I am on a committee restoring our town railroad depot. We are well on our way to having the clay tile roof reinstalled and are now concentrating on replacing the HVAC system. I am asking for any help we can get to guide our decision on what would be the options in an old slab on grade, brick and stucco building with roughly 13 foot ceilings in north central Illinois. The old steam heating system does not seem to be a viable solution for the future museum use we envision, since most visitors will be in the summer and air conditioning will be of better use to us than heating. Yet, any hours of display in the winter will obviously require a friendly heating enviroment to allow patrons time to comfortably view the artifacts. The building is not of common construction to this area and I am hoping one of you can point us in a direction which will help us to specify to our local HVAC contractors a successful system installation.Thank you.
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One of the least invasive AC systems to have installed when remodeling would be the hi-velocity heating and cooling systems offered by companies such as Unico and SpacePak.
The mini supply ducts are flexible and only a few inches in diameter. The outlets are unobtrusive and can come through the wall, floor or ceiling.
With the ducting being so small, if they can;t be snaked through the wall itself they can often times be hidden behind faux corner posts or faux beams that are surface mounted on the interior walls.
With an historic building such as yours, aesthetics and historical accuracy are certainly a concern...but the hi-velocity systems, on the whole, are still less obtrusive than standard AC setups.
Heating coils can be installed to provide warmth in the winter.
Another non-invasive HVAC option would be a split-ductless system. I thiink the split ductless may be even less instrusive (and possibly better suited to your situation) than the Hi-v systems. The condenser is outside and the cooling unit mounts on the wall on the inside. No ductwork whatsoever. I'm not terribly familiar with them, but I'm sure others who have installed them can give better advice regarding the appropriateness of split-ductless to your situation.
I've had these links bookmarked for some time now, hopefully they're still valid:
http://www.unicosystem.com
http://www.spacepak.com/index.html
http://www.hi-velocity.com
EDIT:
Forgot to add a link for the split-ductless:
http://www.mini-split.com/
Edited 8/12/2002 1:46:04 PM ET by Mongo
Good answer
I and especially the General Manager of my company are very familiar with most of the HVAC contractors in north central Illinois. Also, a large portion of our business is in the review and design of HVAC systems for renovations in old buildings. If you are interested, e-mail some specifics of your project and I'll be happy to discuss some options, and the limitations of each. If the depot is near Rockford, IL, I'd also love to have a look.
Or if you just want the names of some good contractors, we know most of them.
Edited 8/12/2002 3:40:53 PM ET by Tim
Start by considering the artifacts you want to preserve in your museum. What are their HVAC requirements? Stability of humidity and temperature can be very import in some cases.
-- J.S.