wrong size tubing etc.he replaced the whole system and it performs perfectly, you might need a 5 ton.