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We have decided to replace our old A/C system. The advice I got here was the big factor.
Now I want your opinions on brands and models. The house is small (about 1,000+ square feet) with a full basement and a forced air gas furnace. The attached breezeway/office is not part of the house systems and has its own heater and thru-wall A/C. I want one of those high-efficiency thingies.
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Replies
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High efficency thingie? SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating)tells you how efficient. The higher the SEER # the higher the efficiency. But the burning question is, what is your climate. In the hot, dry southwest, swamp coolers are used till the dew point hits 50 degrees then its refrigerated air. Refrigerated air dries out the house by extracting the water moisture in the air. Talk with a local Mechanical engineer and check out Consumers Reports.
*...Charles... part of the problem is its hard to get good equipment for small houses...most of the higher efficiencies are for 2 ton or 3 ton units...find a good local expert and go to school..think about the Space-Pak type units too..
*Mike, Have you experience w Spacepak? Unico? Preferences? Thanks, Mongo
*Mongo,Didn't you mention that you had a Unico guy out to the house once? If so, did you learn anything useful?Thanks,Jerry
*.....Mongo... no , i have no first hand experience with Space -Pak... but i can tap into my HVAC guy and find out what's working and who's shipping junk..I do notice that there is a lot of variation from mfr. to mfr. my guy is a Trane dealer, but sells all the independents too... and since we go way back, i have confidence in his recommendations for the different jobs...the space-pak and mitsubishi type mini systems seem to fill the bill on a lot of the retrofit jobs...
*Climate is northern Illinois. Summers get into the 90's and a few days past 100 with humidity from 80's to 90's.What's a space-pak?
*...damn , Charles, i wish u hadn't asked that, now i'm going to have to get some lit. on it so i won't be winging it with a description....oh what tangled webs....
*... stopped off at lunch... here's the poop..basic system is called a "split-sytem".. and Space -Pak was one of the first about 15 years agonot so hot (or cool, as the case may be)then Sanyo came out about 10 years ago and they had excellent results.. then Mitsubishi came out about 5 years ago... and even better, especially in terms of awider selection of sizes..lit. i'm looking at shows cooling capacity from 8000 BTU to 42000 btuand Sanyo looks like 11000 to 47000..no pricing... but this equip. is designed for retrofit.. no ductwork.. outside condenser and inside air handler / air conditionerconsumers tell my guy they like the looks of the Mitsubishi better..no call backs on Sanyo or Mitsubishi.. he didn't like the Space-Pak...that's all i got........
*Jerry, Unico showed, the guy had never installed a system. I nearly had to help him through his own literature. I'm still trying to figure out why they sent him.Spacepak reps made a 2 hour drive to come visit. One was the office pres, the other their lead engineer. They brought samples of the trunk and snake duct, as well as outlets, etc. They left me with a small stack of literature. Very nice men, but they weren't really able to answer questions that I asked. What I had expected was an installer to visit as well to answer some nuts and bolts questions. That's what I gad asked for, no dice.I've made calls to both places. Spacepak is responsive, yet vague. Unico, I could throw money at them and they wouldn't respond. I can't quite figure it out...I really want to try this, as I want to install it first in my own house, and since what most of what I do is RFH, incorporate it elsewhere. Here are a couple of links if anyone is interested:SpacepakUnicoSome Unico spec sheetsI don't normally have to twist arms to get someone to take my money. It's been kind of frustrating getting useful info.
*More great information and new ideas! Hey Mongo, any thoughts on the quality and pricing? That 2" smooth pipe ducting doesn't look so specialized that it couldn't be designed and implimented using "other" materials (well, everything but the sound absorbing pieces anyway). I'm not ready to plop the coil fan units yet but I've got to start planning for the air flow PDQ.
*Scott,They both seem to feel their products are slightly better than the other. From what I saw, the Spacepak line did indeed seem to be well constructed with nicely designed clips for attaching duct-to-duct, etc. Both of their trunk lines, however, are foil-faced FG, and I have read concerns from Lonecat regarding eventual duct failure and FG being blown through the living space. Not sure if it's based on real-world failures of just a personal concern. jj also mentions FG duct failure, and both he and Mike Geurtin gave Hi-V a thumbs up in this thread. I'm going to give Hi-V a call this week.Pricing? No way. Not even close. Both Unico and Spacepak gave me nothing. I've got a 2-story, 3200' house in southern CT, Spacepak was hinting at two complete, separate 5-ton units...one zoned for upstairs, one for down. Hmmm. They wouldn't even venture a price estimate. Lucky for me, I think.
*Well, I'm not going to question the blower and coil units and designs, they can be evaluated on their own merrits, but isn't 2" duct pipe slipping into the world of more readily available stuff? Say 2" flexible ABS, hose clamps and fittings? How much of the "silent air flow" is a result of the special sound absorbing pipe and how much of it is due to a quieter front end. Maybe I'm just over-simplifying the whole concept.Always wary of "proprietary" systems.
*Dear Mongo,Thanks for the info (previous reply included). Please let us know what you learn from Hi-V. BTW, ESP/Hi-V/Softaire has an informative web site if anyone is interested http://www.hi-velocity.comRegards,Jerry
*HVAC question:Our split-level home here in the North East is presently heated with a hot water, oil-fired furnace. We wish to have cooling for our hot humid summers and the right way seems to be a ducted HVAC system, preferably a split system heat pump with the compressor unit outside and the condensor/blower unit inside. Where is the best place to put the blower/condensor unit? Inside the house where temperatures are constant, or in the attic where temperatures dip to freezing in the winter and soar to over 100 in the summer? With the potential of having messy condensate problems with the latter approach, the answer seems pretty obvious to me - in the house. Problem is, it's a lot easier to put the blower/condensor unit in the attic (less ductwork)and all the contractors around here say that I shouldn't be worried with that approach. The units, they say, are well sealed and insulated. (Having seen a few units myself, I believe that claim is exaggerated.) In addition, even though return air to the unit would be ducted from inside the house, I'm also concerned with ceiling insulation dust in the attic still getting into the unit and having this blown into the house. On the other hand, the only place available for putting the blower unit in the house is the furnace/mechanical room in the basement. Even though this seems to be the better solution, I'm worried about the extra work the blower unit will have to exert to push the treated air back up the house though a main supply duct in order to cool/heat the upper floor. Seems like both solutions have pluses and minuses. What's best?
*Ooops! Seems like I should have posted this item one step up in the discussion tree. Sorry Charles and co.
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We have decided to replace our old A/C system. The advice I got here was the big factor.
Now I want your opinions on brands and models. The house is small (about 1,000+ square feet) with a full basement and a forced air gas furnace. The attached breezeway/office is not part of the house systems and has its own heater and thru-wall A/C. I want one of those high-efficiency thingies.