Original message
| halffast
 |  "Fan coil without heat strips"
, posted Fri 20 Oct 11:41  
I have been told that by law, you cannot install a fan coil without heat strips. I have permanent electric heat in every room in my house. Previous owner's central gas furnace had a crack in the heat exchanger, so he intalled electric in all rooms. He shut the gas off, but used the fan for the A/C. Now that went out & i wanted to just install a new A/C with a fan coil and condenser, NO heat strips or expensive wiring to my closet that would require a new breaker panel.
What is the law that says you can't do this?
halffast
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Replies:
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| aircooled
| "Re(1):Fan coil without heat strips" , posted Wed 17 Jan 17:44
Well, one really quick and easy answer to your problem is to have a HEAT Pump installed, then you can use an air handler in the closet and no have heat strips if you don't want back-up heat, then in summer you will have a good a'c to insure your comfort year round.
Carrier Heat Pump
Trane Heat Pump
Rheem Heat pump
Bryant/Payne Heat Pump
Heil Heat Pump
Lennox / Not what I would recommend!
"Try not to be a man of sucess but rather to be a man of value."
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| Furnace Pro
| "Re(1):Fan coil without heat strips" , posted Sat 18 Nov 13:03
Halffast,
Who told you that? If it was a friend, disregard it. If it was an inspector or city/county employee go back and ask them to give you the code number so you can look it up yourself. As far as I know, there is no such law.
Now about your air handler situation.... I assume that the breaker size is 20A for the old furnace that was removed. I dont know what size furnace it was, but no matter, an air handler will hook up just fine in its place. The previous reply said not to get an "A" coil. Good advice, "A" coils are less efficient than the newer "W" or "N" coils. What size AC do you have installed? How old is it? What SEER rating is it? I'm going to assume 5-10 years old +. REPLACE IT! It is not efficient and is costing you probably twice as much to operate as a new 14 or 16 seer R410 system will. You will be money ahead in a very short time.
I am curious about your electric wall heat. what does your electricity bill run you during the winter, what temps to you see mid-winter? I'm asking because a Heat Pump only costs a little more than AC, but the energy savings between electric room heaters and a heat pump is tremendous.
Here is my suggestion:
* Add the Air Handler with no strip heat (plan on the electric wall heaters for back up/emergency heat)
* Install a heatpump Get the highest seer rating you can comfortably afford or finance (there are great financing options available through good contractors) and the only breaker that might need to be changed would be for the heat pump, but that should be an easy fix.
There are things you can do if you are on a tight budget (most of us usually are!) Install a 13seer Heatpump with a variable speed airhandler. R410a is obviously the choice of Bill Gates, and its predecessor (R22) is about to kick the bucket in 2010 but for those on a budget, the 22 system is a bit cheaper and does the trick just peachy. If your furnace is already pulled, and your duct work is well done, a basic airhandler installation with a HP coil reusing the same lineset if its possible should only take a few hours and be up and running the same day.
Here is the main reason I am suggesting a Heat Pump vs the electric heat. Friction Heat (Heat pump) is never less than twice as efficient as Resistance Heat (electric). Typically for every KWh you spend using electric heat, you would get 2KWh worth out of the heat pump. So if your normal electric bill is $200 you could say that 25% might be heating cost (maybe more depending on usage) so how long does it take to offset an extra $800 for the higher efficiency Heat Pump? $50 x 16mos = $800 after that, the 50 is in your pocket and by that time electricity rates will have risen again and it will actually be $65 in your pocket.
Hope this is helpful,
Its only a problem if you can't fix it.
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| jmikeward
| "Re(1):Fan coil without heat strips" , posted Fri 20 Oct 22:51
the strip heat is added to most air handlers,they come in different sizes so they can be sized to the space,you do not have to install any heat strips if you dont want them,make sure you don,t purchase an electric furnace with acoil,you need to make sure you purchase a airhandler and a matching condenser,it will have to be installed by a certified tech.,22 freon will be phased out by 2010,410a will be the freon that takes it's place,so you might want to install a 410a condenser it will cost more,you need to make sure that you get the proper size condenser for the amount of space you are cooling,you also should have your existing ductwork checked to see if it is installed correctly and sized right,improper air flow will cost you a lot of money in cooling cost,it will also cause the seer rating to be off and not get the efficiency that it should,i don,t know what law you are talking about
jmw
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