Glossary > Need Immediate Service? Call Today @ 972-265-9950!

ARI
The Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) is an agency which was created by HVAC manufacturers to verify the quality of units within the industry. ARI is a non-profit organization. It is comprised of volunteers. It publishes its ratings standards and benchmarks for testing heating and cooling products.

CAPACITY
Usually capacity is measured in BTU's or tons. Capacity is the air conditioning or heating unit's effectiveness to cool down or heat a measured space. A 20 ton air conditioner has double the capacity of a 10-ton unit.

CFM
A CFM is a unit utilized to show the activity of volume of air in Cubic Feet per Minute(CFM). For example a 400 CFM are handle moves 400 cubic feet in a minute.

COMPRESSOR
A compressor is the device which pumps the refrigerant through the refrigerant lines and the coil. As a result the transfer of heat possible from indoors to outdoors.

CONDENSER
The condenser is a coil that distributes heat to the outdoors air. It's function reverses when a heat pump is used.

COP
The Coefficient of Performance is a rating utilized to show a heat pump's ability to effectively use electricity in its operation. The Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute is an agency that provides the Coefficient of Performance at 47 degrees Fahrenheit and 17 degrees Fahrenheit because a heat pump works better at higher, outside-air temperatures.

dB
A db is the relative loudness of a sound, short for decibel. For example, the sound of a person's voice talking is close to 70 dB. (See also SRN.)

DOE
The Department of Energy (DOE), a federal agency that sets the standards for efficiency through the HVAC Industry and monitors the use of energy sources.

DUCT/DUCTWORK/DUCTING
Warmer and cooler air is then transferred to different registers all through the house via special, flexible, large-diameter pipes or ducts or at times referred to as ducting or ductwork.

EER
Energy Efficiency Ratio is a ratio of the cooling capacity of the air conditioner in BTUs per hour in relation to the total electrical input in watts. This measure is discovered by evaluating test units to the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute specifications.

EFFICIENCY
Efficiency is a term used to describe how efficiently a heat pump, air conditioning system, or furnace is converting incoming energy to outgoing energy, the higher the number, the more effective the unit. This can help lower operating costs.

EVAPORATOR COIL/EVAPORATOR
The Evaporator Coil is an essential part of the indoor unit of a heat pump or air conditioning system. It's function bears it's name. As warm air passes over a coil filled with liquid refrigerant, the refrigerant itself evaporates and absorbs a lot of the heat. The gas refrigerant is then pumped to the outdoor coil, where it transmits heat into the outside air and returns to its liquid state.

HVAC
Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning. This term is used to relate to the industry at large, including dealers of heating and air cooling equipment.

INDOOR COILS
The indoor coil is a device which transfers heat from indoors to the outdoors (or the reverse in the event of a heat pump in heating mode).

KILOWATT
A kilowatt (kW) is a unit used to express 1,000 Watts. Observe that the "W" in "kW" is always shown capitalized since the Watt unit was named after a Scottish engineer named James Watt (1736-1819).

KWH
When a unit uses 1,000 Watts in one hour, it is has an energy rating of 1kWh.

PACKAGE UNIT
A Package Unit is equipment that has all the heating and cooling components inside one cabinet.

REFRIGERANT
The liquid that is used to absorb and transfer heat from one part of the air conditioner to another. It is sometimes called "FREON".

REFRIGERANT LINES
The copper lines that are utilized to transfer the refrigerant between the outdoor unit and the indoor unit.

SEER
Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating or SEER is the rating utilized to describe the effectiveness of an air conditioner, or heat pump in cooling mode. If the SEER number is higher then the unit is more efficient. The Department of Energy's minimum SEER number rating is 10.

SPLIT SYSTEM
A home comfort cooling system that utilizes both indoor and an outdoor components to deliver clean comfortable air into a living environment.

THERMOSTAT
A device that is used to regulate the temperature of your home comfort systems to maintain a comfortable temperature during the day and night within the house. Some of these are programmable thermostats that enable you to program a specific temperature for different times during the day or night.

TON
The ton ratings actually have absolutely nothing to do with the weight of the unit. A ton is actually 12,000 BTUs (see BTU definition in this article). A typical home cooling/heating system uses heat pumps or air conditioners with capacities of between 1.5 and 5 tons.

WATT/WATTS
Electrical energy can also be expressed as "W" for Watts. For example, a 200W light bulb consumes 200Watts of electrical power. The W in Watt is always uppercased, because it is named after a Scottish engineer named James Watt (1736-1819).

ZONE/ZONING
A home can be divided into a number of different areas or zones to better control the temperature ranges in your home. The zoning process uses this type of method to divide your house into different areas.