Our homeowners in Meridian, ID pride themselves on being excellent hosts. But, having an uncomfortable guest room could make it a little challenging. Unfortunately, this room was always too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.
So, they called us here at Snowflake Air to see what they could do. We took a look and found a common problem: The ductwork wasn’t optimized to treat this room.
Then, we ran a few options by them. They went with ductless heating and cooling— and are glad they did!
In this case study, we’ll review:
- Why That One Room Is Always Too Hot Or Cold
- How Ductless Heating And Cooling Solves The Problem
- Why Zoned HVAC Is Great For a Guest Room
- Installing A Single-Zone Mini Split In Meridian, ID
And, if there’s a room in your Treasure River Valley home that’s always too hot or too cold, reach out to us here at Snowflake Air for a free consultation.
Problem: The guest room in Meridian, ID, was always too hot or too cold.
Solution: Added a one-zone mini split to treat the one problem room. Now the homeowners can control the temperature in this room without affecting other areas of the house.
Read More: How Much Does A Mini Split Cost In And Around Boise Metro?
Why That One Room Is Always Too Hot Or Cold
One room in the house that’s always too hot or too cold is a common problem. In this case, it was a room on the second floor — the usual spot. There are a few reasons why this happens.
First of all, forced-air heating and cooling only works so well. And, the further you get from the furnace, the less well it does the job.
The problem is air pressure and how it gets weaker along the way. The blower in your system creates a certain amount of force to push the air up through the ductwork.
But, you lose pressure the further you go. And, each vent along the way weakens it, too. So, by the time you get to the second floor and the room furthest from the furnace, you end up with weak airflow.
That room will never get the right amount of heating and cooling because the thermostat is downstairs. Since the first floor gets better treatment, it reaches the call setting faster than upstairs.
The thermostat turns off, and that problem room remains too hot or cold.
How Ductless Heating And Cooling Solves The Problem
We recommended a ductless heating and cooling system for this guest room. This way, our homeowners would have one unit to handle every season. And, it’s a permanently-installed setup. There’s no moving a space heater into the room or lugging a window air conditioner out of storage in the spring.
And, our homeowners get dedicated conditioning for the specific room they’re trying to treat.
Ductless heating and cooling are often referred to as a “mini split” because it consists of separate indoor and outdoor units. And, each indoor unit — the air handler — has a built-in thermostat.
We mount the air handler on the wall in the room (more on the installation a little later). From there, it measures the temperature in the room and adds treatment as needed.
Zoned HVAC
We call this “zoned” HVAC. The idea here is that you separate different parts of the house into separate zones. Then, you treat each one individually.
In this case, we recommended a single-zone mini split. That means one heat pump outside and a single air handler in one room in the house.
Since our homeowners were only concerned with the guest bedroom, it’d be the perfect amount of treatment for the problem they had.
And, that treatment is better than any window unit, portable heater, or even their existing forced-air system could provide.
Constant Comfort
Unlike conventional HVAC, a mini split doesn’t turn on and off a few times every hour as the temperature drifts. Nor does it just run at full blast until you turn it off like a window AC. Instead, it adds just enough heating or cooling to maintain a comfortable, consistent temperature.
The “secret” to it is the heat pump’s variable speed motor. It can do more than just run at full power or not at all.
So, the system runs at full blast until the thermostat on the air handlers reaches its call. Then, the motor on the outdoor unit slows down. This way, it provides just a little bit of service.
The low-power mode lets the air handler keep the temperature steady to within one degree of the setting. By contrast, the temperature can swing four or five degrees before a forced-air system turns on.
Why Zoned HVAC Is Great For a Guest Room
A zoned HVAC system is especially great for this guest room because the homeowners aren’t always using it! So, they don’t need to spend extra money keeping it at the perfect temperature all the time.
Instead, they only need to be perfectly comfortable when someone’s staying over for the night. So, they can set the thermostat lower in the winter or higher in the summer when no one uses it.
Ductless heating and cooling is already exceptionally energy-efficient. The new system uses a fraction of what their furnace, central air, and especially any portable unit, would require.
Now, they also have the option of not treating the room all the time. That’s even less electricity. Or, our homeowners can take some of the burden off their central system by eliminating a hot and cold spot.
Even when no one’s using the guest bedroom, the temperature difference still affects how heat travels through the house — and how often their furnace or AC has to run.
Read More: Rebates and Financing For Mini Splits In And Around Boise Metro
Installing A Single-Zone Mini Split In Meridian, ID
A single-zone mini split takes one day to install. And, it doesn’t require us to knock through walls, rip out any appliances, or make any significant impacts on this Meridian, ID home.
Instead, it’s just a matter of placing the indoor and outdoor units and running a lineset between them.
First, we mounted the air handler on an exterior wall. That way, there’s a clear, direct path right down to the heat pump. That outdoor unit is smaller and sleeker than an AC condenser. We mount it close to the house, and it hardly takes up any room at all.
After that, it’s just a matter of running lines through the wall to connect them. It’s as simple as placing electrical wires.
You don’t see anything inside except the air handler because the lineset runs behind it. Outside, it just looks like there’s an extra gutter running down the house.
With simple installation and superior comfort, a mini split can make a difference for an entire home or the one room that’s always too hot or cold — or any configuration in between! If you’re ready to make your Treasure River Valley home more comfortable in every season, contact Snowflake Air today for your free consultation for your mini split installations in Median ID bedrooms!
