WHAT IS AN AIR CONDITIONER SEER RATING? WHAT DOES TONNAGE MEAN?
Terms like SEER and tonnage get thrown around a lot in the HVAC world. If you’re in the market for a new air conditioner, you’ve likely heard them. But, you may not know what they mean or why they’re important. Understanding these go a long way toward picking out the right unit for your home or business. These terms tell you how powerful of an A/C you need and if they may also save you a little bit of money. Let’s take a look at what these terms mean and how you can use them to choose your new HVAC equipment. What does tonnage mean for an air conditioner? The tonnage of an air conditioner measures how much heat it can remove from an area in the course of one hour. It’s based on the word “ton,” but has nothing to do with the weight or mass of the a/c itself. Instead, one “ton” here can remove 12,000 British Thermal Units, or BTU’s, every hour. A Btu is a measure of heat. Specifically, it’s the amount of heat that’s needed to increase the temperature of a pound of water