Effective Arizona Air Conditioning Deals With Heat and Humidity
It’s Hot Outside; I Need Better Arizona Air Conditioning
In the course of time, air conditioning designers learned that effective cooling requires efficient outside ventilation. However, improved techniques in modern building constructions generate an exact opposite effect wherein modern buildings are exclusively air-conditioned in an environment more tightly sealed than ever before in history. Thus before you know it, efforts to eliminate the effects of hot outside air merely create a clammy inside environment.
However, removing the internal moisture quickly eliminates the “clammy” effect, reduces molds, and makes for a cleaner inside living environment. It’s what we call the “Arizona Effect,” wherein a 90-degree Arizona day can feel terrific even though a humid 90-degree day on the east coast feels wretched.
Conventional home cooling systems employ two primary functions of air conditioning:
- Latent Cooling — The systems capacity to remove moisture from the air within a given area of space.
- Sensible Cooling — The systems capacity to lower the temperature of a given area of space.
To understand these two principles we must first explain the distinction between latent heat and sensible heat. But let’s avoid all the tech jargon. Therefore:
Latent heat refers to heat that generates a change of state within a substance or object without forcing a change in temperature within the given substance or object. For example: even while boiling, water maintains a consistent temperature of 100-degree C. Adding latent heat forces the water to continue boiling yet never induces a change in the water’s core temperature.
Conversely, sensible heat produces a direct effect upon the temperature of a given substance or object. When sensible heat is applied, the temperature of the object or substance increases. When the source of heat is removed, the temperature of the object or substance decreases.
Thus the total efficiency or “total capacity” of your home air conditioning system is measured by combining its effective use of latent and sensible heat.
Factors That Influence The Latent Cooling Load of Your Arizona A/C System
Since removal of moisture is the core purpose for introducing Latent Cooling into the function of your air conditioning system, objects associated with the generation of moisture become the primary factors of influence. Thus primary causes include:
- Appliances and equipment such as refrigerators, washers and more
- Infiltration of external air via cracks, doors and windows
- People and pets.
Common Factors That Influence Your Arizona Home A/C Sensible Cooling Load
Although some of the factors pertinent to latent cooling can also influence your home Arizona air conditioning systems sensible cooling load, the factors associated with sensible cooling is extensively larger. For example:
- Attic space, roofs and the ceilings beneath induce temperature-changing effects throughout your home
- External facing glass such as on doors and windows which not only conduct contact heat and cool but also permit direct sunlight to enter your home
- Exterior walls and any other structure formats that make direct contact with external heat and cold
- Mechanically induced ventilation air
- People and pets
- Appliances, equipment, and indoors lighting
- Air infiltration via cracks, open crawl spaces, doors, windows, and the comings and goings of household members
- A/C duct-work that travels through unconditioned regions of the home
- Even internal room partitions influence your home air conditioning systems’ sensible cooling efficiency.
Just because it’s hot outside doesn’t mean that you need a new A/C installation. However, just because it’s not hot outside today doesn’t mean that your Arizona home air conditioning is functioning as an efficient unit. You don’t have to live with a moist and clammy inside environment. For a free in-home HVAC performance checkup, call American Cooling and Heating today. Units on-sale today.
Efficient Arizona air conditioning deals with heat and humidity.