Does Your Air Conditioner Need Shade?

Does Your Air Conditioner Need Shade?

Shading your air conditioner’s outdoor condenser unit is a conventional technique to boost its efficiency and reduce your cooling expenses. Shading the AC system is said to cool the air around it so that it doesn’t have to work as hard to cool that air before blowing it into your home. But can shading your AC unit make it more efficient? If so, what’s the best way to go about shading your AC unit?

It may be beneficial to shade your AC if you can develop a vast shaded area, such as that created by a roof or by trees. Bushes and thickets can also cool the air around your AC unit. When doing this make sure you don’t obstruct the air conditioner unit’s airflow.

Preliminary measures show that rooting trees or creating a trellis covered with vines around an AC can decrease air temperature around it by 5 to 7°F, which can heighten the air conditioner’s efficiency by roughly 10% during peak times.

Can shading your Air Conditioner increase its efficiency?

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, planting trees to shade your air conditioner can make the unit 10 percent more efficient.

Planting only four trees in strategic regions near the compressor and large windows that let heat stream it can curtail your yearly cooling expenses by $100 to $250 banking on the size of your air conditioning unit.

Shade trees maintain low outdoor temperatures by replenishing the air around them and barring unrelenting sunshine from warming up the ground. After a long day of soaking up the heat, the ground releases it into the atmosphere and makes your AC unit function harder than it should. 

It’s even more pocket-friendly to shade your air conditioner if you reside in a brick home that undergoes an infinite cycle of consuming and sending out heat near your compressor.

The ‘Don’ts’ of shading your Air Conditioning Unit

When shading your Air Conditioning system, ensure to keep these ‘don’ts’ in mind!

  • Don’t permit garbage like leaves, moss, or other substances to obstruct your air conditioning system.
  • Don’t constrain the airflow around your air conditioner. This encompasses giving a lot of clearance for bushes, low-hanging trees, and any other shrubbery.

What does the study say?

Although FSEC’s researchers found that when they calculated the air temperature penetrating the condenser of shaded and unshaded condenser air conditioning units, they observed a boost in air conditioning efficiency of nearly 1.2 percent causing a decrease in condenser inlet temperature, in terms of power savings, that amounts to nearly 3%.

Even if it’s not as much as we expected, planting trees and shading your air conditioner do not have any side effects. The more trees you plant, the cooler the atmosphere near your residence will be.

Connect with the best AC company chandler

If you would like to learn more regarding the right trees and plants to shade your compressor. Or if you’re planting them in the best location? Reach out to the experts at Monster Air & Mechanical LLC for the best AC repair in Sun Lakes. Our crew can assist you in learning the best solutions to shade your compressor and provide HVAC service in Queen CreekCall us and schedule a service today!