Our Hummelstown, PA homeowners were ready for a serious HVAC upgrade. The hot water boiler in their Cape Cod home had broken down. When we got there, they were using space heaters to keep warm.
Meanwhile, the house never had central air. Every summer, our homeowners used old window air conditioners. But, they were loud and made the electric bill skyrocket. They didn’t even cool the place all that well.
With a Bryant ductless system, we improved both issues with one setup. Now our homeowners have safe, energy-efficient central heat again. Then, in the summer, they have better air conditioning than before.
And, on top of all that, their energy bills are now lower all year ‘round.
Problem: A cape cod home in Hummelstown, PA had a broken hot water boiler and never had central air conditioning. The homeowners used space heaters in the winter and window ac’s in the summer.
Solution: Installed a Bryant multi-zone ductless system with two high wall units and two floor consoles. This heats the home evenly and safely in the winter. And, it cools the home quietly and efficiently in the summer.
Many homes in Hummelstown, PA are due for HVAC upgrades. A third of the dwellings here are pre-war. And, overall, more than half were built before the 60s.
A lot of people here have done a great job keeping up their homes. But, eventually, even the best-maintained appliances break down for good.
Your average hot water boiler lasts 15 to 20 years. Around here, we’ve replaced some that were way older than that.
Meanwhile, central air wasn’t around until the seventies. That means around half the homes between Swatara Creek and Indian Echo Caverns weren’t built with that feature in mind.
For homes with forced-air heat, you could tap into the ductwork to add air conditioning. But, like many homes between Harrisburg and Hershey, this one used radiators and a boiler. There aren’t ducts and vents.
So, people like our homeowners here made do for years with portable air conditioners in their windows or ones they stuck in the wall. But, these were never ideal.
First off, they’re loud! Sometimes it was tough just having a conversation with these things roaring in the background. And, they’re expensive to run.
Maybe all of that would have been okay if the darn things did a good job. But, the truth is, they really don’t. Parts of the rooms are still warm even when they’re running.
Now that there are better options out there, more people are finally getting the climate control they deserve in the summer. And, it often makes sense to change over when it’s time to replace a furnace or boiler, too.
A ductless system provides quiet, energy-efficient climate control throughout your home. And, you don’t need to do any work on the house to retrofit it.
In fact, we can install the whole system in less than a day. And, you’ll barely even notice it’s there.
The whole thing works thanks to what’s called a “heat transfer” process. In other words, it’s not generating warmth in the winter. Instead, it moves the external heat into your home. Then, in the summer it does the opposite.
The process starts outside with a heat pump. There’s always warmth in the air. That’s even in the dead of winter, or when it’s less than zero degrees outside.
And, warmth always moves towards colder air. The pump attracts that heat. It amplifies it using a compressor and then sends into the house.
In the summer, the whole thing works in reverse: The system attracts the heat in your home. Then, it transfers it outside.
Now, the other half of this system are the air handlers. These are the components that distribute the air throughout your house.
Each one handles a different “zone,” or area. For this home, we installed five air handlers. Three of them are “high wall” units, which we mount up near the ceiling in an out-of-the-way spot. Those handle the living room, master bedroom, and second bedroom.
For the office and master bedroom, we installed floor-console air handlers. These sit very low on the wall, almost touching the floor.
Each unit is literally whisper-quiet. This way, our homeowners can fine-tune the temperature in every room separately. It keeps their entire house comfortable all the time. And, it helps them save money.
In the long run, our homeowners will save money with their system. These setups like keep costs down by:
In that last section, we talked about the pump and air handlers. Now, let’s look at how they work together to use less energy than traditional systems.
First off, we mentioned how the pump doesn’t generate heat. It just transfers it. Well, that requires way less energy than burning fossil fuels to create heat.
Instead, the unit just uses a small amount of electricity to power the process. The existing heat does the bulk of the work on its own.
Next, the air handlers are equipped with inverter technology. You can compare this to a dimmer switch for a lamp versus a regular on-off switch.
Traditional HVAC systems are either off or working at full capacity. That’s why you usually hear them run for a little while, then turn off. They reached the temperature you want, then stop working until they need to correct it again.
Back to the lamp idea: The light is on and really bright, or it’s off, and the room is dark.
That uses a lot of unnecessary power. There’s also a lot of wear-and-tear on the machine from stopping and starting. Not so with this system.
Instead, the wall units only work at full power when the temperature is really off. After that, it hums along on low power mode to maintain the setting you want.
That’s like using the dimmer switch to get just a small amount of light.
The air handlers also help conserve energy and save money by handling each zone separately. Unlike a central heating setup, each indoor unit has a thermostat on it.
This means you can set the temperature in each room individually. The big benefit here is customizing climate control: Every room is just how you want it.
But, the second advantage is using less energy overall. For instance, you can turn up the thermostat in your bedroom at night. At the same time, you can turn down the handlers in the other rooms when no one’s there.
That’s less energy you’re using. And, the less you use, the less you pay for.
Are you ready to replace your home’s aging HVAC system? Contact us, and we’ll design a new system that’s perfect for your home and budget!
