Are more STAGES on an air conditioner worth it??

one of the most important things that every homeowner should know before purchasing a new AC system is to understand the difference in between a single stage a two-stage and a variable speed system it's going to determine the quality of system that you purchase along with the potential of solving certain air conditioning problems you might be having right now hi this is Kenneth with Atlas AC and today we're going to be covering the topic of the pros and cons of a single stage system a two-stage system and a variable speed system at any point during this video if you find it to be helpful please hit the like button that will really help me out with the YouTube algorithms you might be asking what the heck is a stage on a AC system to put it as simple as possible it has to do with the AC's operating capacity for example a single speed system can only operate at 100 capacity a two speed system can operate at 70 percent and then it can also bump up to a hundred percent a variable speed system can operate anywhere in between 25 percent capacity all the way up to 100 capacity each one of these systems comes with its own pros and cons and that's what we're going to look at now so let's start off looking at a single stage system a single speed system the way it operates is simple it's either all on or all off there's no middle ground it operates at 100 capacity or zero percent capacity and that's it this system is also the least energy efficient system out of the three types and the reason for it would be like you driving a car on a road with a lot of stop lights so you have a lot of stopping and going which really eats at your fuel efficiency another problem when an AC system operates at 100 capacity is the cycle time ends up being much faster and this could create some issues so the reason why the cycle times are so quick with one of these systems is because when it turns on it just blasts the air at a hundred percent and then it will satisfy the temperature very quickly in the house and then turn off and then the temperatures will slowly rise back up triggering the system to come back on where it blasts the air again quickly satisfying the house temperature again this can lead to to hot and cold spots throughout your house largely just due to the Stop and Go nature of this system another potential issue with a single stage system is humidity because it turns on and then back off again so quickly it's just not a lot of time that it has to pull humidity from the air so if you live in an area with high humidity it could lead to your house feeling clammy inside now the upside to this type of system is it is the most budget-friendly system on the market ideally where a single stage system fits the best is if you have a smaller home because upgrading to a two-speed system or through a variable speed system you're just not going to see major benefits by going that route this would also be a good system if you're on a budget because it's going to be the most cost affected system single speeds also work well for rental properties because it doesn't make sense to spend the extra money for a system that a tenant is probably not going to maintain and lastly if you're planning to move in the very near future it probably is not going to make a lot of sense to invest in a higher end system and next we have a two-stage system and the way a two-state system operates is the first stage runs around 70 percent of its capacity and the second stage operates at 100 capacity when a two-stage system First turns on it turns on at the first stage which is at the 70 capacity until it can no longer keep up and then it bumps up to the second stage which is the 100 capacity to help help get the temperatures back in line and then it will lower back down to the 70 percent until the the house is completely satisfied and then it turns off because of this it makes the on off cycle longer than what you would see in a single stage system you might be asking since it's right running longer doesn't that mean it's using a lot more energy well not exactly because the system has two stages it makes it more efficient than the single speed system because now it's not like you're driving and stopping no traffic it's more like you're on a highway where it flows a lot better with far fewer stops which in turn helps increase your gas mileage because the cycle time is much longer than a single stage system that means each room gets more airflow for longer which helps with hot and cold spots not only does it help with hot and cold spots but it also helps with humidity because it runs for longer that means it has more time to pull moisture out of the air a two-speed system is considered a middle of the road system it's not the single speed but it's not the high end variable speed but it's right there in between and these systems do cost about two thousand dollars more than a single speed system however ever in my experience we we actually sell far more two-speed systems than any other system type because you don't have the single speed problems with hot and cold spots and humidity issues but also at the same time it does a lot of the same things at a variable speed system does but just not quite as much so these systems work really well with houses that have more than two thousand square feet or especially if it's a two-story home then that extra air circulation really helps with hot and cold spots then the other scenario is if you have humidity problems you might want to consider this system as well and lastly we have a variable speed system that can operate anywhere between 25 to 100 percent capacity and these systems never turn off they operate 24 hours a day seven days a week so it's base operating capacity is 25 and if that's not getting the job done what it's going to do is slowly ramp up until it cancels satisfy your house temperature so on a really hot day it might have to ramp up as high as a hundred percent to satisfy the temperatures in your house however that's not going to happen very often variable speed systems are the most energy efficient systems on the market because going back to the car analogies it's it's kind of like the most ideal environment for a car to get the maximum fuel efficiency so it would be like going on a long road trip where you can put the cruise control on 60 miles an hour and put the car into overdrive that's just the ideal environment for a car to maximize its fuel economy the same thing is happening with a variable speed system that's actually the reason why it never turns off I know I'm going to end up getting a little bit of flack for this next comment however just look at it like this is my opinion and other people might say something different from me which is which is also okay in my personal opinion I don't think variable speed systems do as good of a job removing humidity as a two-speed system and this is for a couple different reasons why I think this so a variable speed system doesn't have a on off cycle it's always running however a two-speed system does have an on off cycle so the way an AC system dehumidifies the air as your system is cooling air flows through the indoor unit's evaporator coil as air passes through the evaporator coil that creates condensation that condensation slowly trickles down off the evaporator coil this is actually what is pulling the humidity from the air so when a system turns off it gives the system extra time for all that water to shed off the evaporator coil you might have guessed by now where this is going a variable speed system never turns off so that means the evaporator coil is going to hold water for longer which will end up pushing you know basically humidity back into the house some people will agree that a two speed will handle humidity a little bit better than variable speed however on the flip side there are other people that it's going to disagree with me on this so when doing your research just take this with a grain of salt a variable speed system is the Cadillac of AC systems that being said they are going to be the most costly and repairing these systems is typically going to be a little bit more pricey as well these systems work well for homes that are really big or homes that are just more energy efficient and hold their temperature better it's going to help keep the air from feeling stale especially in the spring and in the fall when the temperatures outside will get just right around 70 70 degrees and there's just no reason to turn on your AC or heater and since the blower is always running it's going to really help out with all the hot and cold spots throughout a house not to mention you can control the temperature in your house down to one degree so where we normally install variable speed systems is for really big homes that already have three or four AC systems on them because a very variable speed system is going to help keep the electric bill as low as possible along with that the extra airflow is going to help keep the house from feeling stale which if you have a five or six thousand square foot home then the utility bill starts to become more and more important along with needing the extra air flow just to help the house from just feeling stagnant another scenario when you might want to consider the system is for a high efficiency home that has something like spray foam insulation and when you have a high energy efficient home that means the air is just not going to turn on very often so it is very common for those homes to start feeling you know stagnant and stale inside and you might want to consider a variable speed system in in that situation just to help solve that problem if you found this video to be helpful please hit the like button that will help us out with the YouTube algorithms and you might find our next video to be helpful as well and it covers a topic of AC Brands and our top picks until next time have a good one

Channel: Atlas AC

Views: 111,844

Keywords: 2 stage air conditioner, 2 stage air conditioner vs variable speed, 2 stage air conditioner vs 1 stage, 1 stage vs 2 stage air conditioner, single stage vs two stage ac, two stage air conditioner, 2 stage ac unit, is two stage ac worth it, single stage vs two stage hvac, Air Conditioner Stages, HVAC stages, air conditioner, HVAC system, 1 stage vs 2 stage vs variable speed

Id: OFROWFBPACw

Length: 10min 28sec (628 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 30 2022