Heating and Cooling Systems: The Complete Installaion Guide

Want luxurious comfort? Add temperature control to attic or basement

Heating and cooling systems completely make those brand-new living areas in your home comfortable, attic and basement, need one more ingredient— temperature control. In winter these rooms should be as warm and comfortable as the rest of your house. When hot humid summer weather rolls around, the attic needs plenty of cooling. While the basement may be far more livable under these conditions, a bit of dehumidification would probably be in order there. First, the heat problem..

There are several ways you can add warmth to the basement or attic. The quickest and cheapest method is to simply expand your present heating and cooling systems. Call in a competent heating expert and have him check over both your furnace and the area to be warmed. There's a good chance that you have enough additional capacity in your present furnace to handle the extra load.

With a hot air furnace it's just a matter of running an extra duct off the plenum chamber. Since the furnace is usually located quite close to the converted basement area, this should be a minor problem. Attics, of course, are a little more difficult. If you're in luck there may be a heating duct that can be extended to take care of this top-floor space.

Expanding a hot water or steam system is definitely a job for professional. There are a few tricks you might try, however, and without going to too much effort you may actually provide com­fortable warmth. First check to see if steam or hot water pipes run through the ceiling of your new room. If so. there is a good chance that you can just pull the insulation off these pipes and let the heat radiate freely. If this seems to help, try adding an aluminum reflector sheet behind the pipes. You can get more heat by adding clip-on fins. This is a standard item sold at most plumbing supply stores. The gadget just clamps around the pipe and adds more heat-radiating surface.

If this gambit won't work, a heating man will have to install new pipes from the furnace, plus either baseboard units or radiators.

Electrical Heating

Depending upon your local electric rate it may be quite practical to heat with electricity. Give the power company a call and check with them. Don't forget that you will probably not be using the new room all of the time.

Simple electrical healing unit is easy lo install. Frame in the opening for it between two studs.

Heater back box is nailed or screwed to studs. Leads are connected to the radiant heating panel.

Next step is to fasten heating panel in place and slip exterior frame and grillworlc onto the unit.

Unit, shown complete with thermostat knob, is said to be so safe even a child can operate it.

Radiant heating baseboards are also available. The mounting-box fastens to the base of the wall.

Bostitch New development is radiant heating cable for ceiling installation. This job is best done only by specialists in the field. New basement heating units like this streamlined gas boiler (right) take little space away from basement recreation room.

Ho An Heat Rerlmll In many cases, a heat reclaimer like the one illustrated below will warm attic or basement without adding to the fuel bill.

On a part-time basis, even if you have a pretty stiff electric tab, this method of heating and cooling systems may work out very well.

It's a cinch to snake the electrical wires through the walls and connect them to either radiant heating panels or radiant baseboards. The units shown in the photos are made by Berko (there are similar products on the market under different brand names). Each one has a built—in heating control and thermostat so you can just dial the temperature you want.

There's no reason why you can't handle most of the preliminary work of mounting a heating panel yourself, although you may prefer to have an electrician do the actual hooking up to the power line.

1. Frame in for the heating panel, following the manufacturer's instructions, just as you would for a window. Most units are designed to fit in the exact space between two studs, so it's just a matter of adding headers at the top and bottom.



2. Nail or screw the back box of the heater to the studs. Connect the electric leads to the terminals of the glass radiant heating panel.



3. Fasten the heating panel in place by tightening the two screws that hold it to the back box. Slip the exterior frame and grillwork into place.

The procedure is pretty much the same for a radiant baseboard. These have a mounting-box that fastens to the base of the wall. Electrical wires are connected to the glass heating panel section and the cover and protective grillwork is slipped into place.

You may wonder about this talk con­cerning glass heating and cooling systems. That's just what it is. The heating elements are bonded to the glass itself so that the entire surface radiates heat. It is highly efficient because radiant heat doesn't warm the air—it acts directly on solid objects like furniture and people. Because of this fact, the device can make a room comfortable in just a few moments.

Electrical heat can take one other form. The entire ceiling of your room can be­come a heater if the special heating wires are fastened in place before the ceiling is plastered. Thermostatically controlled, the heated ceiling brings warmth down on the lucky people below. However, installation of this system is strictly a professional affair and. incidentally, a job that should be tackled only by specialists in this field.

The Heat Pump

Don't forget the heat pump. There has been so much written about this new de­velopment that many people feel it's part of the blue sky future. Not so. The heat pump is a tested and thoroughly workable hunk of mechanism. What's it like? Here's an illustration: In many ways it's similar to a refrigerator that can turn itself inside out. When the heat pump runs in one di­rection it cools a room by taking warmth out of the air and sending it outdoors. In the reverse cycle it takes warmth from out­side and brings it indoors.

