Form over function

Heating and air conditioning as it is practiced in most parts of the country is haphazard at best.  Mechanical equipment is ‘shoehorned in’ in most cases. Often access is ignored and replaceability is an afterthought. There are too many contractors of every kind that behave like pirates. They are on a mission to rob the consumer and give them as little value for as much money as possible.

To protect consumers there was initially one code written by the National Fire Protection Agency, to regulate the installation of electricity in homes. Other codes quickly followed. Unfortunately, codes are written for safety and not for best practice. There are many design features in codes, and there are many books written to help develop successful design, but inspectors are not there to examine an installation for performance. Inspectors ask, “Have the minimum standards been achieved?” Truth is, it is very difficult to design heating and air conditioning and there are a gazillion different design choices one has to make from sound levels and invisibility to aesthetics and compatibility with existing architecture. But none of these choices are interested in functionality.

Once a client had a large master suite added to their home. The contractor added a flexible duct and registers to the existing system. The homeowner found they had to keep the main home at 79 degrees in the heating season to maintain 68 degrees in the master. Fortunately, there was room to make changes to the duct system and I was able to redesign the duct system using the existing equipment to give a single consistent temperature throughout the entire home including the basement. I call projects like these boutique projects. It is much easier to design into a new structure a working system than to retrofit it after it is discovered that the design was broken from the beginning. It doesn’t make any difference how much the home costs. Multi-million-dollar home’s comfort systems are still offered to the lowest bidder. Super custom luxury homes may have some better chance, but they also have unique challenges.

There is currently a trend to address new home mechanicals with what are known as ductless systems. They have the appealing feature that they can give individual control to each room or zone. The one flaw in their design, however, is the need to use air filtering that is completely inadequate to the demand. In about five years most ductless units have sufficient loading on the blower to allow it to become a nursery for mold spores. Thus, every one of these appliances need cleaning regularly. The downside is they are often in finished spaces with expensive furniture, floor coverings, and artwork. Spraying the fan blade with chemicals and water is messy. Manufacturers have become aware of this and have adopted various strategies to address it but ultimately, few consumers are getting the performance they desire (or paid for).

 Although the technology to understand air performance has been firmly established more than 40 years ago, few practitioners have developed abilities in that area. Heating and air conditioning schools, even union contractors, lack skills especially when it comes to residential structures.

If you are thinking of building ask for a contractor familiar with Manual D or SMANCA design standards to design your duct system. If you have an existing home, ask your contractor to measure your air delivery and make adjustments as necessary. Isn’t the goal of heating and cooling comfort? Many times, making the changes required is outside of the budget, but sometimes there are simple fixes that can make a significant difference. If your contractor or technician doesn’t know how to evaluate air flow, contact us.  We would be happy to help.