Al Carrell: Since heating and air conditioning is such an important part of your home we wanted you to see a little bit about the installation because it's usually up in the attic and you may not ever see this part of it. So we got Roger Long of Longhorn Heating and Air Conditioning to come in.
Roger Long: How are you, Al.
A.C.: Roger, thank you so much. How did you figure out how big a unit to put in this house?
R.L.: We take a load sheet that's put out by the utility companies, that you take all the windows, all your walls, all your ceiling load, into consideration to come up with the tonnage.
A.C.: Well, there used to be rules of thumb about how many square feet in how many tons of air conditioning you needed.
R.L.: That was years ago when everybody built an eight foot flat ceiling and one window per room. And now with the vaults and the raised ceilings and all the glass there's no way to do that any more.
A.C.: Now I notice that this installation has a gas heating system, and of course the air conditioning will be electric. Tell us a little bit about the heat pump, Roger.
R.L.: Okay. On the heat pumps you have a couple available, Al. You have just a standard heat pump and you have a dual fuel heat pump. In the case of the dual fuel heat pump you use the gas furnace as you did in this but you have to use the heat pump. And what a heat pump does, you pick up the heat that's in the outside air. Even down to 10 degrees there's still heat when you're dealing with refrigeration, and you use that to bring inside to heat your house instead of using the electric strips or the gas heat.
A.C.: And if it gets to the point where the heat pumps not quite adequate, that's when the dual fuel kicks in?
R.L.: That's when the dual fuel kicks in.
A.C.: Well, Roger, which is going to be the most efficient way to go?
R.L.: That's going to depend, Al, on what your utilities are that you have available. If you're out in the country and you don't have natural gas available, then it's definitely better to go with the heat pump than go with propane heat or to go with the electric strips.
A.C.: I notice that all the duct work here is the flexible kind. Is that the rage these days?
R.L.: Yes sir, it is. And it's more efficient than the old metal duct even though the metal, a lot of people say will last much longer, the flexible duct has a life expectancy of many, many years and the insulation value is much better.
A.C.: And also you don't have that creaking and groaning like you used to have with the metal ducts when they expand and contract.
R.L.: Exactly, it quietened the system down a lot.
A.C.: And speaking of quieting it down, I notice that this is a suspended system, and that's for noise and vibration.
R.L.: Yes, that's to keep any noise that might ever develop in the system be carried through the roof rather than coming down into the house.
A.C.: I used to like to have ours on because it made the bed seem like it was one of those Magic Fingers bed, there was so much vibration.
R.L.: They will do it.
A.C.: Also I notice you've got a pan up here in case the drain system ever fails, you're going to collect that water, right?
R.L.: Exactly. A lot of the old systems had a auxiliary pan built right into the existing coil, but we add a pan underneath, just to be a little bit safer.
A.C.: And it sure can make a mess if you don't have that.
R.L.: I've seen a lot of ceilings fall in the floor.
A.C.: What kind of maintenance is the homeowner going to have to do with this. I know they're going to have to change the filter from time to time.
R.L.: Right. That is about...that and keep their condenser coil on the outside clean is about all they can do. The motors are now sealed so they don't have to get up and oil the motors in the attic.
A.C.: Where is the filter going to be in this unit.
R.L.: Okay, the filter's going to be down below. We're going to go down with the return grill and tie into the grill that's going to be right at the ceiling in the hallway.
A.C.: Hey, that's very convenient isn't it?
R.L.: That way the homeowner can get on a short ladder and change the filter rather than climbing up in the attic.
A.C.: Or if he's an N.B.A. player he won't even have to do that.
R.L.: Won't even have to do that.
A.C.: What about the placement of the thermostat. Is that an important thing?
R.L.: Yeah, it's real important that you get it close to the return so that you're drawing return back from all the different areas of the house and you're getting a reading of everything and you don't want to get it where a supply grill is blowing on it cause it will tell the system that it's needing heating or cooling when it's not.
A.C.: Thank you a lot, Roger.
R.L.: You're welcome. Al.
A.C.: Really appreciate your coming out.
Episode 012 1995 - 96 Season
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