Concerns: The Grablin’s of Gurnee story began with a cleaning of their aging furnace and humidifier as I asked about their comfort. They had numerous hot and cold spots. The second floor never got cool enough in the summer. Some areas were too cold in the winter. They resorted to wearing jackets in the wintertime. The furnace was very noisy and running too short or too long. The new hardwood floor was separating and their kids were getting bloody noses. They wanted to improve the air quality, particularly with two dogs and a son with allergies.
Investigation: I found the heat exchanger in the furnace had multiple cracks and the water line to the humidifier was plugged with debris. I performed a heat loss calculation,
hvac system before installation
surveyed the duct work and inspected the whole house and determined that the furnace was 60% oversized; it was heating unevenly, inefficiently and loudly. The air conditioner was undersized. The return air ducts were 34% undersized and improperly configured; it was pulling some air from the wrong places, the crawl space and attic, which diminished air quality. The supply air duct system was not balanced causing poor air flow and uneven heating. We discussed repairing or replacing; they decided replacing and upgrading would greatly improve their comfort and lower their utility bills.
Solutions: Installation of properly sized, high efficiency, two stage furnace and air conditioner. Additional, custom-designed, and sealed supply and return air duct system Three independent heating and cooling zones with thermostats. A humidifier and whole house electronic air cleaner Internet access module
“It’s almost too warm now (in January); we have to turn it way down, it’s that efficient. The air distribution is much better than it was before. We wanted to adjust parts of the house and never had that ability.” Rich Grablin, January 2013
“We’re comfortable. We can keep the house at 65 degrees. Our (allergic) son’s nose isn’t runny.” Jennifer Grablin, January 2013
After installing new furnace, humidifier, air cleaner, thermostats, duct work & zoning
Benefits: They now have a quiet, integrated system that delivers even temperature, proper humidity and cleaner air. They no longer need jackets in the house. They are able to keep their thermostats a comfortable 65 degrees throughout; they can keep their master bedroom colder, as they prefer, without worrying about freezing their kids. Within six weeks the air cleaner has trapped a lot of particles, the house is less dusty and their allergic son no longer suffers through winter with a continually runny nose. Their gas usage went down. The bloody noses have stopped and the floors are coming back together. They can remotely adjust the thermostat and other settings from anywhere in the world, and are notified by text if there are any problems such as it being too hot or too cold.
