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Back in the days before smart phones, televisions and automobiles, many people living in cold-winter climates cooled their homes and businesses in the summer with blocks of ice, which was harvested by the ton – millions of tons. In relation to cooling by ice and cooling by modern air conditioning, it takes 286,000 BTUs to melt one ton of ice in 24 hours (12,000 BTUs per hour). Over time, the term “ton” came to represent air conditioner capacity of removing 12,000 BTUs of heat from a given space in one hour, not 2,000 pounds of ice.

Your air conditioner contributes significantly to your summer energy bills. If you’re replacing your air conditioner this season, look for the right advanced A/C features, including a thermal expansion valve, to boost savings without sacrificing comfort.

The air conditioning system in your Twin Cities metro area home uses the principles of refrigeration for transferring heat out of your home and providing cool air to your home, but there’s more to it than that. Learn how your air conditioner keeps your home cool, and you can keep more money in your pocketbook.

Summertime in the Twin Cities metro area can get hot and muggy, and your air conditioner works hard 24/7 to keep you comfortable. If you haven’t scheduled your annual air conditioning maintenance yet, there’s still time to get the benefits of a comprehensive tune-up:

• Higher system efficiency
• Lower utility bills.
• Reduced chances of a midsummer breakdown
• Extended operating life for your system
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Having an oversized air conditioner is an all too common problem, especially if your home is an older one. Before homes were built to the higher energy-efficiency standards that now exist, they required larger equipment because their cooling loads were higher. However, if you have improved your home’s airtightness and insulation over the years, you likely now have too large a cooling system. 

Summer is in full swing in the Twin Cities metro area, and you’re probably looking for ways to lower your energy bills while maintaining optimum comfort. An overworked air conditioner becomes less efficient over time and may experience common A/C problems resulting from hard work and neglect. Optimize the cooling in your home to take some of the load off your air conditioner with these tips.

As homeowners, we’re always looking for ways to save energy and money. This is why so many people across the country and around the globe are looking into smart programmable thermostats to help control their comfort needs. Today we’ll take a look at why being programmable is so important and what sets these units apart from their predecessors.

Hearing unusual noises coming from your air conditioning compressor can be unsettling at best. In the summertime, temperatures in the Twin City metro area can get hot very quickly, and with high humidity, which can make indoor air conditioning an absolute necessity. A broken-down A/C is the last thing you and your family need to deal with. So how can you tell the difference between a noise in the outside air conditioner compressor that’s normal; something that is easily remedied; and a noise that could signal something far more serious and expensive?

Air conditioners can lower indoor humidity levels by removing some of the water vapor from the air, though their performance can vary greatly depending on the model, its features and age. Also, most A/Cs do struggle to remove moisture from the air when it gets very humid. Naturally, the main purpose of an air conditioner is cooling, and that is what they are structured to do. When both heat and humidity is a problem, you may need an air conditioner and dehumidifier.

Whether you realize it or not, a colorless, odorless gas may be silently threatening the health of you and your family by putting you at risk of lung cancer. Some 21,000 lung cancer deaths a year are attributable to this gas, radon. As a result, the Minnesota Department of Health recommends each and every home be tested for it.