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HVAC: House Design - HVAC input please

Pensacola PI
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago

We have just received the elevation and floor plan drawings on our newly planned home and need some solid input from the HVAC gurus here. The total square footage of the house is 2555. My office will be in the
loft of the house. Use wise, the loft/aka office will be used for say 10
hours per day and after that, I am done for the day with business.
House itself is a 4/3 with 1 2 car garage and a separate single car
garage which will be our gym.

HVAC wise, I have no idea what the best way to go is and we start to
meet with builders next week for bids. We had planned on a simple
system. I don't know a damn thing about HVAC but I do know that I want
to most efficient setup I can buy. The plan is either Trane or American
Standard. But, what type of system? Do we go with a split system or two
completely separate systems? I want to be able to evenly control the
temperature wise. I've been in some 2 story houses where it's a
comfortable say 75 down stairs and the second story gets no cooler than
low 80's. So what would you recommend be installed for the most
efficient system? It's either pay me now, or pay me later. I'd prefer to
spend a bit more up front with the right system and not be kicking
myself in the ass when the office won't cool down and we get outrageous
bills because the air runs constantly.

With that, here's the elevation and I am wide open to input. I at the
very least need to be educated as to my options when we start to get
bids from builders. Much appreciated

I have also received some other general input else where and figured I'd toss this into the mix and here's what I have received:

1. Trane XV systems with zoning is the only way to go, to control
temperature properly. That being said, most HVAC contractors are
clueless when it comes to designing zoning systems to work properly.
They oversize the equipment and than under size the duct system.

2. The house we're remodeling has a split zone system (2 years old and HE)
and it seems to work very well. The only thing I've heard bad about them
is the controllers/dampers need to have annual service or they can hang
up. But given the option on new construction I would go with multiple
independent systems. That way if you have an issue with one system they
other(s) still work.

This house in St Pete is one level, 3800 sq ft, but we have two systems
with 2 bedrooms on one system, 3 on the other and an overlap on the main
spaces. It works great and when we lost a system to lightening one
evening last month we just moved to another bedroom and slept in
comfort. But in the case of your loft/office my choice would be a Mitsubishi ductless mini-split.

3. We have something VERY similar, walk out basement 1850sf, main floor
1850sf, loft 300sf. We are using a 20ser 4 ton zoned unit, and as
stated the loft is using a 18000 BTU ductless unit.

There you have it so to speak. When the day is done, we want an EFFICIENT system that won't turn out to be an energy hog and have monthly bills that'll make us cringe. So before we meet with the builders, any solid input from the pros would be MORE THAN WELCOMED.

With that, here's the elevation.

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