EER in the Field - Short #231

HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

Bryan Orr

Training, Careers, Airconditioning, Self-improvement, Hvac, Business, Education, Refrigeration, Heating, Ac, Apprenticeship

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this short podcast episode, Bryan talks about EER (Energy Efficiency Ratio) and SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) and how to calculate EER in the field.

EER and SEER are ratings that we often see on equipment (as are SEER2 and EER2) based on a ratio of an output to an input. Whereas coefficient of performance (COP) is a direct ratio of watts out to watts in, EER and SEER account for BTUs and watts. EER and SEER indicate the cooling capacity (in BTUs) we get from the watts we put in.

The ratio changes based on field conditions, and EER2 and SEER2 have more realistic test conditions than EER and SEER (the static pressure for systems rated below 65,000 BTUs per hour was 0.1"wc for EER and SEER, and it is now 0.5"wc for EER2 and SEER2, which is much closer to average field conditions).

To determine EER, you have to figure out BTU production and stack it against your wattage. You'll need to know your delta enthalpy (delta H), multiply it by the CFM, and then multiply the product of those by 4.5 to get your BTU output. A calculator on apps like measureQuick can help you find out your delta H, but you'll need a proper wet-bulb temperature before you can do that. You can determine CFM with a TrueFlow grid or manufacturer's blower charts.

Finding watts can be a challenge with ECMs and inverter-driven systems; it's not as simple as volts x amps, and you will need a meter that can measure power factor and take readings from the condenser fan, compressor, and blower motor. That wattage becomes the number you divide into BTUs to get the EER. SEER is averaged over a season, HSPF is for heating instead of cooling, and you can convert the BTUs to watts (by multiplying by 3.41) and determine the ratio of watts out to watts in.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Good golly, Miss Molly.
0:05.9	I don't know who Miss Molly is, and I don't even remember who sings that song.
0:10.5	But growing up, listening to the oldies with my grandpa, it's definitely a good intro, good intro.
0:15.7	And I've ruined it, and now I'm going to stop talking.
0:18.3	This is the HVAC School podcast, the podcast that helps you remember some things you might have forgotten along the way as well as helps you remember some things you forgot to know in the first place.
0:27.8	And today we're going to be talking about EER, ear in the field, actually measuring it in the field and why it is actually a decent measurement and what it means.
0:37.1	But before we do that, we're going to thank our great sponsors.
0:40.3	Field Peace and Field Piece University.
0:43.5	Field Piece offers high quality product training for HVAC tax and distributors.
0:48.6	Whether you're using the tools or selling them,
0:50.8	Field Piece has training options for you.
0:53.9	There are categories for evacuation, recovery, leak detection, and heating.
0:58.9	Within the course, for heating appliances, you get to learn how to do combustion analysis
1:02.8	and measure static and gas pressure.
1:05.4	All very important things to know.
1:06.6	If you're a technician who's working on gas, let me tell you.
1:09.3	It's all interactive.
1:10.5	Learn how to use the tools like job link probes and how they pair with apps to help you analyze the system, create invoices, and so, so, so, so, so, so.
1:20.4	That's three sos.
1:21.2	That's a lot of soes.
1:22.2	Some courses even have Nate credits, like the Recovery Best Practices and VFD troubleshooting courses.
1:27.6	Find out more.
	...

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