North Carolina. Home office with multiple computers. On the third floor. During the summers, the air conditioning unit struggled to keep up. This year it was time for a two phase upgrade.
Phase one completed yesterday, with the replacement of the 18 year old heading and cooling unit that serviced the third floor with a modern and more efficient model. Despite a temperature of 90°F (32°C) outside, it is comfortable inside and the unit only needs to run for a few minutes at a time.
Phase two is scheduled to occur next month and involves creation of an energy barricade.
I would’ve thought that sizing the conditioner would have been easier and more accurate after the barricade work was done? Especially in North Carolina I’d think the issue of moisture removal would have as much to do with comfort as temperature. I also seem to recall that an anti-pattern for air conditioning is units that are oversized don’t run for very long (they chill the air powerfully, so it gets cool quickly, but they don’t run long enough to remove moisture from the air).
Re: sizing. Units range from 1.5 to 4 tons. This unit was 1.5 tons, as was the unit it replaced. This is only for the 3rd floor, so it only needs to cool ~ 400⏍.
Re: ordering. Both contractors came at the same time to discuss what needed to be done. The air conditioning folks had an earlier availability. The barricade guys were going to wrap the existing duct work, the HVAC guys were going to replace the duct work for the unit they replaced. It made sense to let the HVAC guys go first, and have the barricade guys address whatever remained.
Phase two of our whole house upgrade has begun. Yesterday, a Minneapolis Blower Door was used to depressurize our house, in order to detect leaks. Overall, the house fared fairly well, with most (as in >65%) of the leakage...
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