A good ductless heating and cooling installation can turn underused third floor rooms and attic spaces into comfortable, usable living and workspace. If that sounds like a miracle waiting to happen, then read on. It’s true!
Why Third Floor Rooms and Attics are Hard to Heat and Cool
Third floor rooms and attic spaces are frequently underused in many homes. They can be cold in the winter and hot in the summer making them uncomfortable to use for half of the year.
There is a reason for this. Third floor rooms and attics – especially in older homes like those you might find in Abington, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia – were not designed for active use. They were the original “bonus” rooms used for storage, in the case of attic spaces, or overflow bedroom space.
While every home is a little different, there are two common reasons why most attics or third floors are too cold in the winter. And, unfortunately, they’re usually working together. The first is poor insulation, and the second is weak or no air circulation. Understanding how these two factors play together in your home can be helpful in finding a solution.
You’ve heard that heat rises, right? Well, technically, it’s hot air that rises. But, either way, you’d think that would mean the top floor of your home would be the warmest in the winter — just like it is in the summer! But that’s not quite how it works.
The kind of underused rooms that we are talking about are the furthest away from the heat or cooling source. So even if these rooms were ducted to deliver conditioned air, by the time the warm or cool air makes its way up to the third floor, it has lost much of its punch in its trip through the ducts and seems to trickle in, offering little heating or cooling benefit.
The other factor is that as heat rises, it continues to rise all the way up and out through the roof and attic windows. Heat finds any crack or opening to find its way outside. Conversely, when the summer sun is beating down on your roof and overheating your attic, the heat source is literally over your head trapping summer sun heat in the attic.
The factors, or poor insulation, remote location for ducted heat to travel and/or no ductwork at all, make these rooms the perfect fit for a ductless mini split. The ductless mini split provides powerful heating and cooling solutions eliminating the need for installing expensive ductwork or worrying about adequate air pressure from your furnace.
How Ductless Heating and Cooling Works
The secret to ductless heating and cooling is that it moves heat, not air. As a result, you don’t need ductwork. Or, you can bypass the ducts and vents that don’t really do the job up on the third floor. That means better comfort in the most challenging part of your home to heat.
You have a heat pump outside that draws in heat (yes, even in the winter) and warms up a refrigerant coolant inside the system. That coolant runs in a loop from the outdoor heat pump to the air handler inside.
When the coolant reaches the indoor unit, it releases the heat, and the air handler circulates it throughout the room. When that refrigerant liquid travels back to the heat pump, it absorbs more heat and continues the cycle.
As a result, you don’t need ductwork! Just a few lines run through the wall like electrical wiring. Without forced air, you don’t worry about losing pressure when you’re too far from the heat source. And, you can add up to eight air handlers on a heat pump. That gives you the option of treating just one room or even your entire home!
Read More: How To Save Energy And Money With Zoned HVAC
Why a Ductless Minisplit is the Perfect Choice
A ductless mini-split in a third-floor or attic gives you:
- Amazing Comfort
- Both Heating And Cooling Capabilities
- Zoned Comfort
- Lower Energy Bills
Amazing Comfort
First and foremost, a mini-split makes any room feel great — even better than you could get with a furnace right there! The air handler has 3D sensors and tiny fans to find every little cold spot in the room and warm it right up. It also spends most time in a low-power mode that maintains the temperature within a degree of your setting. You don’t get any of those dips in temperature like with a furnace or baseboard heaters.
Both Heating And Cooling Capabilities
Your ductless mini split provides both heating and cooling eliminating the need for unsightly and noisy window air conditioners that block out the light. You can also get rid of the space heaters in the winter. Lots of heating or cooling solutions don’t offer both, which is another great benefit of ductless mini splits.
Zoned Comfort
Zoned Comfort allows you to create different zones with different, independent temperatures. Instead of heating or cooling the entire home to one temperature, you can separate your home into zones. Each mini split will heat or cool to the desired temperature, and if you aren’t using the room, you don’t even have to run the unit.
This helps conserve energy, and also allows you to keep everyone in your home happy. If you live in a home with people who disagree on temperature, a zoned system is what you need!
Read More: Ductless HVAC Vs Traditional HVAC
Lower Energy Bills
Ductless mini splits are also designed to operate with superior energy efficiency. They don’t use as much energy to heat and cool as a traditional system, and don’t lose as much energy in the transfer process. Between this and the zoning, you will use less energy, resulting in lower energy bills than with a traditional system.
All of these benefits along with easy, clean installations make the mini split the perfect choice for those difficult to heat and cool rooms.
Ductless Mini Split Installation In Abington, PA
If you are lucky enough to live in Abington, PA, or any of the surrounding areas, we can help you out. At Synergy3., we specialize in ductless mini split installations, repairs, and maintenance. Give us a call at (267) 686-6001 or visit us online at www.synergy3.com.