Inc. Appliance MfKr. A.

These gadgets do have limitations. The colder it is outside, the less efficient they are in heating. By the same token, the hot­ter it is outside, the less amount of cooling they have to offer. Because of this, they are most efficient in climates where you need some additional heat in winter and a moderate amount of cooling in summer.

Carrier makes a window or wail mount­ing air conditioner that works on a heat pump principle and can double as a heater. It's no more trouble to mount this gismo than it is to install any standard air conditioner. We'll cover this task a little later.

Heat Reclaimer

One of the most intriguing possibilities involves a heat reclaimer. In most cases this nifty gadget will provide enough warmth for an attic or basement without adding a cent to the fuel bill. It works by utilizing waste heat. Here's how: All oil fired furnaces are connected to the chim­ney by a smoke pipe. This is nothing more than a large round duct. In addition to soot, an assortment of gases travel through this pipe and up the chimney. However, be­cause no furnace is 100 per cent efficient, some heat is lost through the same pipe. As a result, the smoke pipe is often so hot that it's impossible to touch it.

Another new heating development is Jet-Heat unit which uses small pipes, very hot, high-velocity air.

A muffler, much like that on a car. is used to silence Jet-Heat unit. Air from the room is mixed with the unit's superhot heated air.

A heat re­claimer hooks in place between furnace and chimney. It extracts most of the heat that is normally lost and blows it through a duct to warm any area in the house.

A company specializing in this type of gadget is the Ro-An Heating Reclaimer Corporation. According to their figures, the unit they manufacture will reclaim an average of 25 per cent of a homeowner's fuel consumption in a house that uses hot water or steam heat, and an average of 20 per cent with a warm air system. If you care to do a little loose pencil work you can see that this tallies up to quite a sum of money over the years. But what does this add up to in terms of comfort? It means that you can heat two rooms in an average expansion attic or comfortably warm a basement.

According to most city regulations the job of installing a heat reclaimer has to be turned over to professional heating men; however there's no reason why you can't slice costs considerably by doing all the preparatory work, cutting holes for the ducts, etc.

A New Furnace?

We're getting down to the bottom of the list but there" is one more possibility. If you're converting both attic ana basement there is small chance that your present fur­nace can take care of the additional heating load.

Cooling unit is essential for attic living. The first step is to mount empty cabinet in window.

Small. 3'2-in. diameter pipes used with let-Heat can be maneurered through existing partition!.

For large scale heating and cooling systems your best bet is an additional furnace. However, in a house that's already built, there's the nasty job of running additional ductwork up through the walls. In this case there are two workable possibilities. For one thing you may decide to install a hot water fur­nace. The thin pipes are fairly easy to ma­neuver through the partitions.

The second possibility is a new type of furnace called Jet-Heat. Heating ducts that carry warmth from furnace to the various rooms are amazingly small. Com­pletely limp and flexible, their outside diameter is only about 3^2 in. Inside there's a layer of insulation and a spiral metal duct just 2 in. in diameter. As opposed to the lazy, whistle-stop tempo of air flow in most heating plants, this system takes an en­tirely different tack. Much hotter air is pushed through the tiny tubes at a far greater velocity. Built into each run of ducts is a silencer much like the muffler on your car. It's there to eliminate the noise that air would create by rushing at express train speed through the small pipes. At the point where each tube hooks into a regis­ter there's a special mixing chamber so that some of the air in the room is drawn into the register, mixed with the super hot air and eased gently into the room. Here again, installing this type of system is strictly a job for a professional, but you may be able to speed up the process and gentle the final bill by doing as much of the preparatory work as possible before the installation man arrives.

Cooling

Although you may be able to get away without a cooling system in your newly remodeled basement, it's an essential item if you're going to exist in the attic. Room-size units are relatively inexpensive now­adays, however, and a neat installation is barely an evening's work.

Because heat load in an attic is really tremendous, you will need a larger-than-average size unit. When you pick one out at the store be sure to mention that it will be installed in an attic. If you pick a unit strictly on the basis of room dimensions, you'll wind up with one that might be per­fectly OK for downstairs but sadly under­fed for work just below the roof.

To make the actual installation, follow the manufacturer's instructions. Although there may be some variations, the proce­dure will be pretty much like the follow­ing: First measure and drill holes in the window sill for the screws that hold the unit in place. Take the outer case apart and slide out the cooling works. You'll be left with a fairly light weight metal box. Fit the box into the window opening and fasten it down to the sill with wood screws through the holes that you've already drilled.

