Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Happy with Spacepak?
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fu22ba55
07-05-03, 12:13 AM
My wife and I are about to rehab a Victorian (1904), and have heard good (and not good) things about Spacepak.
-How much more expensive is it than standard HVAC?
-Is is really as LOUD as everyone says it is?
We're in New England, so it would be AC 3 months out of the year and heat 5 months out of the year.
The house is currently a forced hot water/radiator system that we would remove altogether.
The primary advantage would be the ability to cool and heat the house without running ducts through all the rooms and boxing them in. (We could sink the spacepak in channels between the studs?)
We have to gut 75% of the ceilings on the second floor anyway, and we're going to poke some holes in the walls for new electric and plumbing, so we're already planning to do some replastering...
-The house is about 3000 sq. feet, and we're looking at around $16-18K to install traditional HVAC...(not counting boxing in all the ductwork.) How much more expensive would Spacepak be?
-Will we be happy with the Spacepak once we spend a King's ransom on it?
Thanks, and let me know about any GOTCHAs to watch out for with the Spacepak.
-How much more expensive is it than standard HVAC?
-Is is really as LOUD as everyone says it is?
We're in New England, so it would be AC 3 months out of the year and heat 5 months out of the year.
The house is currently a forced hot water/radiator system that we would remove altogether.
The primary advantage would be the ability to cool and heat the house without running ducts through all the rooms and boxing them in. (We could sink the spacepak in channels between the studs?)
We have to gut 75% of the ceilings on the second floor anyway, and we're going to poke some holes in the walls for new electric and plumbing, so we're already planning to do some replastering...
-The house is about 3000 sq. feet, and we're looking at around $16-18K to install traditional HVAC...(not counting boxing in all the ductwork.) How much more expensive would Spacepak be?
-Will we be happy with the Spacepak once we spend a King's ransom on it?
Thanks, and let me know about any GOTCHAs to watch out for with the Spacepak.
hvac4u
07-05-03, 08:23 PM
my experience with spacepacks dates back to the early 80's, where the system actually conditioned the classroom where hvac tech school was held. since then, i personally have not seen one. i understand the unit uses smaller diameter pipe, and a higher static pressure. therefore i would assume higher air velocity and perhaps noiser than a standard system
GregH
07-06-03, 08:51 AM
fu22ba55:
I don't have any direct experience with these units but am familiar with the principal of operation.
A room needs a specific amount of cooling or heating to satisfy the load and doesn't care at what the velocity of the air is as it comes out of the duct.
Spacepac speeds up the air coming out of the duct to allow the duct to be smaller. Also they claim greater humidity removal than conventional systems which means the air is colder than the air coming out of a conventional duct.
Their 2" duct will carry the same air as a 5" conventional round.
Did a search and could only find good things said about them, unfortunatly it was all from folks who sold them. Not much about the negatives, which I'm sure are plenty.
Another high velocity supplier:http://www.unicosystem.com/Index.html
It would make sense to me that if you are planning to gut a part of your home to install forced air hvac then maybe conventional would be a safe bet.
What I would advise is that you hire an independant engineer to do a heat load calculation and specify the ductwork.
The weakest link in the hvac industry is duct sizing, especially in two story homes.
Maybe someone with independant experience in high velocity hvac will come along.
I don't have any direct experience with these units but am familiar with the principal of operation.
A room needs a specific amount of cooling or heating to satisfy the load and doesn't care at what the velocity of the air is as it comes out of the duct.
Spacepac speeds up the air coming out of the duct to allow the duct to be smaller. Also they claim greater humidity removal than conventional systems which means the air is colder than the air coming out of a conventional duct.
Their 2" duct will carry the same air as a 5" conventional round.
Did a search and could only find good things said about them, unfortunatly it was all from folks who sold them. Not much about the negatives, which I'm sure are plenty.
Another high velocity supplier:http://www.unicosystem.com/Index.html
It would make sense to me that if you are planning to gut a part of your home to install forced air hvac then maybe conventional would be a safe bet.
What I would advise is that you hire an independant engineer to do a heat load calculation and specify the ductwork.
The weakest link in the hvac industry is duct sizing, especially in two story homes.
Maybe someone with independant experience in high velocity hvac will come along.