If you took a minute to step outside your house in Charlotte this week, you know it’s here… With temps floating into the 90’s for the 8th straight day, you can rest assured that Charlotte air conditioner repair companies are running full steam ahead to keep their customers cool during the heat spell. In a previous article, we discussed the cost to recharge a home air conditioner or heat pump on your Charlotte area central HVAC system, and in this Charlotte HVAC Guide, we are going to look at how many pounds of freon or refrigerant a system can hold. The general rule amount that can be estimated is in the 2-4 pounds per ton of cooling for your system. Disclaimer: This rule of thumb is VERY general and there are several variables that come into play. My Carrier 3-ton system may use 4-5 pounds, while your Goodman heat pump may use 5-6. The ONLY way to know for sure is to read the label on the side of the unit, and have your installer or service company provide the info for you.

As always, we recommend comparison shopping for installation and repairs as often as you can. Just like any other factor in pricing, you may find that 3 Charlotte AC repair contractors have 3 completely different prices for the same product or service. Take a look at the important variables that can affect how many pounds of freon your AC or Heat Pump may need. Probably one of the biggest factors, the size of your home AC or heat pump is going to have a significant effect on the amount of freon it uses on its own, but it will also have a downwind effect on several of the other factors listed below. For example, a larger condensing unit, needs a larger liquid line on the lineset… which also means more capacity. Length and Size of Copper Lineset The farther distance between the condensing unit and the evaporator coil, means a longer lineset is used to connect the two. Most AC units come from the factory with enough of a charge for the unit, and 15 feet of lineset.

Longer distances require additional freon. Larger capacity units also use a larger diameter tubing on the lineset, which will require more freon. SEER Rating, or Operating Efficiency If you have seen a 10 SEER system, you know they are roughly 20-30 inches tall with a 24 inch base. Essentially, a nice, small footprint. A comparable 15 SEER condensing unit may be 4 feet tall, with a 36 inch base, and be 2-3 times the size of the lower efficiency unit. This is due to all the extra coil surface required to generate the higher efficiency cooling, and thus… more freon is needed to fully charge the coil. It’s common to use a larger evaporator coil with an AC unit. In most cases, it can provide higher efficiency due to the larger coil area. Along with the added coil surface, you may need additional freon capacity to fill it. A split system, where the condensing unit is outside and the air handler, furnace and coil are inside (aka Split) is going to have to accommodate for different coils, linesets, and several other factors that were determined by the installer when the unit was first put into use.

A Packaged HVAC System, or “All in One” has everything in one cabinet outside the home. There are no different coil sizes to deal with and the lines connecting everything are self-contained in the same box.White Wolf Puppies For Sale In California Fortunately, most Charlotte AC Contractors are honest and treat customers fairly. Blinds Parker CoIf you think you may have been taken advantage of during a recent home ac recharge, make sure you ask them about it and give them a fair chance to explain their pricing and reasons for using the amount of refrigerant they did.Best Laptop For X Plane 10The mercury's rising, and unless you've got central air, you could be in for one hot, sticky summer. We tested seven of the newest window-mounted air conditioners, from 5,450 Btu up to 10,000 Btu—to suit all your home or apartment-cooling needs.

If these AC units don't suit your needs, you can always build your own.Here's a review of a popular portable air-conditioner.See also: Appreciating the technological miracle that is air conditioning. 21 of the Best Fall Festivals 12 Autumn Pallet Projects To Welcome Fall This Dog Has His Own Harry Potter Room Under the Stairs Tim Burton-Inspired Gingerbread House Will Get You Psyched for Halloween The 6 Best Workwear Jackets to Keep You Warm and Dry 6 Handsome Cutting Boards Anyone Can Build How to Build a Dog Feeding Station SIZING GENERATOR TO START AND OPERATE CENTRAL AIR CONDITIONER AND ELECTRIC MOTORS Motor driven appliances (such as refrigerators and air conditioners) for initial start-up require larger amounts of current than when they are running. This is because induction motors initially act like a short-circuited transformer. The maximum start up current is referred to as "Locked Rotor Amps" (LRA) because at the first moment when the rotor is at standstill it appear as if it is locked.

This current will drop significantly when motor accelerates to about 75% full speed. The LRA is typically 3 to 8 times continuous operating current (called full load amps, or FLA). Note, this does not equate to 3 to 8 times real (active) power because the power factor of a starting motor is low (<0.5). That's why when selecting a home generator for starting requirements, you must consider primarily its current surge capability. By the way, refrigerators may have lesser overall ratio between LRA and FLA because of the resistive heaters that are periodically connected to defrost the freezer. HOW TO FIND LRA An appliance nameplate usually has either starting amps or code letter designation. If you know the code letter you can obtain approximate initial kVA/HP ratio from NEC 2014 Table 430.7(B). After you calculated kVA, for single-phase coils you just multiply it by 1000 and divide by nominal voltage. If you can't find neither nameplate LRA nor code letter, the inrush amps can be measured.

