replying to Wayne Boatwright, Jminter80 wrote:
Honestly there isnt one answer for every situation but your unit should run
enough to keep humidity at acceptable ranges. The person with the 800 sq ft
house is going to have issues with humidity due to size of house and 2.5 ton
is most likely oversized. Depending on insulation and windows your looking at
a 1.5 - 2 ton unit. Run cycles will change with the temperature outside as
well as humidity levels. Best thing to do is set indoor fan to circulating
mode if that option is available to keep air moving due to the size of the
house also you should be able to adjust speed if it sounds like a jet. There
are more options besides smaller system. The off cycle is going to be effected
by how well the house is insulated as well. If its not insulated well than
your house is going to heat up faster when the ac is off therefore ot will
cucle more often. Also I am not sure how much saving you anticipated on an
800sq ft house because ot doesnt use enough energy in the forst place to allow
for a noticeable change either way. If it were a 2500sq ft house with a $400
electric then you could expect a noticeable saving by updating to a newer and
more energy efficient system. Think of percentages when dealing with savings
also which means 10 percent of $100 is less than 10 percent of $400. Back to
run time....unit should be sized properly to have a long enough run time which
in my opinion is 5-10 minutes to properly remove humidity and off time should
be around 20-35 minutes. This varies because an old house will gain heat
faster than a new well insulated house. There is also room for error on sizing
due to all the variables and size of home which I always lean to the 1/2 ton
larger side for the abnormally high temps we experience for a week at a time
in southern Illinois. Never have had one issue with run times or humidity. My
last customer questioned it running every 30 minutes but he came from window
units and thought that was to much but you have to also factor in the comfort
throughout home which means a customer shouldnt feel swings or hot spots. It
should stay the same temperature all the time regardless if its running or not
unless you are directly below or above a vent. If it gets really cold when the
unit kicks on then warms up after it kicks off then your unit is oversized
plain and simple.

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