As part of the My Design Partner series we are going to discuss HVAC.
Choosing the best HVAC for your house is not always any easy thing to decide upon. Especially, when you are forced to make a decision quickly when it breaks when there are extreme temperatures outside! It is best to have a plan in place (better yet a quote) before your system breaks.
In the Southeastern US there are several options that are readily available. Standard heat pumps (heating and cooling), Furnaces (heating) with AC (cooling) , and Geothermal (heating and cooling) are the most popular.
What is HVAC?
Your HVAC system is comprised of many different components. The acronym best describes the components: Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning. The Heating is possible either from a gas furnace or an outside condenser (heat pump). The Ventilating is possible through the duct-work which takes the air to the rooms in the house and is forced into the duct-work by the air handler which has a blower. The Air Conditioning is possible because of an outside condenser.
What are the types of heating?
You either heat your house with a heat pump or can used a gas powered furnace. A gas heater will heat much faster when there is extreme temperature, however gas prices have seen much fluctuation in price over the past few years. Where there are even more heating days, propane (which is more expensive than natural gas) becomes cost prohibitive. The option then becomes geothermal HVAC.
What are the types of cooling?
To cool your house, you need to be able to take the heat out of the house. A typical outdoor unit uses freon for this heat exchange and take the hot freon to a large blower that tries to cool off the freon coil. This type of system is called “air to air.” The problem with air source cooling is that the time when you are trying to take the heat out of the house is when it is the hottest outside so it becomes more difficult to blow the hot temperature off of the coil when the outside air is already hot. This is why they invented ground source heat pumps or geothermal. Instead of exchanging the heat with the air, the heat is exchanged with the ground which is much cooler, therefore more efficient. For more information on how geothermal works visit: How Geothermal Works
What type of energy is needed to power HVAC?
There are several different ways to provide the energy to heat and cool your home. Electricity the primary source of energy to cool houses, while natural gas, propane and electricity are used to heat houses. When choosing your equipment, is is good to know how much it will cost to operate versus the cost of the installation and equipment. For instance and regular heat pump is cheaper to install, however a geothermal heat pump is much cheaper to operate. Whenever energy prices go up, the more efficient HVAC system will win when it comes to payback.
Keep in mind:
- In general-the cheapest equipment is not the most efficient and cost the most to operate
- Your HVAC is designed based on the efficiency of your house. It is important to make sure that your window are functioning properly and that you have enough insulation before installing your HVAC. The cost to upgrade your insulation is less that the amount will save you on HVAC costs!
- Make sure that you duct work is addressed at the same time if you are upgrading a unit. Leaky duct work can take that precious air that you just paid to condition and dump it outside. That does not make any sense!
- All equipment needs to be sized properly using a Manual J calculation. If not, then the HVAC will not run properly and you will not be comfortable!
Bottom Line:
- Good: Standard heat pump
- Better: Dual fuel heat pump (gas and electric)
- Best: Geothermal HVAC
For more information on HVAC and home performance solutions visit Fresh World
Other posts in the “Good Better Best” series:
Introduction to My Design Partners
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