Let’s face it, furnaces and air conditioning are expensive.  Yet, while equipment determines your possible efficiency, duct design determines your actual performance, bills, comfort level, longevity, noise levels…..we could go on.

In many new construction projects, we see ducts carelessly sized and designed which either lead the homeowner to ask about hot or cold spots in the home or ‘why is it so noisy?’.  A forced air heating or cooling system, when designed and installed with proper coordination, will not be noisy.

There are ways to design and coordinate the duct installation that make a big difference in assuring a quality project.   First, calculating heating AND cooling loads room by room.  Then, and only then can you be assured the system is meeting the loads.  In fact, it can be measured and compared to the load calculation.  We think you might want that level of comfort and knowledge that you are getting what you pay for.  We design all of our home system using a computerized Manual J calculation, draw and size the ducts and print them for you and your contractor to use.  This file can be exported to include in a builder’s set of drawings.  Changes in register locations can then be executed in real time and with an assurance that it will not affect the performance.

This is extra work, and it’s worth it.  proper air flow design can lower the installation cost of ducts and reduce the size of ducts while making the equipment last longer and operate at higher efficiency.   Sounds like a win-win for our customers!

We see this more and more.  New homes are going on the market with a line-set installed and  air conditioning coil installed.  Often marketed as Air Conditioning ready, Contractors and real estate agents like the solution because it offers a perceived increase in value for the buyer.

There is more to the story.  Some of this thinking really depends on what you want to do when you actually buy the outdoor unit and have it installed.  In other words, what would your goals be for efficiency, overall cost, adaptability to new technology, etc.  Here’s how it breaks down.

• If all your goals align and the answer is weighted toward low overall cost.  It will save you some money if you go ahead and have the coil and line-set installed during rough in.
• If you are the person who weights the efficiency side and new technology higher, consider waiting until you are ready to do the install.  You will likely have more flexibility with new products and more available high efficiency matches to your furnace and coil.

As always, you can can ask anyone on the Mountain Heating and Cooling team for help in wading through this decision.  We are proud to have a team who listens and can be creative with solutions.