Heat Load Calculations

Many of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems designed for and installed in the Orange, TX area homes and businesses are unnecessarily oversized and operating inefficiently. At Innovative Air Solutions, we know the importance of a properly sized system, providing you with comfort, value, and efficiency.

Therefore, our team always performs heat load calculations when determining the proper size system for our customers. Of course, they are performed free of charge, and the detailed results are made available to you upon purchase and installation of your new comfort system.

What Is a Heat Load Calculation?

This procedure is a complex calculation of the amount of BTUHs (British Thermal Units per Hour) of heat your home gains in the summer, as well as the amount of heat lost in the winter. It measures the cubic footage, insulation factors, efficiency of windows and doors, and overall direction and orientation your home is facing.

Along with a few other miscellaneous items, the result is a comprehensive calculation of the exact amount of heating your home requires at the coldest time of the year, as well as the cooling required during the hottest time of the year. It also tells our professionals the volume of air required to maintain proper heating and cooling.

In physics, one of the laws of thermodynamics states the transfer of heat always moves from hot objects to cold objects, never the other way around. This means your heated air is moving to cold air leaks, and hot air is infiltrating the cooled air you just paid to condition.

Duct leakage and poorly insulated attics and crawl spaces are also an issue, helping to lose your conditioned air and energy. At Innovative Air Solutions, we work hard to overcome this by designing and installing the right-sized HVAC systems.

When we perform a heat load calculation, we are measuring BTU (British Thermal Unit) capacity, not only of your entire home, but of each individual room or area as well. (One side note, a BTU is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water at sea level one degree Fahrenheit.)

This level of accuracy provides specific data for our team to use when determining what size and type of equipment you need for your individual requirements.

The top standard for determining heating and cooling loads is the Manual J. This is a load calculation method created by the Air Conditioning Contractors of American (ACCA).

When our professionals are making these calculations, they use the Manual J software program. Many times, the Manual J process is the only process building inspectors and utility companies will accept for permit applications and rebates—showing how respected and trusted it really is.

Why Perform Heat Load Calculations?

At Innovative Air Solutions, we perform heat load calculations because it is how we can accurately provide high levels of comfort, value, and efficiency for you.

Many contractors rely on general square footage of conditioned floor areas to determine the size and type of system they will recommend and install. Our team of experts knows this process is inadequate and will typically fail to provide the needed information.

There are so many factors for us to consider in heating and cooling your home or business rather than straight square footage. Just to name a few, factors we take into account are your insulation, the number of windows and doors and which direction they are facing, and shade trees in the surrounds.

Years ago, if we wanted to replace a piece of your equipment—like your furnace—we could simply retrofit the same-size system. But these days, equipment is so different with multispeed and variable-speed furnaces, we need precise information to determine the system that will effectively and efficiently do the job at hand.

Without the Manual J calculation, you very well could end up with a system that is too large or too small for your heating and cooling needs. This can be harmful on many levels.

For example, if your equipment is oversized, it will continuously cycle on and off, or short cycle. The downsides to this are inefficiency, inability to achieve expected comfort, lack of moisture control, and premature aging of your units.

It is imperative your equipment is properly sized for your home or building, and this can only be consistently achieved with Manual J heat load calculations. Having an oversized or undersized system will not produce the heating and cooling results you expect. You will only have issues.

What Are the Benefits of a Heat Load Calculation?

Here are some of the benefits of performing a heat load calculation:
• Proper system and duct sizing
• High indoor air quality
• Reduced operating and initial system costs
• Lower humidity levels
• Less dust
• Reduced allergy symptoms
• Increased system efficiency

What Is Our Process for Heat Load Calculations?

When you work with our Innovative Air Solutions experts, you can expect precision and value. Our team will laser measure your home or building, taking pains to measure each room and space.

The process only takes about 30 to 60 minutes to gather all our data and then another 30 to input the data into the software, which we typically complete back at our office. As soon as we have entered everything, we create our report, which we use to make our recommendations.

Contact Us for All Your Heating and Cooling Needs

At Innovation Air Solutions, your comfort is our business. Our highly trained and experienced team of HVAC experts will design and install your heating and cooling system, and you can trust it will be the right one for your needs. We only use heat load calculations to help us determine what will provide the optimum comfort for you in your Orange, TX, home or business.

Contact us today at 409-883-9616 or request service online to discuss your residential or commercial heating and cooling needs.