We just had a new HVAC system installed in Maryland and the A/C unit outside seems HUGE to me. It's twice the height of what we had in place beforehand. The A/C is by Bryant, model 180BNA024. Our home is 1,000 s.f. I can't seem to find information on how many BTUs this unit uses. I'm just wondering if we were sold a unit that's way too large for our space -- sure seems like it given its outside size. The installer told us it was so large because it's so efficient. What do you think?

One way manufacturers make equipment efficient is to make it large resulting in more natural convection & less need for energy consuming fans.

I believe your unit to be 24,000 BTU (2 Tons).

Yep 2 ton and to increase efficiency the condenser coil is much bigger. 2 sounds about right for the square footage. A quick "guesstimate", not knowing anything else, is 20 BTU per sq. ft. so it is certainly within range. # of windows, how they face, tree shading, # of people etc. all have to be factored in.

Definitely a two ton condenser. And that sounds right for the application. No worries here, some of these bad boys can get so big you need a fork lift to move um around, lol. I am curious though, is this an r22 or r410a unit? The new 410 units are normally smaller than the 22 units, but they can still get a bit hefty when the seer goes up. The old 22 units were getting rediculously big with the higher seers towards the end.