Air Conditioner Installation near you

In summer there is no practical difference: both use a compressor, an outdoor coil and refrigerant to carry heat out of the house. The difference shows up in the fall, when a heat pump reverses its cycle and starts heating while a cooling-only air conditioner sits idle until the next summer.

A cooling-only unit still makes sense in some homes, for example when a recent heating system already works well, when the electrical panel is short on capacity, or when you only want to cool a single room. If you are replacing an old central air conditioner anyway, ask the contractor to quote both options side by side, since a heat pump is sized with winter heating in mind and may not match the size of the air conditioner it replaces.

Natural Resources Canada advises choosing a central air conditioner whose capacity just meets the home's design cooling load, as determined by a qualified contractor using a recognized sizing method. The calculation looks at the size of the house, its insulation, the number, type and orientation of the windows, the existing furnace and ducts, and the available electrical capacity. Rules of thumb based on floor area alone, or simply matching the old unit, miss most of these factors.

Getting it wrong is noticeable. An oversized unit cools the air quickly and shuts off before it has removed much humidity, which leaves the house cold and clammy. An undersized one runs constantly and still can't hold a comfortable temperature on the hottest days. For central systems, the contractor should also confirm that the furnace blower and the return ducts can move enough air for cooling, since weak airflow can freeze the indoor coil.

The outdoor unit gets rid of the heat it pulls from the house, so it works best in a cool, shaded spot with open space around it for airflow. Natural Resources Canada also suggests keeping it away from bedroom windows and patios, and not squeezing it between two houses, where the sound bounces around and the hot air has nowhere to go.

Under the Federal Halocarbon Regulations, only a certified person may install or service an air-conditioning system or recover its refrigerant, and releasing refrigerant into the air is prohibited. Certification means holding a provincially recognized certificate for an environmental awareness course on refrigerant handling and being qualified to work on these systems. In Quebec, workers who install or maintain halocarbon-based equipment must also hold the province's environmental halocarbon qualification certificate.

The new dedicated circuit and its disconnect switch are electrical work, which calls for a licensed electrician and often a permit or a declaration of work, depending on the province. Some municipalities also regulate where a condenser can sit and how much noise it can make, so ask who takes care of permits and have the answer written into the contract.