Seal box in place and liit unit into it. It's a good idea to buy a high capacity unit for use in the attic.

The last step is to fit the grill, filter and decorative trim into position to complete the installation of unit.

Lower the sash. Usually this has to be locked to the top of the case with some sort of clamp system. Don't neglect this step. If the whole works should tumble into the street below you may never hear the end of it from passing pedestrians.

To seal the air conditioner into place, measure, cut and fit the side panels that close off the space between the unit and the sides of the window. In most cases it's also a good idea to add weather stripping and sealing. Quite frequently this comes in a little kit along with the air conditioner itself.

Trundle next door and get a well-muscled friend to give you a hand with this next job. Lift up the unit itself (we might as well admit it's a heavy brute) and slide it into the case. Fit the grill, filter and decorative trim into position to complete the job. Plug the air conditioner in and get yourself a beer while you wait for the room temperature to become just wonderously comfortable.

Wall-Mounted Cooling

If you've done a really thorough job of remodeling the attic, you've probably also installed extra windows. In this case it's a shame to block out part of the light with a bulky air conditioner. Instead, you may prefer to install the same unit through the wall of the house. This system works just as well except that it's quite a bit more work. Here's the general procedure and again note, it may vary from unit to unit.

Carefully follow the manufacturer's in­structions. Measure the area in which the air conditioner will be installed and mark it off carefully on the wall. Saw out the in­side wall surfaces within your marks. Once you have this ripped loose, the studs will be exposed. Cut out any that are in the way.

Break through the outside wall. In the case of a shingled or clapboard house, this is a relatively simple job that you can han­dle with a handsaw. A masonry house takes a stone chisel, a heavy hammer and more moxie in the right arm than one cares to think about. Install headers top and bot­tom to frame in the opening for the unit. Toenail these to the studs on either side. Slide the works out of the sheet metal box and fit the case of the unit into the space that you've prepared. Here again (although manufacturer's instructions may vary) be sure to screw or bolt down the unit firmly. Rebuild the exterior wall surface, cement­ing it neatly around the case. Use calking to seal the case to a wood house. The rest of the installation procedure is the same as that for a window unit.

Before we leave this subject of cool com­fort, it would be worthwhile to mention that the Jet-Heat unit described in this chapter comes in another version called, for some capricious whim, Jet-Cool. It's an air conditioner that delivers low tempera­ture air through the same system of tiny flexible insulated ducts.

Dehumidifiers

Although you may not need to install a cooling system for the basement, odds are that the room gets pretty humid and damp during summer weather. Your cure is a dehumidifier. These gadgets come in sev­eral versions. The simplest and cheapest is a chemical dehumidifier. Most versions are nothing more than a container for a chemi­cal called calcium chloride. This is a fairly primitive method, but it does work quite efficiently.

Calcium chloride has the ability to absorb moisture from the air. As it works, the chemical itself turns to liquid. Because of this, a chemical dehumidifier always needs a container below to catch the drip. There's also a certain amount of day-to-day maintenance. You have to keep the chemical container full and, like the days of the old-fashioned icebox, empty the drip bucket.

Electro-Klean. Highly eHicient air filter is Electro-Klean unit mounted in the furnace cold air return duct.	Westinghouse. Mechanical dehumidifier removes excess moisture from basement—a "must" under damp conditions.

Fancier, more convenient and far more expensive are mechanical dehumidifiers. These are usually pint sized air condi­tioners. They don't have enough strength to make a dent in the air temperature within the room but they do condense out a tremendous amount of water. Connected up to a drain, they need absolutely no maintenance. Most of these units come with an automatic control that turns on the de­vice when the humidity in the air gets above a certain point. Once the room has been dried out the unit shuts itself off. Both types of dehumidifiers can remove up to several gallons of water from the air each day. The net result is that you will be a lot more comfortable.

There's one other problem in converting the unused areas of attics and basements into comfortable living quarters. Quite fre­quently, because they were never designed for habitation when the house was built, they tend to be dusty. No spot remedy will be fully effective in curing this. Your best bet if your house has a hot air furnace is to attach a highly efficient filtering sys­tem onto the existing heater.

New on the market is a device called Electro-Klean. This gadget mounts in the cold air return duct that brings air back to the furnace. A series of electrically charged filters remove not only dust, but pollen and even cigarette smoke from the air. For a hay fever sufferer heating and cooling systems make life worth living.

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