Living alone is the life for some people, but paying for it isn’t always so great. That’s especially so when it comes to heating and cooling. One person can’t be everywhere in the house, and often they spend a lot of time in just a few spots. Meanwhile, they’re paying to keep the whole house climate-controlled.
Fortunately, Bovio had just the solution for a homeowner in the Sewell section of Mantua, that can keep them comfortable and reduce energy bills.
Problem: Homeowner wanted a more efficient way to control the heat in his home, as he rarely spent much time on the first floor.
Solution: Separated the heating unit into two zones using an outdoor unit and two indoor units.
Every part of the home still needed some degree of heating and cooling, but the key was to configure the system so a different temperature could be set upstairs from downstairs. In this case, Bovio was able to use the existing ductwork to create a system that did just that.
This homeowner had an older heat pump system. It’s a fairly standard setup, where air is forced through ducts throughout the house. The drawback, however, is that you can only set the thermostat in one place in the house, and then the system just pushes enough hot air to reach the set temperature.
That’s not what this homeowner needed. Plus, an older unit starts to lose efficiency when it can’t push enough air through to do the job anymore. So, the first step was installing an outdoor unit to provide electric backup heat. Then, we zoned the first and second floor using the ductwork that was already there.
On the first floor, a Mitsubishi air handler worked in place of a conventional vent on the existing ducts. Then, we separated the ducts going to the upstairs bedroom and bathroom and installed a sealed duct unit for those rooms.
Now, the upstairs can be set to a different temperature than the first floor. This means the Sewell resident can keep his bedroom cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter without spending the extra money — and having his system do more work — to do the same in the rooms he rarely uses.
It was a big job, but the homeowner didn’t get hit with the full cost. Since the new units are energy-efficient, he got a $400 rebate thanks to incentives through South Jersey Gas, his utility company. He was also approved for financing, so he can pay with no interest for six months.
Now, this homeowner in Sewell can set the temperature in the bedrooms to the temperature he wants, while leaving the others rooms, or even the entire first floor, hotter or cooler. It’s like having your cake and eating it too: Hot and cold just how you want it where you are, without having to pay for the whole house to be the same temperature when you’re not using all the rooms.