Every home has a heating and cooling load, which is the amount of heating and cooling needed to keep the indoor spaces at the temperature preferred by the building’s occupants. A load calculation is a detailed process for determining your home’s required heating and cooling loads. With this information, you and your HVAC consultant can choose exactly the right-sized air conditioner, furnace or heat pump for the job.
- Load Calculations are vital to proper sizing: The results of a load calculation are imperative for proper sizing of the HVAC equipment you need to purchase. Sizing, in this case, refers to the functional capacity of the system and how much heating or cooling it can produce. A properly sized HVAC system will work at its best level of efficiency.
- Load calculations require detailed information and on-site inspections: When performing a load calculation, make sure you and your HVAC professional have as much data available as possible. Have the evaluator conduct an on-side assessment of your building to identify thermal and structural characteristics affecting the building’s load.
- Use accurate data and standards, not rule-of-thumb estimates: The knowledge of long-time HVAC pros is extremely valuable, but when doing a load calculation, precision is required. Don’t use guesswork or estimates no matter how well grounded in experience they may be.
- If something in the HVAC system design changes, a new load calculation will be needed: Changes in HVAC design or equipment will require a new load calculation. Do not proceed with a load calculation until all necessary data is available.
- Rely on industry-standard techniques and resources: Load calculations should be based on practices, standards and techniques that are accepted throughout the HVAC industry. The best source of load calculation procedures is Manual J, “Residential Load Calculation,” published by the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA).
Indoor Solutions, Inc. has more than a decade’s worth of experience serving HVAC customers in Columbus and the surrounding areas in Georgia and Alabama. Contact us today for more information on the importance of a load calculation to the selection of new or upgraded HVAC equipment.
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