FAQ

WE NOW HAVE FINANCING OPTIONS AVAILABLE! GIVE US A CALL AT 684-6002 FOR MORE INFORMATION!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Air Conditioning?: The control of the quality, quantity, and temperature-humidity of the air in an interior space.
What is an Air-to-Air Heat Pump?: A type of heat pump system that transfers heat from outdoor air to indoor air during the heating season, and works in reverse during the cooling season.
What is a Blower?: The device in an air conditioner that distributes the filtered air from the return duct over the cooling coil/heat exchanger. This circulated air is cooled/heated and then sent through the supply duct, past dampers, and through supply diffusers to the living/working space.
What is a BTU?: (British Thermal Unit) The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit; equal to 252 calories.
What is a Coil?: As a component of a heating or cooling appliance, rows of tubing or pipe with fins attached through which a heat transfer fluid is circulated and to deliver heat or cooling energy to a building.
What is a Compressor?: A device in air conditioners, heat pumps, and refrigerators used to pressurize the refrigerant and enabling it to flow through the system.
What is a Condenser Coil?: The device in an air conditioner or heat pump through which the refrigerant is circulated and releases heat to the surroundings when a fan blows outside air over the coils. This will return the hot vapor that entered the coil into a hot liquid upon exiting the coil.
What is a Desuperheater?: An energy saving device in a heat pump that, during the cooling cycle, recycles some of the waste heat from the house to heat domestic water.
What is a Evaporator Coil?: The inner coil in a heat pump that, during the cooling mode, absorbs heat from the inside air and boils the liquid refrigerant to a vapor, which cools the house.
What is a Fan?: A device that moves and/or circulates air and provides ventilation for a room or a building.
What is a Filter? (air): A device that removes contaminants, by mechanical filtration, from the fresh air stream before the air enters the living space. Filters can be installed as part of a heating/cooling system through which air flows for the purpose of removing particulates before or after the air enters the mechanical components.
Do you have a Financial/Payment plan?: Yes. At this time, we can offer several financing or payment options. Please call 618-684-6002 for more information. Payment for maintenance services is requested the same day as service.

For replacement systems or new construction systems, many customers take advantage of personal or home-equity loans. Murphy-Wall State Bank in Pinckneyville and Murphysboro is more than happy to discuss your financing options with you, or you may want to consider your own banking institution. Interest on Home Equity loans is often tax deductible. Financing a new system can help you realize the benefits of a new efficient & fully warranted system now. Contact your bank and call Bryan's Heating and Air Conditioning today to start saving on your utilities and experiencing comfort!
What is a Flue?: The structure in a residential heating appliance into which combustion gases flow and are contained until they are emitted to the atmosphere.
What is Freon?: A registered trademark for a cholorfluorocarbon (CFC) gas that is highly stable and that has been historically used as a refrigerant.
What is Fuel Efficiency?: The ratio of heat produced by a fuel for doing work to the available heat in the fuel.
What is a Geothermal Heat Pump System? (Closed-Loop): Closed-loop (also known as "indirect") systems circulate a solution of water and antifreeze through a series of sealed loops of piping. Heat is then transferred into or out of the solution (depending on the season), the solution is then recirculated. The loops can be installed in the ground horizontally or vertically, or they can be placed in a body of water, such as a pond. See horizontal ground loop, vertical ground loop, and surface water loop for more information on the different types of closed-loop geothermal heat pump systems.

