Thanks, Chuck.
It explains why some air-source heat pumps trumpet their alternative use as air
conditioners.
My old house is beautifully cool when it's hot outside, particularly in the
cellar (where resides my office), so I would never need it.
Chris
On 8 Dec 2012, at 19:48, Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Probably one reason why hot air is so much more prevalent in the US is
> air conditioning. With a hot air system the air conditioning condenser
> can sit directly atop the furnace and take advantage of the same
> ductwork. It's not ideal from an air flow standpoint since the cold air
> is entering the rooms from the floor level and must be blown upward
> (which just goes to make Ken's point about air flow).
>
> The house previous to this one was a two story design with hot water
> baseboard heat. But the house was also air conditioned. It had two
> small compressors outside with one condenser in the attic feeding air
> ducts into the ceiling on the second floor. The other condenser was in
> the basement feeding cold air into floor level ducts similar to a hot
> air heating system. Not ideal but much less bother and expense than
> trying to feed the air at ceiling level to the first floor.
>
> That house I had custom built in 1995 and was fairly efficient.
> Unfortunately, this current house was built in 1958. The hot air
> ducting was built to support a mostly empty basement rather than one
> containing a workshop, laundry room, partial kitchen, family room, full
> bath and guest bedroom. It can be chilly down there at times. The air
> conditioner was an add-on about 20 years ago and uses the same old
> inefficient ductwork. Which reminds me that the compressor is probably
> about 20 years old and perhaps nearing end-of-life as the furnace just did.
--
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