With the arrival of the new year, many homeowners will start planning changes, upgrades, and repairs for their HVAC system. We have compiled a list of HVAC innovations that you should keep an eye on in the coming year.
Smart Technology
Smart technology is making a substantial impact on the HVAC industry. Something as simple as installing a smart thermostat can make a huge difference in your energy usage, convenience, and comfort. More elaborate solutions integrate with your entire HVAC system. Some even account for the time of day, weather, current utility prices, and more.
The big advantage of smart technology is increased control and automation. Suppose you want to save some money by setting the thermostat to a different temperature when you’re gone. While you can do that with a traditional thermostat, it means coming home to a house that’s too cold in the winter and too warm in the summer. With a smart thermostat, you can configure the system to automatically make the adjustments after you leave for work and before you get back.
Likewise, many systems provide remote connectivity through a free app that you download onto your smart device. Simply use your phone or tablet to tell the system when to adjust. Better smart technologies can even use your phone’s GPS to detect that you’re getting close so that the heating or air conditioning can turn on.
Predictive Maintenance
An extension of the modern HVAC trend toward smart technologies is predictive maintenance. Many smart systems now track run cycles and performance. This allows the system to detect when too much time has gone by between maintenance cycles. Even something as basic as a notification to change the HVAC’s filters can extend the system’s life. Rather than guessing whether the system has been running excessively during a difficult winter or summer, you can rely on predictive maintenance to tell you. The system can even detect performance shifts that might indicate a problem is happening outside of the normal maintenance schedule. You can then call one of our technicians for cooling or heating maintenance service to check the system out.
Heat Pumps
Heat pumps have had a long run as a trend in the HVAC industry for a reason. Advances in efficiency continue to make each new generation of heat pumps better. Particularly, improvements in inverter-driven compressors are providing significantly better efficiency than even the last generation’s heat pumps offered.
Hybrid heat pumps are a notable trend, particularly in regions like Long Island. Homeowners who have concerns about the effectiveness of heat pumps often want to have an option in case a historically extreme cold snap hit. Hybrid heat pumps use a traditional heat source and a heat pump. The heat pump does most of the work, but the alternate source provides backup. While the backup source rarely needs to run, a hybrid heat pump offers peace of mind.
Ductless Mini-splits
Ductless HVAC systems, often ones that use what we call mini-splits, are becoming more popular each year. This is another technology that has benefited immensely from innovations in high-efficiency inverters. Not only do these advances help your energy bills, but the newer designs also tend to be quieter.
A ductless system forgoes the traditional model of packing a bunch of HVAC equipment into one spot in your house. Instead, a unit goes into the wall. Depending on how many rooms your system might need to be connected to, you can add a ductless setup in each one as needed. There are no ducts, and many homeowners will have our technicians remove the existing ductwork in a house to free up space.
Notably, ductless HVAC is popular as a type of retrofit. For example, you might want to add air conditioning to a room that’s not part of the central system. Rather than running more connections and possibly needing to upgrade the whole unit, you can add a ductless system. This is a great choice if you just converted a spare room into a home office, for example. Many people also install them in older summer vacation homes, which often have very little in the way of HVAC systems. You can also use a ductless system to provide separate HVAC for an accessory dwelling unit, such as a living space built atop a garage.
Geothermal Systems
A geothermal system uses the heat from the Earth to provide a constant temperature. Depending on how deep you dig into the ground, a geothermal unit should provide a temperature at the source of about 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The system then runs a pipe into the ground to capture the heat from the Earth and convert it into heat in your home. Notably, this is a better option than air-sourced heating on cool and frigid days. Rather than trying to heat air that might only be 15 degrees, you have a fluid that starts at 50 degrees. This takes less energy to achieve the same temperature.
Modern geothermal systems use variable flow rates in closed loops to minimize the effects of cool air in the system on mild days. Essentially, the loop is cut off from the rest of the HVAC when it’s not needed. Many geothermal systems also use technologies like the ones in heat pumps and ductless HVACs. Consequently, the same inverter improvements in those parts of the industry have been translated into geothermal solutions.
Indoor Air Quality
As homeowners become more concerned about problems like pollution, allergies, and illnesses, indoor air quality has rapidly shot to the top of their priorities. The high humidity levels for much of the year in Nassau and Suffolk counties and the surrounding areas create an ideal environment for mold growth as well.
Fortunately, there are multiple modern solutions for indoor air quality. Today’s air filters are very advanced, with options that are exceptionally efficient. This includes high-efficiency particulate air filters and activated carbon filters. Likewise, air purifiers use more aggressive filtration to clean the air of contaminants. A high-quality dehumidifier attached to an HVAC can also keep humidity under control, so you don’t experience mold growth in your residence. An added benefit is that low-humidity air also boosts heating and cooling efficiency.
Cool Power LLC has been in business since 1975. We are a top Lennox dealer that handles both residential and commercial HVAC needs. Our technicians can work on boilers, ductless HVACs, heat pumps, geothermal systems, and furnaces. We are happy to perform heating and AC installations, repairs, upgrades, and maintenance. Financing is available to qualified customers, and your work may also be eligible for a utility rebate. Our technicians are even available 24/7 to address a wide range of HVAC emergencies.
If you’re curious how the current trends in HVAC might figure into your plans for your home or business, we would be glad to discuss them with you. Give Cool Power LLC a call today to learn how you can improve your place’s HVAC.
