The Next Housing 2.0 Session Focuses on Comfort

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In our second session of Housing 2.0, we discussed all matters of comfort. This included natural comfort, thermal comfort and HVAC-induced comfort. 

Why is this important?

Inherently, people want to be comfortable in their own homes. Unfortunately, not everyone is. The culprits can range from drafty windows or doors, to inadequate insulation in walls or attics, to undersized or short-cycling HVAC systems. 

I used to live in a 55-year-old house where the fiberglass batt insulation had slowly sagged over the decades until you could feel the temperature difference between the top of the wall and the bottom. (As I often remind my kids, gravity always wins.) 

That was a frustrating situation because we were very reluctant to rip open the walls and backfill with more insulation. Ultimately, we did what most people do: declined to take on that project and eventually sold the house, where it became someone else’s problem.

We were joined by Voya Milasinovic of LG Air Conditioning. He explained how to manage inherent quality control HVAC challenges and cold-weather performance. With more and more people taking advantage of federal incentive money to install heat pumps, it is imperative to separate fact from fiction on the capabilities of heat pumps in all climate zones.

I can personally attest to the benefit of heat pumps. We installed one outside our home when replacing a 20-year-old furnace/blower a little less than a year ago. We decided to upgrade the entire system (A/C, furnace, blower) all at once. The first thing we noticed was how quiet it is. Unless the compressor speed cranks up to 100%, you just don’t even hear it operating. You also don’t get that surge of electrical pull when the A/C kicks on… because that moment just doesn’t happen. I refer to the system’s operation as “smooth”.

Directly to the subject of comfort, my family has experienced a much more comfortable home as we approach the one-year mark. I do wonder how much of that comfort is attributed to the heat pump and how much is attributed to a more optimally sized and calibrated system. After all, our industry has made some advancements in HVAC sizing, design and equipment over the past 20 years. Regardless of the percentage split, we’re reaping the benefits and enjoying the results.