Prepare for the Heat with Two AC Units
These hot August days have me thinking about my AC a lot! Oh I know, some people are itching for falling leaves and pumpkin spice lattes, but let’s not forget we’re only a little past halfway through summer! And I’m always glad to come in to a well air conditioned room after a sweltering walk outside. But I don’t love a living room so cold I feel like I need a sweater – meanwhile upstairs, my bedroom is still a sweat lodge. So what’s a girl to do? Well, sometimes you need to up your AC game, and get yourself a second unit!
Wait, two AC units? Isn’t that overkill? Well, it could be, but let’s look the following three considerations.
Older Houses
Do you live in an older home? They are notoriously harder to heat and cool effectively. Hot air rises, as you know especially well if you’ve ever had to store anything up in the attic in the middle of summer! So the upper levels are much harder to keep cool than the first floor or basement. And older homes were built before air conditioning, so they often lack the infrastructure needed to accommodate modern AC systems. Also older homes typically are not well insulated and hot (and humid) air has plenty of opportunities to leak into the house from the outside.
Cost Versus Savings
On the one hand, buying a second AC unit will cost more up front obviously. But 2 smaller units may be a more effective choice than one larger unit, so the cost may not be as much as you think. And then there’s the energy savings. Many people find they can leave the second floor unit off during the day, and only utilize it at night which is a huge savings! Not only will you be more comfortable throughout the day and at night, but you will be using energy more efficiently. The cost savings of that alone may offset the higher price of a second unit.
System Failure
Not something anyone wants to think about on a 98 degree day, but it seems like your AC unit only goes out on the hottest days! We do our best to provide same day service if your AC does go out – just give us a call. But an ounce of prevention equals a house that can still remain fairly cool using the other AC unit while you wait for repairs.
Not in a two story house? Well you may still want to consider it if you have a large house or very long layout. Being able to separately control a wing of the house that gets less use during certain parts of the day would also result in significant energy savings. Now some of these issues could also be resolved with a zoned system, like we talk about here. You really want an HVAC professional you can trust, who can look at your situation and recommend which system would be the most beneficial. We’d love to help so that you can make an informed decision!
