Important Facts About Cooling Your Home

Many people condemn a home air conditioning system because it doesn't keep the rooms as cool and comfortable in hot muggy weather as they think it should. This may be unfair. A home air conditioner that doesn't give satisfactory performance may have been incorrectly selected for the job, but, more often, the family simply has not learned how to live with it. They have to learn more about it and how to take advantage of it.

Any cooling system has definite limitations. It is the reverse of a heating system. Family living habits that help the heating system are arch enemies of cooling. The furnace or boiler delivers heat into the rooms and the heat that is created within the house by electric lights, cooking, the TV set, clothes washing, bathing, etc., helps to heat the rooms. Just that much less is required from the boiler or furnace.

Cooling is just the reverse. The cooling equipment removes heat from the house and any extra heat released into the rooms from these same sources will make the room air warmer and place an additional burden upon the equipment. Further, with heating we are primarily concerned with the thermometer temperature, but with, cooling we are concerned with temperature and relative humidity (the amount of moisture in the air). Relative humidity is an important factor in comfort cooling and the removal of moisture from the air is essential.

"BALMY" VS. "MUGGY" The effect of humidity upon comfort can be illustrated by a familiar outdoor condition. There are days when the temperature is relatively high, yet is comfortable because the air feels "balmy." That is because the relative humidity is low. There are other days when the temperature is about the same but there is discomfort from a "muggy" feeling and perspiration does not dry on the skin. This is because the humidity is high.

That same condition can exist indoors. The air must be both cool and relatively dry for comfort. Unfortunately the process of cooling air increases its relative humidity unless some moisture is taken from it simultaneously. Consequently, the cooling unit must remove both heat and moisture.

NO MYSTERIES ABOUT COOLING There is nothing very mysterious about the operation of your cooling unit. It resembles an enlarged version of the electric refrigerator in your kitchen. The room air is drawn into the unit by a fan first passing through a filter that removes most of the dirt, dust and pollens. It next passes over the surface of a coil that is cooled by a refrigerant circulating through the inside of the coil. Here the temperature of the air is reduced about 15 to 20 degrees and then discharged into the rooms through ducts and registers.

When air from inside the home passes through the cooling coil, it loses some of its moisture which collects upon the coil surfaces the form of water and drains out on the ground. The quantity of heat and moisture removed is established by the design of the cooling coil. Most cooling units are adjusted to remove the maximum amount of heat and moisture. Never lose sight of the fact that there is a definite limit on its capacity to do either. A "ton" of cooling capacity is the equivalent of the quantity of heat required to melt one ton of ice in 24 hours. In technical jargon, this is 12,000 BTU per hour and a technical man may state the capacity in terms of BTU per hour.

IMPORTANCE OF PROPER REGISTERS Your central cooling system utilizes a single cooling unit to air condition the entire home. The ducts in the floor are used to distribute the air to all the rooms of the home, provided the registers in the rooms are correct for cooling purposes. Not every warm air heating register will work satisfactorily. Cooled air must be directed straight up to the ceiling.

PROPER VOLTAGE AND WIRING The compressor motor and the blower motors of your unit were designed to operate on 230 volt single phase power. If the voltage is too low, the unit will not deliver its full capacity. Excessive dimming of lights and blowing of fuses is an indication of low voltage.

Length and sizing of wiring can create a low voltage condition. Check your manual for wire size. If wiring is not the problem, ask for assistance from your power company.

PROPER SIZING The size of your cooling equipment should be selected by a competent dealer or engineer. Do not attempt to do it yourself. This is extremely important to your comfort and to your purse. A unit that is too small will not remove enough heat to cool the air sufficiently, but will satisfactorily reduce the humidity because it will operate continuously in hot weather. One that is much oversized will do a good cooling job but will not remove sufficient humidity on hot and "muggy" days.

SHADE AIDS COOLING Glass areas exposed to the sun are responsible for a very substantial amount of the heat that enters a home. The sun not only heats the glass, but also all the surfaces indoors that it shines upon. The most effective way of eliminating this heat is to keep the sun off the glass areas and windows. Exterior awnings and sun shades will offer partial protection. Screen shades, venetian blinds and heavy draperies will also help. Trees that shade the home are of inestimable value. The orientation of the home and its position on the lot can mean much to the cooling system.

The next step is to reduce the heat and moisture released within the home that place an additional burden on the cooling system and may cause inadequate cooling. This is where you must learn to live with the cooling system and realize its limitations.

COOKING Families living in air conditioned homes have better appetites than those in homes which are not air conditioned. Cooking releases a large amount of heat and moisture. A kitchen range with all burners operating can release more heat than a two or three ton cooling unit can remove if it did nothing else. A kitchen ventilating fan should always be running while cooking is in process. A kitchen window should be slightly open to replace the air that the fan moves out.

