AMERICAN STANDARD 3 TON AIR CONDITIONER IMAGE SOURCE: AMERICAN STANDARD

As central air conditioner brands go, American Standard are certainly a favourite of ours. With a long-standing established reputation for providing the market with top-quality HVAC technologies, we have found that in our experience, you cannot go wrong with an American Standard product. Thus, we had our HVAC analysts go over the American Standard 4 Ton unit from the “Scratch & Dent” range. While admittedly slightly dated, these units still hold their own, and would still be considered an upgrade over many units currently on the market. If you have a medium-large commercial property in need of cooling, we recommend you take a look at the American Standard 4 ton.

American Standard 4 Ton Air Conditioner

When selecting an air conditioner, especially in the case of central air conditioning systems, it is imperative that you consider the unique characteristics of your property. This includes size, location, etc. We usually recommend hiring a specialist to assess your property to ensure you draw maximum efficiency and performance out of the unit that you do end up installing. It is, unfortunately, not possible for us to tell you which central AC would be the ideal fit, however, we can provide you with all of the background information surrounding the unit, so you can apply it to your own home.

Today, the focus of our analysis team is the American Standard 4 ton air conditioner from the “Scratch & Dent” series of air conditioning units. A tremendously powerful unit, the lack of convenient design features integrated into its design are but a minor nuisance when the sheer output of this product is taken into consideration.

Cooling Performance

Before we delve into the details of this products cooling capacities, it bears noting that this unit’s tonnage capacity does not refer to its weight. Although this may seem obvious to some, it is frequently misunderstood that products such as the American Standard 4 ton weigh significantly more than they do in reality, and this can turn people off the product. In reality, the tonnage capacity of a central air conditioner unit harks back to the days where cooling capacity was measured in tons of ice.

A 4 ton cooling capacity roughly translates into a nominal value of 48,000 BTUs. However, it is often the case that the nominal cooling capacity of a central unit does not match the eventual actual value after installation. This is due to the fact that such figures are obtained through controlled testing environments, and so factors such as the temperature or humidity of your climate will inevitably affect your unit’s performance. It is for this reason that we strongly advise hiring a specialist to assess your property, prior to purchase, so you can ensure that the unit you do end up installing gets the job done effectively.

Efficiency / Certifications

The Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) is commonly taken as a relatively reliable measure of unit efficiency. Currently, the minimum SEER rating a central air conditioning unit must have stands at 13, which is conveniently what this unit scores. While it may sound worrying that the American Standard 4 ton scores the minimum SEER rating to be approved for the North American market, one must remember that due to the exponentially growing advancements in technology over the past few years, this unit is still ideal for replacing an older unit, even if only 10 years old, as it is significantly more efficient.

Additionally, many buyers are mislead into thinking that the higher the SEER of a product, the better, as it is more efficient and therefore will save you more cash on your upkeep bills. This is true, in theory, as energy bills are slightly lowered when using a more efficient unit. However, often the price of said units are more expensive than the slightly less efficient product to both purchase, and service in the case of an issue arising. Finally, we recommend contacting a specialist if you’re interested in finding the ideal SEER rating for your home, as SEER scores are obtained through testing in controlled environments, which likely do not match your home.

Regrettably, there was no certification related information available to us regarding this unit at the time of this review. We recommend that you contact the manufacturer directly if curious about the current certification status of this unit.

Design

The most notable feature of the American Standard 4 ton’s design is its weight, coming in at a whopping 400lbs. Although, on the positive side, central air conditioning units make next to no audible noise when listened to from indoors, as most of the noise emitted from the device is through the outdoor component of the unit.

Help & Support

With regard to customer services, experienced American Standard representatives are contactable via telephone or email. Additionally, the company provides the users with a wealth of useful resources located on the company website, in the form of information-packed webpages.

Verdict

When it comes to commercial spaces, we would recommend this system as an ideal solution to keep large spaces cool. The high BTU output of this unit renders it entirely unsuitable for a residential setting. As always we strongly recommend consulting a specialist who can tell you for certain whether or not this unit is suitable for your property, as, unfortunately we are unable to predict whether the American Standard 4 ton is the perfect fit for you due to the wide range of unpredictable variables with central AC systems. Additionally, it should go without saying that we recommend seeking out a reputable contractor with experience in dealing with these units when installing this device, as botched central AC installations are notoriously expensive to remedy.