I am fixing to replace my 18-year-old system for my two-story house it's 2432sqft, I have two, 3-ton condensers and gas furnaces. From the estimates I have, all the contractors have been opposed to one 5 ton two-stage, zoned system. They say two systems one 2 ton upstairs and a 3 ton down.
Better yet, have them quote two ducted minisplit airhandlers with one outdoor unit. This should come in about the same price as zoning and one 5 ton system and give you the flexibility of ramping up capacity for either zone making it extremely more efficient than two systems or one system with zoning.
@@scifiuniverses3736 First, they need to do a load calculation on the home, measure the existing static of the system and use a blower chart for the equipment to see how much air is actually being moved. Then and only then can they tell you if the ducts are limited. That being said your house might not require 5 tons. We do homes here in the Central Valley where it gets 110 degrees in the summer that is around the same square footage with a 4 ton and sometimes a 3.5 ton. The load calc will tell all.
On your SHR that you're changing to .85 standard, is this applying to encapsulated homes too? I was taught a method to use for encapsulated homes to get the SHR and it will come in a bit higher than the preset .70, typically .89-.92.
I run it at .85 and actually could get a way with .95 in our area. This is due to the low humidity here in the central valley. For example; today it was 113 degrees but the humidity level was only 17%. This means we have very, very little latent and can get away with a system that does well on the sensible side. If you live in a humid climate like most of the East and South you have to account for the humidity so a lower SHR is used. Encapsulated homes have to breathe, so you need to pay attention to ventilation and should install a energy recovery ventilator to remove the moisture that comes in with your fresh air. In addition, you might have to add a dehumidification unit. You should also slow down the fan speed from 400 cfm per ton to 350 cfm per ton to help remove more moisture from the air as we don't want the home to rot from the inside out. So setting the fans speed and having proper ventilation will allow you to set the SHR to around .90. Hope this answers your question.
I have not done Elite so I can't compare. However, I hear Elite is good software, you could also do 3D software as I also hear it is good. What ever one you chose just stick with it.
@@baileysair Thank you sir..I'm still not decided yet which one I'm going to pick, but your video makes it easy to try..Last thing what's your advice to start with as a beginner for modules packages, please?
Hi Mitchell, We have 3761 sqft 2 storie home with basement another 1200sqft! My builder saying have 5 ton HVAC with 2 zone system!! But in this case can we have 2 HVAC vs 1 HVAC with 2 zones which is best option? Can you please advise?
Hello AK, 2 separate systems would be the best option. Most people do one system and zoning to save money, but using a single system for each zone is always preferable. I would go variable speed compressors on each system. This would allow each one to ramp up as needed, giving the most comfort along with the best energy savings.
@@charvigogineni One more thing, you could switch to a single multisplit outdoor unit with variable refrigerant flow and use two ducted air handlers for each zone. This would work well also as it would be zoned yet have separate air handlers for each zone.
@@charvigogineni No, the variable speed compressor will ramp up as you need more cooling thus running at a lower speed most of the time which will equate to lower cost to run. Two stage compressors have two speeds and are less expensive than variable speed, they usually run first stage at 70% and second stage at 100% while the variable speed starts our at around 30% capacity and ramps up in 1% increments till it reaches 100%. The key here is that most of the time you will not need 100%. When you install a variable speed you can pretty much set the temperature you want in the home and just let it do it's thing all the while saving money and being very comfortable in the home.
