Central Air Conditioners come in a variety of different sizes. These sizes are usually referred to in Tons. Example, I have a 3ton unit. They are also available in half tons, etc. So you could have a 2 and a half ton unit. The Ton comes out of the early days of air conditioning where ice was used for cooling. It refers now, to the amount of cooling capacity a unit has. (Read more at http://www.sinclairair.com/GlossaryPage/Terms.html )
Okay, so how can you tell if your unit is too big for your house? One sign is that the air only kicks on for very short periods of time (this means that it has kicked on and cooled the house enough so that the thermostat registers a cool temperature, but the house may not be evenly cooled - illustrated by the air conditioner turning on again for a very short period of time, repeating the cycle). Another thing that MIGHT suggest too large of an air conditioning unit, is if your AC is overly loud. PLEASE keep in mind that air conditioners like any machine are generally loud, there is a motor and moving parts involved and while ac companies are working to create more quiet models, we are not "there" yet and there should be some (and depending on the age of your unit ALOT of) sound.
If your air conditioning unit does happen to be over sized, that means that it is not working up to its capacity. That means that even if it is an energy star model you're not going to save any money. Also, because it's running almost constantly, you may be even be paying MORE than you need to.
So what do you do? First check out the energy star.gov's PDF explaining sizing and what to do about it. Read up, get your information and then consider seeing a contractor.
The PDF is available at http://www.energystar.gov/ia/new_homes/features/RightSizedAC1-17-01.pdf but also on our resources page: http://www.sinclairair.com/resources/resources.html along with other helpful readings.
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