Tons of Capacity
It’s going to take 30 tons of heating and cooling power to
keep our 16,000 square foot Project House comfortable year-round.
That’s a huge HVAC system by any standard. How huge? Well, each ton
generates 12,000 Btu’s an hour.
"Btu" stands for "British Thermal Unit", which is roughly the amount
of energy given off by the burning of one wooden kitchen match. So our
system, at full power, will generate 360,000 Btu’s of heating and cooling
power an hour.
Two Floors, Two Systems
Quiet Energy Efficiency from Lennox
On the second floor, we’re using a system from Lennox. In the attic,
Four Lennox G32V furnaces, suspended from the rafters, generate our heat.
These ultra-quiet furnaces are 94% efficient and have a special blower that
ramps up slowly, thus avoiding the loud thump that often lets the whole family
know that the air conditioning unit has just switched on. Over a period of
several years, these units will save us thousands of dollars, compared with
what we would be spending if we were using older furnaces with lower
efficiency ratings.
Our air conditioning evaporator coils are attached to this unit, and
operate using the same high-efficiency blower.
The Project House has a total of eight outdoor condensers, all from
Lennox, each generating from two to five tons of cooling power. Our
outside condensers are ultra-quiet HSX15 15 SEER units from Lennox,
and are incredibly energy-efficient. The HSX15 units use specially
designed fan blades to reduce fan noise and super-quiet
Scroll compressors. The SEER rating for these units is 14-15.
Zoning by Honeywell
To make our system even more energy efficient, we’re dividing
our 2nd floor HVAC into five separate zones, three of which are
controlled by motorized dampers from Honeywell. When the Honeywell
programmable thermostats we’re placing in each room tell the system
that the temperature needs to be adjusted in that room, the system
sends itself a signal that opens or closes motorized dampers that
we’ve installed in the ductwork in the attic above the second floor.
Since heating and cooling accounts for 2/3 of the typical utility
bill, we’re going to save a lot of money by not heating or cooling
every single room in the house all the time. With zoning, each room,
or suite of rooms, can have its own thermostatically controlled
temperature, independent of other areas of the house.
Ground Floor System by Unico
The heart of the revolutionary Unico system we’re using to heat
and cool the ground floor is the modular air handler we installed
in four separate locations in the attic and crawlspaces. Each air
handler was easily assembled in just a few minutes by our installers.
Air in this system is passed directly over the evaporator coils at a
colder temperature than in a conventional system, so the Unico system
removes 30% more moisture in the cooling mode than conventional systems.
The Unico system will provide heat for the ground floor using hot
water provided by a 175,000 Btu Lennox Conservator boiler. The Unico
system can also use electric heat.
The Unico system differs from conventional heating and cooling systems
by using a patented high-velocity air system that distributes the air
through flexible mini-ducts. The ducts are smaller and more numerous
than conventional ductwork, and the outlets in each room are small and
subtle. The outlets can be installed in the ceilings, walls, or even the
floors. They come in wooden and plastic finishes and can be stained or
painted to match the coloring of the room.
The Unico air distribution system works on the principle of "aspiration".
Unlike conventional systems, which often leave hot and cold spots as well
as drafts throughout the home, Unico’s high-velocity streams of air enter
a room and gently mix with the room’s existing air currents. From floor to
ceiling, air temperatures are even and drafts are eliminated.
Because the Unico air supply tubes are much narrower than conventional
HVAC ductwork, the Unico system can be used to retrofit older homes,
running the ductwork down the walls and in places that conventional HVAC
just couldn’t go without the construction of expensive chases.
Contact Information:
Lennox
1-800-9-LENNOX
Unico
1-800-527-0896
Honeywell
1-800-345-6770 x529 |
