Significant HVAC Trends in 2015
The amount of attention given to global warming, or the recently preferred term, climate change, impacts heating and air conditioning contractors directly. Most of the electrical power used to operate furnaces and air conditioners comes from burning fossil fuels that release carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. The effort to decrease greenhouse gases has generated some continuing trends that affect the industry. Five of those trends follow.
Phasing Out of R-22
HVAC equipment manufacturers had to stop making air conditioners that used Freon at the beginning of 2010. Makers of Freon must cease production in January of 2020.
Replacement of equipment built and installed prior to the EPA’s Clean Air Act that used R-22 for a refrigerant continues as older equipment fails, to new units using R-410A, which does not cause ozone depletion. Currently, equipment using R-410A costs slightly more, but the trend is toward a decrease in this price difference as manufacturing in higher volumes progresses.
Higher Efficiency
Furnaces performing at an 80 percent efficiency level represented an industry standard for many years. As those furnaces reach the end of their useful life, replacing them with new models of 90-98 percent efficiency continues to be a long-term trend. The initial cost takes years to recover in the form of energy savings, but environmental consciousness drives this move, along with the motivation of monthly utility bill savings.
For air conditioners, new equipment of at 13-SEER or higher efficiency rating began showing up beginning in 2006. Replacing older outdoor compressor units requires new indoor coils as well.
Smart Thermostats
Automatically lowering set-point temperatures at night, or during the day when no one needed heat offers perceptible benefits. The same is true for cooling.
Programmable thermostats perform this function, but the Internet of Things and the widespread adoption of smart phones creates a market for people who want to control their HVAC systems remotely, without going through all the steps required with programmable thermostats.
Quieter Systems
The modern world is full of noise. People wanting to escape some of this noise adopt duct silencers that make the noise of air moving through ducts practically nonexistent.
Smarter Customers
Extensive research of virtually any contemplated purchase represents a trend toward well-informed customers. Especially with long-term, big-ticket expenditures such as those involving HVAC systems, customers spend time finding out exactly what previous purchasers think about how well a particular piece of equipment’s marketing claims match the actual performance.
Call Superior Heating, Cooling & Electric at (763) 422-1721 for top-tier HVAC repair services in the Anoka area.