Largely speaking, it doesn’t pay to cut corners when it comes to your air conditioning system, especially here in Southern California where the temperature can soar well above 100.
When the temperature outside heats up, the last thing you want is an air conditioning system that doesn’t work properly, but if you or your landlord has installed a cheaply made, inefficient air conditioning system in your home or office, the money saved in the short run can cost you lots more in future repairs and maintenance – as well as sweaty, uncomfortable days and nights.
There’s a lot of moving parts and a lot of things that can go wrong. So when you buy a system that is poorly made, you’re just asking for trouble.
Cut-rate Unbranded Materials
The place to save a few bucks isn’t on the materials that are used to build air conditioning systems people depend on for comfort. Yet this is exactly what the manufacturers of cheaply made AC systems do, cutting corners by replacing interior parts with sub-quality equipment.
Low-end materials can’t keep up during peak demand. They wear down faster than high quality parts and eventually fail.
You know how it always seems as if air conditioners break during hot spells? That’s because they do: Hot weather is when the heaviest loads are put on AC units. And it’s when cheaply made systems break down under the strain most frequently.
Poor Design
In some cases, problems with inexpensive air conditioning systems go all the way back to the drawing board. Companies that make the cheapest air conditioners generally aren’t hiring the designers and engineers who graduated at the top of their classes at the finest universities.
Poor design leads to poor performance. Air conditioners can freeze up when there is improper airflow. If air can’t reach the air conditioner efficiently, or the blower fan is malfunctioning, the cold air will remain inside the unit and freeze the coil.
Breakdowns in control relays also can cause air conditioners to freeze. Meanwhile, the outside unit will continue to run – and your electric meter wheels continue to spin — even though no cool air is reaching the inside of the house.
Selecting the Right Size for Your Home
Air conditioning units come in many different sizes because they are designed to cool many different types of spaces. If your air conditioner is improperly sized for your home, you may notice that it cycles on and off frequently. That’s because it has to work extra hard to keep the air temperature constant.
Some low-end air conditioning contractors will cut costs by selling you an air conditioner that is too small to cool the volume of air contained inside your home or business. They pay less for these smaller models and they pass some of this savings on to you.
Unfortunately, what you save in upfront costs you more than make up in utility costs. That’s because undersized air conditioning systems will cycle on and off all time – or even run continually. And every time that fan turns on, it’s using additional kilowatts of electricity that you pay dearly for in your monthly electric utility bills.
Invest in Your Future
Trying to save a few bucks by buying a cheap air conditioning system is a bad idea. Ensure that you will have the cool air you want when you need it by investing in a top-quality air conditioning system that will provide years of reliable service.