This brutal summer in Baltimore has convinced our little family that it’s time to air condition our big old 1913 row house. I seem to remember reading an article on a kind of miniature ductwork that minimizes the surgery–at least the size of it–in old houses. Has anyone out there heard of such a product? Perhaps I merely saw an ad for it in the back of FH.
Any guidance would be much appreciated.
–Soaked in Baltimore
Replies
Try this:
http://www.spacepak.com/index.html
I have no experience with this particular brand BUT they have one heck of a good, informative website. Was thinking about doing my 2nd floor and walk-up attic with cooling only - 1941 era house.
Another brand is Unico.
Skol
Thank you for the information. I found the Unico site. It looks very promising. They have a testimonial from Rich Trethuey of This Old House fame! Still, I'd like to hear from someone who has actually invested in one of these approaches, just to get some real-world feedback. I'll post whatever I learn...
I have to admit I did not buy the system but it consisted of insulated small (for air) high speed ducts snaked to where required and small round registers in the ceiling. The "works" were contained in the attic with the compressor outside. It worked very well. I spent two Philadelphia summers working on that house and stayed cool.
My father-in-law installed one of those systems a couple of years ago and is pretty happy with it. Don't know the brand.
olsh,
Three major brands...Unico, SpacePak, and Hi-V.
Hi-V is probably the most basic of the three...geared towards the DIYer. However, if you order from them, you'll get a box of parts, a manual, and you'll have to spend quite a bit of time inserting Part A into Slot B. Tedious. It works, but in terms of quality, they're not the best. But they are the least expensive.
SpacePak and Unico both have good hardware and good mini-ducts. SpacePak has probably been the innovator in improving high-velocity air conditioning systems...and as SP has made the improvements, Unico has pirated their ideas.
Unico has the better name since they spend mucho bucks on advertising...hence the linkup with This (totally overbudget) Old House.
I think you;d be happy with either SP or Unico...though Unico, because of their marketing, is probably more well known and more widely available.
I've had problems getting calls from SP reps.
Don't use Unico's proprietary presse fiberboard duct for your trunk lines. Use tin.
I've posted a lot of info on previous threads...try running an advanced search using my name as the poster and a timeframe of 2-3 years back.