 |
| Heating For Your Home |
Glossary of Terms
A-B | C-D | E-I | K-Z |
KILOWATT
A unit used to express 1,000 Watts. Denoted as "kW." Note that the "W" in "kW" is
always capitalized because the Watt unit was named after a person.
KWH
If a unit uses 1,000 Watts in 1 hour, it is said to have an energy rating of
1kWh.
MODULATING FURNACES
Furnaces are designed to deliver maximum heat for comfort on the coldest of days.
In most cases, those days account for fewer than three percent of winter days.
The rest of the time, your furnace is providing more heat than necessary.
Because conventional furnaces are either providing no heat, or at full capacity,
the temperature in your house goes up and down by several degrees, adversely
affecting your comfort and your energy bills.
Modulating furnaces solve this problem by varying the amount and temperature
of air delivered between different capacities, so that the air flowing out of
the registers is always at the temperature you determine. This results in lower
operating costs, more comfortable temperatures throughout the house and quieter
operation.
PACKAGE UNIT
Equipment in which all heating and cooling components are located in one cabinet.
Installed either beside or on top of a home or business.
REFRIGERANT
The liquid used to absorb and transfer heat from one part of the home comfort
system to another.
REFRIGERANT LINES
Copper lines used to transfer the refrigerant between the outdoor unit and the
indoor unit.
SEER
Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating. Used to express the efficiency of an air conditioning
unit, or a heat pump in cooling mode. The higher the SEER rating, the more efficient
the unit. The Department of Energy minimum is 10 SEER.
SPLIT SYSTEM
A home comfort system that uses an indoor and an outdoor component to deliver
comfortable air to a living environment.
SRN
The Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute performs tests and assigns a
Sound Rating Number (SRN) to units. A lower SRN rating indicates a quieter unit
with average SRNs of between 74dB and 80dB..
THERMOSTAT
A temperature-measuring device used to control the operation of home comfort
systems to maintain a comfortable temperature within the house. Programmable
thermostats allow you to program different temperatures for different times of
the day.
TON
The ton ratings you see here have nothing to do with the weight of the unit.
In fact a ton is simply 12,000 BTUs (see BTU definition on this page). A typical
home cooling/heating system uses heat pumps or air conditioners with a capacity
of between 1.5 and 5 tons.
UPFLOW
A term used to describe the direction of airflow through a furnace. An upflow
furnace takes return air from the bottom, heats it, and then delivers the warm
air from the top.
WATT/WATTS
Electrical power, also expressed as 'W'. For example, a 100W globe consumes 100
Watts of electrical power. The W in Watt is always uppercased, because it is
named after a person.
ZONE/ZONING
A home may be divided into several different areas, or zones, to better control
the temperatures throughout the house. The process of dividing your home into
different zones is called zoning.
A-B | C-D | E-I | K-Z | |
|
|
