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ICC Residential
San Diego Inspection Perfection
Serving
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New HVAC requirements could heat up repair costs. New energy state and federal regulations mandates tighter efficiency requirements for Heating Venting and Air Conditioning.(HVAC). While the benefits of energy savings costs and improved efficiencies are achieved, it could catch home owners in a snowball effect in replacement costs. The California Energy Commission recently amended Title 24 requiring home ducting system to be tested for leaks when you At the federal level, Dept of Energy mandates to improve the air conditioner efficiency from SEER 10 to SEER 13 to manufacturers of air conditioners. Seer 13 has a 30% improvement of energy efficiency over SEER 10. What is Title 24? Recent amendments(pdf) effective October In principal, we loose up to 30% of our heating and cooling efforts due to poorly installed, designed or engineered ducting. The new codes calls out to measure leakage and to less than 15% of airflow, or 60% reduction or in new installations leakage to no more than 6 %. In addition this all requires a 3rd party verification included prior in the permit process. Exceptions to the new Duct Sealing requirements
What climate zone are you in? www.energy.ca.gov/maps/climate_zone_map.html The actual reference to these requirements can be obtained from the Ca. Dept of Energy website. Its not an easy read. Recommend to seek a reliable HVAC contractor who understands the ramification of Title 24. What is Seer 13? – Dept of Energy Seen all those yellow tags on refrigerators, water heaters and other household appliances? There a result of federal mandates to conserve energy; reduce our dependency in fossil based fuel and save costs in energy over time. HVAC follows the same federally guided mandates from the department of energy. SEER stands for Seasonal Energy Efficient Rating. Beginning January 23, 2006, air conditioning manufactures will have build to SEER 13 standards. This standard requires 30% improvement in energy efficiency. Many San Diego suppliers have mentioned these units are larger. Seer 10 systems dimensions around 24 cu ft. Seer 13 units could be as much as 36 cu feet. Some of the locations cannot accommodate the large size and require relocating the unit. Goodman and Bryant has maintained the existing form factor. Avoid mismatching Air conditioning components. The buzz about the new SEER 13 is the increase size of the equipment. One article advises up to twelve inches higher and three inches wider. The existing location may be not able to accommodate the new equipment. There may be a tendency to replace your outdoor condensing unit from SEER 10 to SEER 13 and not replacing indoor evaporating equipment. Aside from loosing the efficiency of the new equipment, it could create undue stress in the system leading to premature failure. Home inspections require to report and identify material defects of heating, venting systems and cooling systems (air conditioners). It is a general assessment. If it appears lack of maintenance, charring, rusting, dirty air filters, anticipate a request to have the unit maintained and evaluated by a professional HVAC contractor. What to Do?
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