Zoned heating and cooling
Heating and cooling that follows how the rooms are used.
A zoned air system splits the house into parts that are heated and cooled on their own, so the guest wing, the great room and the primary suite don't share a thermostat.
A good fit when
Rooms that sit empty for weeks at a time
Tall spaces with a lot of glass
An addition that has overloaded the existing system
Bedrooms where fan noise matters
How we design it
Zones first, equipment second.
The zone plan comes from how you live in the house, and the equipment follows it.
A zone plan from room use
Which rooms are used together, which are closed up for weeks, which face the afternoon sun.
Equipment away from bedrooms
Air handlers in the mechanical room or an attic space, not above a pillow.
Ducts sized for slow air
Larger runs and lined sections so the air moves quietly.
Ductless where ducts can't go
A wall or ceiling unit for an addition, a loft or a room with no chase.
Fresh air and humidity
Mountain air is dry and many new houses are tight. We plan ventilation and humidification on purpose.
Controls on one panel
Zones, schedules and away settings that you and the house manager can both read.
Questions about this work
How loud will the system be?
We set a noise target for each room with you and the architect, using NC ratings, then design to it: equipment away from sleeping floors, slow air through the ducts, isolated mounts and sealed doors on the mechanical room. At start-up we take sound readings and give you the numbers.
Does altitude change the equipment?
It does. Gas burners are adjusted for thin air, some fan and pump equipment is selected differently, and combustion is measured with an analyzer at start-up rather than assumed. At roughly 8,000 feet, a system sized for sea level is the wrong system.
Does a mountain house need cooling?
Many don't, and we say so. Nights are cool at this elevation, but a west-facing glass wall can still overheat a room in July. We look at the plans and propose cooling only for the rooms that need it, with fresh-air ventilation for all of them.
Tell us about the house.
A few lines about the site and the schedule are enough to start.