Javic Homes Blog

What Does SEER Mean For My Air Conditioning? | July 11, 2011

When it comes to energy use, your Air Conditioning can be 50% of your electric bill in Tampa, especially during a hot summer like we are having.  I like saving money, so you could take the approach in the photo, but there are some better options.  As a custom homebuilder in Tampa, we continually look for ways to build energy-efficient homes, especially through the use of efficient AC systems.  We are often asked, “What is SEER?”  SEER is an efficiency rating for AC systems, much like miles per gallon (MPG) is used to rate automobile efficiency. 

We all understand that if you drive 300 miles and consume 20 gallons of gas, the vehicle’s fuel efficiency (MPG) is 15 miles per gallon (300 miles divided by 20 gallons).  A vehicle that gets 12 MPG is less efficient and more costly to operate than a 15 MPG vehicle.  For AC systems, SEER works in the same way by using BTUs (cooling output) divided by WATTs (energy use).  Back in the 80’s, a 8 SEER unit was the norm.  Today there is a minimum requirement of 13 SEER on all new homes, which is quite an improvement.  Yet the industry makes AC units with even higher SEER ratings.  

So, the second question we get asked is “What SEER makes the most sense for a new home today?”   What we’ve learned is that you can lower your electric cost for an AC unit by approximately 5% for each SEER you increase, which amounts to $10 per month for a typical home.  So with this knowledge in hand, it’s time to do a little cost benefit analysis.  Today’s cost to increase from a 13 SEER to 14 SEER is about $300 per unit, so that’s a payback in 2-3 years.  The cost to increase from 13 SEER to 15 SEER is about $1,500 per unit, so that’s a payback in 6-7 years.  For me, this is too long a payback period, so I recommend doing the increase to 14 SEER and holding off on any higher SEER systems for now.  Certainly, the costs for AC systems change frequently and I fully expect that the higher SEER units will cost less as technology and manufacturing improves.

So that’s it in a nutshell for SEER, but that fan in the face of the dog still cracks me up.  I wonder if that’s where they got the term “Dog Days of Summer”.

Jon Solomon

www.JAVICHOMES.com

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