You will need a clamp-on meter with Peak (surge) capability. To use it, you will have to clamp a single wire in the cable that feeds your device. For a cord-and-plug appliance, this can be done with an AC line splitter. Alternatively, you can take an extension cord, carefully remove a few inches of the external sleeve and pull black or white lead out of the bundle. For a hardwired unit it may be a bit more complicated-- you would need to figure out how to reach a single string-- just don't try to do it by yourself unless you have proper electrical training. Anyway, here is a basic measurement procedure. First of all, power off your unit. Set the multimeter to Peak reading, put on line-worker rubber gloves and enclose the wire within the clamp. Finally, turn on your unit and take the reading. For a chart of starting and running currents of single-phase 240VAC central air conditioners depending on their size, complete step-by-step genset sizing procedure for standby and portable setups and much more get my Home Generator ebook.

SIZING GENERATOR TO START A MOTOR Once you know LRA, you can pick a genset. However there is one lesser known detail you need to know. Most guides will tell to pick a model with surge current matching inrush current of your motor. Well, with such an advice you may wind up with twice larger generator than you really need. The case is that nameplate LRA is given for full voltage starting. In reality, when you start a motor from a generator, the current surge causes voltage dip. When voltage drops, the current is reduced proportionally. Most residential appliances can start with 30% voltage sag, that is at 30% lower currents. As the result, starting volt-amps could be 0.7*0.7=0.49 of nominal. For example, a typical 5-ton (5HP) a/c has 145 LR amps at 240VAC. At 30% voltage dip it would require (145*0.7)*(240*0.7)=17,052 VA to start. Commercial application normally allow only 15% drop, in which case you would need to deal with 0.85*0.85=.72 of nominal starting kVA. By the way, the HP numbers for air conditioners may be confusing for some.

Indeed, technically, 1 ton refrigeration is 4.7 hp or 3.5 kW. However, in case of air conditioners, electricity is used to pump energy from a cold area to a hot area. With a typical efficiency, 1 kW of electric power can transfer 3 to 4 kW of cooling. That's how 5 ton a/c can have 5 hp motor. Genset manufacturers often specify their models' surge wattage capability, but unfortunately, they rarely state LRA capability. The chart below shows typical data for standby generators. Generator's Rated Power (kW)710131416171820 Surge Current Capability at 240VAC 1 Ph (LR Amps @ 30% Voltage Dip)466395102117125133145Let's find what generator you need for a 5-ton air conditioner. At nominal voltage such an a/c would initially draw around 145A. But at 70% voltage it would need only 145*0.7=101.5 A. From the genset chart above we see that to provide such an inrush current you need a system rated 14kW or greater. Note that during steady state operation such an a/c will consume about 6 kW.

So, you would have up to 8 kW available to run other devices in your home. If you have several motor driven loads, the calculation gets a bit more complicated. You will need to find the load with the greatest difference between surge and running amps. REVIEW AND RATINGS TABLE OF STANDBY GENERATORS FOR HOME USE Then add that difference to the total running current of all appliances. This will give you net surge current requirement of your backup system assuming multiple devices rarely start up at exactly the same time. See our generator sizing guide for details. If you are buying an automatic system without an "intelligent" load control, be aware that after detecting a service interruption it may try to activate all your motors simultaneously. With such a system you'll need a genset with the capacity to provide the total starting current. Otherwise, the motors may trip the genset's circuit breaker or can overheat and even burn out. Alternatively, you may choose to set your standby system to manual mode.

Then in an emergency you could first turn on the central a/c and then all other loads sequentially. If your genset's surge current capability turns out to be less than needed to start your central a/c, it may require some form of assisted starting. You may need to install a "hard start" kit, which is quite cheap. It is basically a large capacitor in series with a relay. A two-wire device has to be connected with "piggy-back terminals" parallel to the existing "run capacitor" (these terminals may be marked RUN). Such a device usually has a solid-state relay. It is basically a PTC material that rapidly increases in resistance as it is heated when an electric current passes through it. As the result, it disconnects the start capacitor from the circuit soon after power is applied. The PTC material then remains hot from the "trickle current" that continues to flow through it as long as there is voltage. Note that when the power is disconnected from the motor, the solid state material begins to cool down, which takes one to two minutes.