Purchasing, repairing or replacing your HVAC can be a stressful experience– especially if your heating and air company seems to be speaking an entirely different, short-hand version of English! From simple acronyms like AC and HVAC, to more complicated ones like RUFGB (okay– we made that one up), use our handy-dandy HVAC Acronym Guide to help alleviate your lettering questions.
HVAC
“Love” may be the best four-lettered word, but if you’ve endured many Central Arkansas summers, “HVAC” might be a close competitor. This frequently used acronym stands for the system that makes your home warm or cool, comfortable and clean– your “Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning” unit.
AFUE
Less commonly used, AFUE, or “Average Fuel Utilization Efficiency” is the unit of measurement for ranking the efficiency of gas or oil-fired furnaces. Similar to the way your car measures miles per gallon, the higher the AFUE rating you have, the more efficient your unit is.
SEER
Often advertised in HVAC commercials, a SEER rating is the “Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio” of your air conditioner. It’s calculated by dividing the total electric energy input by the cooling output for a typical season. The higher the SEER rating of your system, the less energy it consumes and the less impact it makes on the environment.
HSPF
Similar to SEER’s measurement of cooling energy, HSPF, or “Heating Seasonal Performance Factor” does the same for warming– it measures the performance and efficiency of your heater. The higher your unit’s HSPF rating, the more efficient and cost effective your heating pump will be to run.
NATE
Last but certainly not least, on our list of important acronyms to know is one that is close to home. NATE is a certification that Chenal Heating & Air technicians proudly dawn on our uniforms each and every day. It stands for “North American Technician Excellence,” and is one of the most prestigious and difficult to obtain in the industry. In fact, we are one of the only HVAC companies in Arkansas that requires each and every one of our service technicians to be NATE certified.
You shouldn’t need a translator to decode what your HVAC technicians are saying to you. Instead, contact our team at Chenal Heating & Air for a free estimate, and our 25+ years of experience.
