Michael It’s going to take 16 tons of air conditioning to heat and cool our 10,000 square foot country retreat. With all that equipment and ductwork, we need to make sure were using the most energy efficient and cost effective system possible. Our system was furnished by Lennox Industry set and installed by Tempo Mechanical of Irving Texas. Scott Curtis with Lennox was our adviser on this project, he has over 13 years experience in the heating and cooling industry.
Scott what do you guys doing here on the furnace to make the house more efficient?
Scott Curtis: Well, what we have here Michael is a variable speed blower on the furnace. That means, that instead of blowing it at its speed the fan will actually vary in speed as necessary.
Michael: Okay, so we keep on the heat inside the house, its not going to be like the typical blast furnace coming through there.
Scott Curtis: Correct, the cycles are slow and ramp up.
Michael: I like that a lot, so the whole room just going to be get warmer slowly instead of just blowing hot air through one stream?
Scott Curtis: Correct, that is also thus wonders for your efficiency, your noise level, your comfort and also your filtration.
Michael: Good, good anything else special about the furnace itself?
Scott Curtis: Yeah, there is one more step we took here for noise level. Typically you’ve see it as a gas burners here. We even close some of the box to knock down the noise level because it is also a source of noise in front.
Michael: Good, good normally that noise goes through to the ductwork but you’re in to cut if off right to the correct source. So that is good. Okay, now you talk about filtration by been vulnerable that they helps with the filtration. I it’s here that you got quite of purification system on it. Tell us a little bit about this.
Scott Curtis: Michael this is the pure air, perfect air purification system, it start with a furnace-pleated filter.
Michael: Wow that is a massive filter.
Scott Curtis: That’s going to help you with your dust and pollen, mold things like that.
Michael: Okay, now how often do you have to change the filter?
Scott Curtis: That’s filter probably should be change once a year.
Michael: Okay, so instead of once a month, only once every 12 months?
Scott Curtis: Correct, you can do it on your own time to come up to check up the system.
Michael: Great, great okay. What are the other two parts there?
Scott Curtis: The second part of this system is a catalyst and a set of UV lights.
Michael: Okay.
Scott Curtis: And those two working together are going to attack your odors and gaseous chemicals on the house.
Michael: Okay, so in this UV lights come on they react with this catalyst and its going to stop all those impurities.
Scott Curtis: Correct.
Michael: That’s great. And is this cost very much to added system like this onto your system?
Scott Curtis: No, especially when you consider what you’re getting. It attacks everything in the air you know lots of other system are going to be more things so it’s really very reasonable.
Michael: So, perfect to get it heated up
Scott Curtis: Exactly.
Michael: Okay, now I noticed here behind this that you also got air exchange system. Let’s take a look of that as well.
Scott Curtis: Yeah.
Michael: So Scott tell me why needed an air exchanger in the house?
Scott Curtis: Well, Michael house is built very tight today and what that does is locked stale air into the house. What we are trying to do is exchange that stale air so you can get rid of some of the odors and the humidity level and things like that.
Michael: Okay now, if we just open up windows and it was cold outside it’s going to give me cold inside.
Scott Curtis: What you exchange here what you give up all your efficiency, that is correct.
Michael: Okay, so how are you exchange it in here and keep in efficient.
Scott Curtis: Now what you are doing is you’re running one pipe to the outside, one pipe to the inside and in this core were crossing the air streams. So we can shift the energy, control the humidity and, still get the fresh air in the house.
Michael: Okay, so its summer time and its 100 degrees outside we can be piping fresh air in that it runs through this system. It is the cool there from inside the house and actually cools down before it comes inside.
Scott Curtis: Correct.
Michael: Okay, so we are going to save money there and I guess when they crisscross the things inside the air don’t changes they still keep on --
Scott Curtis: The air streams don’t actually mix, they just exchange the energy.
Michael: Yes, that’s great. So, when you save money and be more efficient the whole systems were trying to save money out. What efficiency do we have here on this unit?
Scott Curtis: The system as we have set up right now is running at 14 SEER.
Michael: And what is SEER?
Scott Curtis: SEER is a rating like octane for gasoline everyone knows what we are talking about. It stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio.
Michael: Okay, and the higher the better.
Scott Curtis: The higher the number the better the government minimum right now is 10.
Michael: Okay, that’s great. And our exchanges of air, how often do we want to change out the air inside the house.
Scott Curtis: Ideally, you’ve like to be able to change 1/3 of the air every hour or every 3 hours change the air in the house.
Michael: That’s great, well let’s rundown downstairs and take a look at the outside unit.
Scott Curtis: Okay.
Michael: Scott here’s the unit that normally goes outdoors if we’re buying one for a house whether it’s a new house or remodeling. What should we really look in for in this?
Scott Curtis: Well, Michael outdoor units can be a key source of noise.
Michael: Sure.
Scott Curtis: So, what we’ve got here is several features design in this product to reduce that, first off being a fully insulated compressor compartment.
Michael: All the sides plus the top.
Scott Curtis: Correct, that way it removes it then keeps the noise down as much as possible.
Michael: Okay, so we can set this next to family room or bedroom and when it kicks on at nights its now you wake up.
Scott Curtis: They don’t get a good night sleep; they don’t get woken up two or three times.
Michael: Okay, great.
Scott Curtis: The next feature they do with that is a specially designed top and a special design family. It’s designed to move a low volume of air at low speed, therefore it’s much quitter.
Michael: Getting tight that noise.
Scott Curtis: Correct.
Michael: How about, as far as the environment I know there’s been a lot of a change in the laws, as far as what you can use for unit like this. What do you guys using?
Scott Curtis: Yes, we are using refrigerant called “R-410A” it is a non-chlorine refrigerant, a very friendly to the atmosphere and should cause no damage or whatsoever.
Michael: Great. How often do you have to replenish it?
Scott Curtis: Really, if you see its system you shouldn’t have to.
Michael: Great.
Scott Curtis: If you do, you have a leak in the system; you need to have a good look for it.
Michael: Okay. How do you control the whole house system, altogether?
Scott Curtis: Michael, we are using a signature stat and its truly unique feature is it is capable of controlling humidity independent of temperature. That way we’ve got a greater control over the comfort level on the house.
Michael: Okay, with humidity then we can actually feel like we’re not at the right temperature because there are so much moisture but this will actually go on according to moisture as much as temperature.
Scott Curtis: Absolutely.
Michael: That’s great. So we’re going be a lot more comfortable in the house and I guess then less money.
Scott Curtis: Correct. We will do that too.
Michael: If you like more information about the Lennox Air Exchanger purification systems and heating and cooling systems, visit Lennox on the internet @lennox.com.
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