Now… What do air conditioners and pool heaters have in common?

1. They are generally both used in the summertime. 

2. They don’t operate near their rated output.

Item one is self-explanatory. 

Item two isn’t, so here’s the scoop.

We will start with pool heaters. The explanation is rather simple. Gas pool heaters require a specific amount of cubic feet of gas, also known as the BTU. Many times we find 400k BTU pool heaters running at around ⅔ capacity. Why? The meter and/or the gas line to the pool are undersized. If you were wondering, you can’t just enlarge the diameter of the last few feet of piping near the pool heater to help with the volume.

Why else don’t pool heaters operate near their capacity? It could be due to the pool pump not flowing enough water or because of the unit short cycles. Think about a unicycle. You wouldn’t do a triathlon on one. Pun intended. 

Now, let’s talk about air conditioners. Ever wonder why so many people need 4 and 5 ton air conditioners? How about master bedrooms running on 2 ton central air conditioners?! I’ll explain the BTU of an AC, also known as tons. A high BTU is like a high horsepower car. It can make up distance quickly. In the air conditioning world, that means you can go from 74 degrees Fahrenheit to 68 degrees Fahrenheit quickly. 

Although, you don’t get the BTU you paid for when the duct work is:

• Leaky
• Undersized
• Imbalanced 

Or if the refrigerant wasn’t commissioned properly. It needs to be:

• Vacuumed
• Charged by:
  • Weight
  • superheat/subcool

So you end up paying more money for a larger unit that works half-assed. Also, if you don’t know the true meaning of comfort, you end up keeping your house at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Properly tuned systems with low humidity feel freezing at 73 degrees!

So there you have it. Two items that are used in the summertime and run below capacity due to errors by the installer.