A type of heat pump that uses the ground, ground water, or ponds as a heat source and heat sink, rather than outside air. Ground or water temperatures are more constant and are warmer in winter and cooler in summer than air temperatures. Geothermal heat pumps operate more efficiently than "conventional" or "air source" heat pumps.
What is Heat Gain?: The amount of heat introduced to a space from all heat producing sources, such as building occupants, lights, electronics, appliances, and from the environment, mainly solar energy.
What is a Heating Load?: The rate of heat flow required to maintain a specific indoor temperature; usually measured in Btu per hour.
What is Heat Loss?: The heat that flows from the building interior, through the building envelope to the outside environment.
What is a Heat Pump?: An electricity powered device that extracts available heat from one area (the heat source) and transfers it to another (the heat sink) to either heat or cool an interior space or to extract heat energy from a fluid.
What is Heat Transfer?: The flow of heat from one area to another by conduction, convection, and/or radiation. Heat flows naturally from a warmer to a cooler material or space.
What is a Horizontal Ground Loop?: In this type of closed-loop geothermal heat pump installation, the fluid-filled plastic heat exchanger pipes are laid out in a plane parallel to the ground surface. The most common layouts either use two pipes, one buried at six feet, and the other at four feet, or two pipes placed side-by-side at five feet in the ground in a two-foot wide trench. The trenches must be at least four feet deep. Horizontal ground loops are generally most cost-effective for residential installations, particularly for new construction where sufficient land is available. Also see geothermal heat pump systems.
What is a Humidifier?: A device used to maintain a specified humidity in a conditioned space.
What is Humidity?: A measure of the moisture content of air; may be expressed as absolute, mixing ratio, saturation deficit, relative, or specific.
What is a Payback Period?: The amount of time required before the savings resulting from your system equal the system cost.
What is an R-Value?: A measure of the capacity of a material to resist heat transfer. The R-Value is the reciprocal of the conductivity of a material (U-Value). The larger the R-Value of a material, the greater its insulating properties.
What is a Refrigerant?: The compound (working fluid) used in air conditioners, heat pumps, and refrigerators to transfer heat into or out of an interior space. This fluid boils at a very low temperature enabling it to evaporate and absorb heat.
What is Return Air?: Air that is returned to a heating or cooling appliance from a heated or cooled space.
What is a Return Duct?: Ducts which "return" air to the central heating/cooling system. The central heating or cooling system contains a fan that gets its air supply through these ducts, which ideally should be installed in every room of the house. The air from a room will move towards the lower pressure of the return duct.
What is a SEER?: The efficiency of Central A/C units is governed by U.S. law and regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy. Every A/C unit is assigned an efficiency rating known as a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio or "SEER" for short. A SEER is defined as the total cooling output in Btu (British thermal units) provided by the unit during its normal annual usage period divided by its total energy input (in Watt-hours) during that same period.

Higher SEERs are better. Typically, higher SEER values mean lower utility bills. Most consumers should look for a SEER of 12 or higher when buying a new A/C system.
What is Solar Mass?: A term used for materials used to absorb and store solar energy.
What is Specific Heat?: The amount of heat required to raise a unit mass of a substance through one degree, expressed as a ratio of the amount of heat required to raise an equal mass of water through the same range.
What is a Supply Duct?: The duct(s) of a forced air heating/cooling system through which heated or cooled air is supplied to rooms by the action of the fan of the central heating or cooling system.
What is a Surface Water Loop?: In this type of closed-loop geothermal heat pump installation, the fluid-filled plastic heat exchanger pipes are coiled into circles and submerged at least eight feet below the surface of a body of surface water, such as a pond or lake. The coils should only be placed in a water source that meets minimum volume, depth, and quality criteria. Also see geothermal heat pump systems.
What is a Thermostat?: A device used to control temperatures; used to control the operation of heating and cooling devices by turning the device on or off when a specified temperature is reached.
What is a Ton? (of Air Conditioning): A unit of air cooling capacity; 12,000 Btu per hour.
What is a U-Value?: The reciprocal of R-Value. The lower the number, the greater the heat transfer resistance (insulating) characteristics of the material.
What is a Vertical Ground Loop?: In this type of closed-loop geothermal heat pump installation, the fluid-filled plastic heat exchanger pipes are laid out in a plane perpendicular to the ground surface. For a vertical system, holes (approximately four inches in diameter) are drilled about 20 feet apart and 100 to 400 feet deep. Into these holes go two pipes that are connected at the bottom with a U-bend to form a loop. The vertical loops are connected with horizontal pipe (i.e., manifold), placed in trenches, and connected to the heat pump in the building. Large commercial buildings and schools often use vertical systems because the land area required for horizontal ground loops would be prohibitive. Vertical loops are also used where the soil is too shallow for trenching, or for existing buildings, as they minimize the disturbance to landscaping. Also see geothermal heat pump systems.
What is a Zone?: A zone is an area within the interior space of a building, such as an individual room(s), that is to be cooled, heated, or ventilated. A zone will typically have its own thermostat to control the flow of conditioned air into the space.

Select portions of this document were obtained from reference materials produced for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a DOE national laboratory and can be accessed via the EERE Web site here. Content may have been edited for clarity and readability.

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