Glossary of Terms

Here's a list of industry terms that'll help you talk the "technical" talk:

A Straight Cool System uses different sources for heating. A Straight Cool with Heat Strip system means the heat source is an electric resistance heat strip that works like your kitchen toaster. Electricity flows along a coil of wire, creating heat through resistance, then a fan carries the heat into your home. A straight cool system can work with oil, natural gas, or an LP gas furnace.

Perfect for Florida, a Heat Pump is also called a Reverse Cycle air conditioner. When standing next to a running air conditioning unit, you feel hot air. That's the heat being extracted from your home's interior during the cooling process. When you need to heat your home, the heat pump "reverses" the flow, extracting heat locked up in the outside air, pumping it into your home. A heat pump is efficient until outside temperatures fall below 40 degrees. Then, the system activates an auxiliary heat strip to maintain comfortable temperatures. Above 40 degrees, the heat pump costs about a third of electric resistance heat. Since our part of Florida doesn't have many days or nights of sustained temperatures below 40 degrees, you can take full advantage of heat pump technology here.

A Package Unit is a comfort system that contains both the condenser and air handling sections in a single unit. Installed at ground level outside a home, it's connected to the duct system inside.

A Split System separates the condenser section and air handling section into two units. The condenser unit is installed outside your home and is connected to the air handler inside. Copper pipes transfer refrigerant between the condenser coil and the evaporator coil in the air handler. This type of system offers many advantages, including better operating efficiency, lower noise levels and versatility of installation.

The Condenser Unit handles the refrigerant providing cooling (and heating in a heat pump). It consists of the condensing coil, compressor, fan motor and control valves and delivers cooled refrigerant to the system's air handler. This unit is often called the "outside section" in a Split System.

The Compressor is the "heart" of the condensing unit. Working like an engine, it compresses the refrigerant into liquid form, pumping it to the air handler. Then, it draws the refrigerant back as a gas and compresses it again. Should it need replacing, this is the most expensive part of a system.

The Air Handler is connected to the air ducts that deliver the conditioned air into your home and returns it to the evaporator coil to be "re-conditioned." The evaporator coil, fan motor, and heat strip are found inside this section.

Located in the air handler, the Evaporator Coil delivers the cooling (and heating in a heat pump) produced by the condenser unit and transferred to the air handler. This part of the system also extracts the humidity from the air.

The Filter removes dust particles and other contaminants from the conditioned air. Many types of filtration devices are available - visit our "Indoor Air Quality" page for more information. The filter cleans the air so narrow passages in the evaporator coil don't become clogged, reducing efficiency. Most filters should be changed or cleaned at least once a month. Cleaning the filter is the single most important thing you can do to ensure your system is operating at peak efficiency.

An acronym for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio, SEER rates the cooling efficiency of an air conditioning system, much like the "miles per gallon" rating used for automobiles. The minimum efficiency level now required by law is 13.0 SEER. The higher the SEER rating, the more efficient the system. Many utility companies now offer financial incentives to encourage their customers to install more efficient home comfort systems. Check out our SEER comparison chart to see how much you could save with a more efficent system.

An acronym for Heating Seasonal Performance Factor, the rating system for the heating efficiency of the heat pump in a home comfort system. The higher the HSPF, the more efficient the system is when called upon to heat your home.

BTU stands for British Thermal Unit, a standard for measuring the capacity of a cooling and heating system. A BTU is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree on the Fahrenheit scale. (Remember your high school science class?) The work capacity of air conditioning equipment is expressed in total BTUs.

A Ton is the total BTU capacity of a system. Going back to "class," a ton is equal to the BTUs required to melt one ton of ice in a 24-hour period. Since there are 12,000 BTUs in a ton, a 3-ton air conditioning unit will produce 36,000 BTUs and so forth. The size of the area to be cooled determines the correct size of the system in tons.

©Climate Design Air Conditioning Inc., 2006