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When it’s time to an replace an air conditioner, pretty much every St. Petersburg-area homeowner wants to save money. But cutting corners on an upgrade is one thing that could leave your home hot and uncomfortable, while also leaving you in worse financial shape. It pays to make sure your split-system air conditioning is properly matched.

Split air conditioners – how do they work?

The average split-system air conditioner has two separate parts that work in tandem to provide your home with plenty of cooling comfort and efficiency:

  • The outdoor half contains the compressor and the condenser. It’s usually near the home and on a concrete pad. 
  • The other half is inside your home and contains the evaporator. 

A key benefit of a split-system air conditioner is its relatively inexpensive cost of installation, especially in homes that already have a furnace but no central air conditioning. These systems are also an excellent alternative to window air-conditioning units, because they can cool an entire home. 

The importance of a perfect match

The two halves of a split-system air conditioner are specifically designed to work as a team to provide optimum cooling efficiency. For this reason, the vast majority of them are sold as complete systems. This ensures that your home is able to experience the best cooling performance possible without any underlying issues.

Dangers of a mismatched air conditioner

After looking at the cost of a new air conditioner, you might be tempted to save money by replacing only the failed half instead of replacing the entire system. This means using an indoor or outdoor unit that may not be the same model, capacity or even the same brand as the original. This can have dire consequences for the health of your new air conditioner:

  • There may be incompatibility issues between the two mismatched components, resulting in poor cooling performance, premature wear and tear and eventual failure. 
  • Newer, higher-efficiency units can place a tremendous amount of stress on older units, which invites constant repairs and premature failure.

Another issue you’ll run into is the use of incompatible refrigerant. Your new air conditioner will most likely use a refrigerant that is less damaging to the ozone layer, such as hydrofluorocarbon. If you replace just half of your split-system air conditioner, you run the risk of mixing two completely different types of refrigerant. This will not only cause poor cooling performance, but also promote corrosion in the various refrigerant lines and other components, ultimately leading to complete system failure.

Matched systems save money

You may think you’re saving money on your new air conditioner by replacing only the half that you think you need. But replacing only half of a split-system air conditioner can have plenty of costly consequences down the road. In the end, you’ll end up spending even more money replacing components that you shouldn’t have had to replace. 

Your expert contractor understands the importance of properly matching your new air conditioner. With your contractor’s help, you can replace your current split-system air conditioner with a properly matched system that offers the performance and efficiency you’ve come to expect. Your contractor will also do a load calculation to ensure that you have the smallest size that meets your needs. 

Contact Senica Air Conditioning, Inc. to find out more about properly matching the components of your new air conditioner. Let us put our years of home heating and cooling experience in the St. Petersburg area to work for you.

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