Don’t be confused by all of the heating and air conditioning terms that are related to your home’s indoor comfort system. Understanding HVAC terms can help you make informed decisions about home comfort and safety, as well as energy savings.

Important HVAC terms to understand include:

Air balancing – A professional technician can help you balance your air conditioning and heating system to ensure that the correct amount of air is delivered to specific areas of your home.

Ducts – Your home’s air moves throughout the structure and back to the air conditioner or furnace via these round or rectangular conduits.

Energy Star – The U.S. government brands certain energy-efficient air conditioners, heat pumps, furnaces, water heaters, and a horde of other appliances and products as Energy Star certified.

HVAC – This is the primary acronym used to describe the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in your home. Sometimes it’s referred to as HVAC/R, with the “R” representing refrigeration.

Infiltration – You want to block your home from air infiltration through cracks, gaps, and holes (or conditioned air that escapes the same way). These leaks should be sealed to prevent infiltration.

Indoor air quality – If not properly maintained, the air quality in your home can suffer from poor filtration, airborne contaminants, and improperly sealed ducts. A measure of your home’s indoor air quality can be determined by a professional technician.

Load calculation – This is a calculation of the amount of heating and cooling your home’s HVAC system must deliver to maintain comfort. It is affected by multiple factors including structure size, orientation on a lot, square footage, number of occupants, location of rooms, the amount of insulation, air leaks in your home’s exterior shell, and the cumulative size of doors and windows.

Maintenance agreement – Most HVAC service and installation companies provide maintenance agreements that provide a schedule of preventive maintenance visits.

Refrigerant – At high temperatures, a refrigerant found in your home’s A/C or heat pump rejects heat and, at lower temperatures, it absorbs heat.

Zoning – Your home can be divided into zones to provide targeted heating and cooling to different areas of the home.

If you have any further questions about HVAC terms, please don’t hesitate to contact the professionals at Pipe Works Services We’re committed to serving the HVAC, plumbing, and home comfort needs of northern New Jersey homeowners. Our goal is to help educate our customers in Chatham, NJ, and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

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