Every industry has their own set of "secret" acronyms and abbreviations that are tossed around, and outsiders are often stuck googling them to figure out what everyone is talking about. The purpose of this blog post is educate our customers, provide definitions of the most common heating and cooling acronyms and hopefuly eliminate some of the confusion and uncertaintly related to the products and services we offer.
HVAC or HVACR - Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (and Refrigeration)
SEER - Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio
- SEER is used exclusively when talking about the cooling efficiency of central air conditioning and heat pump units.
- SEER is the ratio of energy/heat removed from your home/office to energy consumed by your air conditioner averaged over the course of a traditional cooling season.
- The higher the SEER rating of your equipment, the more energy efficient and less costly to operate.
- All residential air conditioners sold in the United States must have a minimum SEER rating of 13.0.
EER - Energy Efficiency Ratio
- EER, similar to SEER is used when talking about the cooling efficiency of a central air conditioner or heat pump unit.
- EER is different from SEER in that it calculates the efficiency of a unit based on set indoor and outdoor conditions as opposed to over the course of an entire cooling season.
- The higher the SEER rating of your equipment, the more energy efficient and less costly to operate at the specified conditions.
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Heat Pumps are categorized by their SEER and HSPF ratings. Now if only you knew what that meant! |
HSPF - Heating Seasonal Performance Factor
- HSPF is used exclusively when talking about air source heat pumps.
- HSPF is the ratio of BTU heat output over the course of a traditional heating season to watt-hours of electricity used.
- Units are BTU/watt-hr and the higher the HSPF rating of your equipment, the more energy efficient and less costly to operate
AFUE - Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency
- AFUE is used exclusively when talking about gas/propane burning equipment
- AFUE is the ratio of energy/fuel going into your equipment to the heat/energy provided by your equipment averaged over the course of a traditional heating season.
- Often given in %, the higher the AFUE rating of your equipment, the more fuel efficient and less costly to operate
BTU or BTUH - Brittish Thermal Unit (per Hour)
- BTU or BTUH are a unit of measure to quantify the amount of heat provided or removed by a piece of HVAC equipment.
- 1 Ton = 12,000 BTU. This was derived from the amount of heat necessary to melt 1 ton of ice in exactly 1 hour.
- 1 kW of electricity = 3,412 BTU/hr.
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Pipe insulation, duct insulation and many insulating building materials are rated in accordance with their R-Value. |
R-Value
- R-value is a measure of the insulation effectiveness of a particular material.
- Insulation R-values are often given per inch (thickness) of material and can be added between different layers and materials.
- The higher the R-Value, the more effective the material is at preventing heat transfer in (or out) of the space it's insulating.
MERV - Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value
- MERV is a measurement scale to rate the effectiveness of air filtration devices to capture particles and ranges from 1 to 16 (i.e. furnace/air handler filters).
- Typically, standard residential installations use 1" MERV 8 filters however systems are available with up to 5" thick, MERV 16 filters.
- The higher the MERV rating, the better the filtration.
HEPA - High Efficiency Particulate Air
- HEPA filters are often used in medical facilities and homes where family members suffer from asthma or their health conditions require elevated indoor air quality.
- HEPA filters are remove 99.97% of 0.3 micro meter particles from the air steam passing through it.