MOPPING AND CLEANING Mopping floors, washing furniture and other cleaning operations requiring water will release moisture into the air as the wet surfaces dry. These operations should be done on a cool day, or at least during the coolest part of a warm day when the full cooling capacity of the equipment is not required.

DRYING CLOTHES Laundry, including baby clothes and lingerie, should never be dried indoors when cooling. The water released from the clothes enters the air and then must be removed by the cooling equipment.

Never permit an automatic clothes drier to discharge its heat and moisture inside an air conditioned home. It will place a load upon the cooling unit that may cause discomfort for hours. Many complaints of unsatisfactory cooling have been traced to this one cause. Dryers must be vented to the outdoors.

IRONING CLOTHES A hand Iron or a mangle releases heat into the air, the difference between the two only being in the amount of heat released. Ironing should be done on a cool day or late in the evening when the cooling system has reserve capacity and can remove this extra heat without noticeable difficulty.

ODORS An air conditioning system will remove odors from the home that are dust-borne because the dust will be eliminated by the filters and the wet surfaces of the cooling coil. Incidentally, the water that drips off the cooling coil is not equivalent to distilled water, since it is filled with dust, germs, and dust-borne odors.

BATHS AND SHOWERS Tub and shower baths release heat and moisture (steam) into the air. A shower bath releases more than a tub bath and, of course, the longer the shower, the more the released heat and moisture. A bathroom ventilating fan in operation while baths are being taken will remove that heat and moisture. Do not use a shower curtain that absorbs water. Use one made of plastic materials or other nonabsorbent materials.

ENTERTAINING Your cooling system was designed and sized to keep you and your family comfortable and probably will not be large enough to keep an additional 10 or 15 people comfortable on a hot day. Lowering the thermostat setting will not help. This is one of the things you should learn to live with.

DUST, DIRT AND POLLENS Your cooling unit will remove dirt, dust and pollens. Many hay-fever patients report considerable relief in an air conditioned house during the pollen season.

CLEAN THE FILTERS A filter should be replaced periodically, possibly every two weeks during the cooling season. A dirty filter affects the operation of the equipment by reducing the amount of air that can circulate through the cooling unit.

DOORS AND WINDOWS Windows should remain closed throughout the cooling season. Opening them lets in warm air and often highly humid air, particularly at night. Do not open the doors more often than necessary and then for as short a period as possible. It usually costs more to cool a home with children that are running in and out frequent intervals because each time the door is opened warm air comes in.

WINDOW COVERINGS Windows on the east,south and west sides of the home that are not protected from the sun on the outside should be protected on the inside with venetian blinds or heavy draperies. Keep them closed or drawn when the sun is on their side. Inside protection against sun will not be as effective as outside protection but it will help tremendously.

DON'T TURN THE EQUIPMENT OFF AND ON Equipment that is thermostatically controlled should be allowed to operate as required throughout the cooling season. The thermostat will operate the unit only as necessary to keep you comfortable and requires no help. There are technical reasons why uninterrupted operations are the most satisfactory.

THERMOSTAT SETTING A temperature of 76 to 78 degrees is preferred by most people. You may select a lower temperature setting if you wish and you will probably have that temperature a good portion of the time. But do not be disappointed and condemn the equipment if the temperature gets a few degrees warmer during a very hot afternoon. Most systems are designed for a maximum cooling that will maintain the indoor temperature 15 to 20 degrees below the normal maximum outdoor temperature and they cannot do much better than that. Set the indicator at the temperature agreeable to the family and leave it there.

THERMAL SHOCK A physical thermal shock to the body of a person going out of or into an air conditioned space, so often associated with cooling during hot weather, has been no major problem with residential cooling. There appears to be no dangerous physical shock to a normally healthy person entering or leaving an air conditioned space although the change may be temporarily unpleasant. This, however, may not be the case with persons in ill health, and with such persons, the greater the difference in temperature between the air conditioned space and the outdoors, the greater the reaction or discomfort will be. Mothers with small children who go in and out of doors frequently have avoided the possibility of this by maintaining a slightly higher temperature indoors.

STALE AIR If the air appears to be stale, it is because the house remains closed and relatively little outdoor air gets in, and the system re-circulates much of the same air over and over again. Your dealer can correct this by arranging for the introduction of a small amount of outdoor air into the cooling system. This will result in a slight increase in the cost of operation. There are many more things that have not been mentioned that you can do to help your air conditioning equipment maintain the comfort you want. Many of these you will recognize as they present themselves. If you will remember to minimize the release of heat and moisture indoors on a hot day and learn to live with the air conditioner, you will be comfortable. Folks who live in air conditioned homes generally have better health, eat better, stay home more, along with countless other blessings that only domestic air conditioning can bring.