Why can Hamstra size my units using square footage?
The worst method for sizing air conditiong systems is the square footage method. This method uses a standard that 400 square feet of floor space is equal to 1 ton of air conditioning. So, using this method, a home that is 1600 square feet would require a 4 ton air conditioning machine. This is completely incorrect and is nothing more than a lazy guess. Think about it this way: I’ve got two 400 square foot buildings, one has walls 8 foot high made of double masonry block and has one tiny window and one door, the other building is made of un-insulated 2×4 walls 15 feet high and has 20 – 12×3 single pane windows and a screen door. Now, do you think it is going to take the same size air conditioning unit to equally cool both buildings? The answer is no. The second building would probably need 4-5 times the cooling capacity as the first. Many HVAC contractors incorrectly use the square footage method and that is the reason why there are so many homes out there with poor air conditioning sys
