Have limited space for your HVAC system? Here's some options for your next Air Conditioning system that can help you save space and still heat and cool your home.
Small space HVAC options for ducted air handlers. Three best options are broken down:
Performance option: Small duct high velocity system like SpacePak and Unico
Efficient option: Pancake ducted mini split systems like Mitsubishi, Daikin, and Fujitsu
Economical option: Goodman's ACNF air handler
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Hey guys, Joshua Griffin here serving the middle Peninsula in the Northern Neck of Virginia before I go any further. If you would, if you want more videos, more tips, tricks secrets to the trade, please click that subscribe button. Thank you. Hey guys, Joshua Griffin, air serving the middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck of Virginia and wanted to do a video on different options that you might have.

If you have limited space for ductwork and for the indoor unit in general, and I'm going to focus on a few options that you know make sense for certain applications, I'm not saying they're the end-all. Of course, you can always set a package unit outside and then try to run your ductwork in. If you have room for that, but I'm talking about situations where you know it's even tighter than that you know we just did a job where the air handler that was there was only about 14 inches wide. It was in the horizontal position and it was 14 inches.

You know wide and you know they don't make air handlers that small anymore. To me, some of the you know efficiencies and seer ratings and minimums that you know the the laws have have set in place. These, you know no longer viable options. Buying that 14 inch wide air handler is a thing of the past.

So what are some of the options you have? I believe you know again, there's several other options out there. Of course, there's ductless us units, but I'm gon na focus on. If you have, you do have some space space for ductwork, but it's very limited, okay and instead of saying like a good better best. I think that each one of these options we're going to call them the performance, the efficiency and the economical options.

Okay, so let's first start with the performance option, and I believe that if you're looking for the best system for a smaller space - and you want it to heat and cool the best, that can be heat and cold, you probably want be looking at something like the Space Packer único systems, they call them small duct high velocity units and the duct is small. The units are smaller and then a regular air handler, but they push more air. So that's why they, they say high velocity, when you put your hand over the vent, you're gon na feel more umph yeah, it's gon na be blowing like a you know. If you were to put the hose on the discharge side of a shop vac, you know that blowing out and again there's a couple different options with that.

The cool thing with a lot of those is they've come a long way. You know a few years ago. They were a little archaic, a little behind the times. If you will - and I don't feel that way anymore - I think they've come a long way and they work great in certain applications.

There's nothing better. The second option that I would call the efficiency option, and that is, if you have a space, that you know it's limited space and you're looking for you, know the most efficient option out there and you're looking for something to heat and cool the space as efficiently As possible - and that is, I call them - pancake style air handlers and what they're basically designed to do is work similar to a wall hung ductless unit that you've seen, but now they're ducted. So it's still inverter technology. It's still gon na ramp up and down.
Just like that wall-hung unit, it's still going to do you mehta phi little, maybe a little better than the average single stage air conditioning system, and so you know, there's a few companies that make these what I call pancake style. Your handlers, I know Mitsubishi, has their s ez air handlers. Dyken has a couple different ones: the FDM Q's and then they're vrv life models, and then I believe, Fujitsu even has one. If you're looking for more of efficient now one disclaimer with this option, if you're going to go with the efficiency option and get a pancake style, your handler, that is, they do have limitations, so they don't have backup heat in a lot of cases.

So if you are in a space that you know, maybe in some states you're gon na need that. But if you're gon na have space that has another primary heating source or you're further south, and it just doesn't matter, then I think that that's a great option to look at we've done several here in Virginia the vrv life models that Dyken makes can even go All the way down to negative four degrees and still blow Heat, so you know here in Virginia it doesn't really get that cold very often, and so you know, especially if you just were aware of that - that maybe just maybe, if it got, you know crazy, crazy, Negative temperatures you would maybe have to plug in some space heaters or have another primary heat source, but if not, you know that's a great option. The last option this would be the economical option. We've put a few of these in Goodman makes what they call their a CNF model air handler, and we see these mostly like.

If you ever stay in a hotel room, it seems like 90 % of hotel rooms, you walk in the door and then there's the return right there above your head and then, if you walk into the room as you get out into the main space or where The bedroom is, then you'll see the supply sticking out and then they'll come out of the side of of that ductwork and and supply the bathroom. So that's where we'll see a lot of these, but we've installed them. We just recently installed them in a commercial location. It was a storage unit that they didn't have a lot of space, and again they had one of those older air handlers that we can't even get anymore, and so our options were a little limited and we were able to use one of these.

A C and F air handlers and still build the plenum around the back end of that unit. It's not a normal case air handler unit, where you would see air going one end and we're coming out the other. This has the squirrel-cage motors mounted to the back end of the of the unit, and then they blow across the heat strips and the coils and they're basically exposed when you buy the unit. So we built a plenum around that and we're able to you know take advantage of that.
If you have any questions, you want to explore your options, definitely give us a call if you're, not in our coverage area, hit that subscribe button and if you're in the market for a new heating and air system got ta check out my new website. It's called new HVAC guide, I'll, put a little sign right there, Boop and the web address is www.hs guide com and on that website we go through all the secrets. The ends, the outs, things that the HVAC manufacturers, don't even want you to know. We put it on that website and you know.

I think that before you spend thousands of dollars, you got ta check out that website. It could save you headaches, it could save you money and and guide you through the process. So thanks for watching hit that subscribe button bye, you.

3 thoughts on “Small space hvac options for ducted air handlers”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Emma Naden says:

    Thank you – exactly the information I was looking for. Can you recommend any reputable HVAC professionals in the Northern Virginia/DC metro area? (I'm assuming that you do not service that far north)

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Ms2Chill says:

    So how would you run the uct on a flat(low slope) roof that has no attic, but has floor space for the air handler Service area Barrhaven??

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Shawn Carroll says:

    Intsalled Nest with no heat pump. Summer days are hot and I've set temp to 73. Thermostat will hold steady but then mid day the inside temperature begins going up and the inside heats to 75. If i turn the AC on the nest to 74 degrees the inside goes up to 77. If I raise the Nest to 76 degrees the temp in the home goes to 78-79 degress. Motor is fine. Vents and filter are clean. A tech came out and checked freon and found no issues. Any ideas?

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