OK - this may be a silly idea - feel free to laugh at me...

I have a 2nd story bed/bath suite that is currently heated with an
electric furnace in the attic. Both the bath and bedroom are served by
this unit.

I want to replace the electric furnace with something that is more
efficient and can provide some cooling. An regular heat pump won't work
because they don't make them small enough (1.5 ton would be extreme
overkill for 350 sq ft). A mini-split system would be very expensive
professionally installed.

There isn't a good place to install a room heat pump in an external
wall.

What I would like to do is to install a room heat pump in an attic wall
and rig up something to hook the output into the existing ducting. I
will then set up an external thermostat to controll the AC power - this
means I wil have to set it to heat in the summer and cool in the
winter, but that is not a big deal. I will also have to rig up the
return from the existing return. This seems like it would be an
inexpensive and effective solution.

Does this seem like it would work?

Thanks!
-Alex

wrote in message
oups.com...
OK - this may be a silly idea - feel free to laugh at me...

I have a 2nd story bed/bath suite that is currently heated with an
electric furnace in the attic. Both the bath and bedroom are served by
this unit.

I want to replace the electric furnace with something that is more
efficient and can provide some cooling. An regular heat pump won't work
because they don't make them small enough (1.5 ton would be extreme
overkill for 350 sq ft). A mini-split system would be very expensive
professionally installed.

the manual calculation you did on the room told you that 1.5 tons is to big?
Heat rises and I have seen allot of upper units undersized because the
calculation was not done.

Not pretty, but they DO make window heatpump units. Try Lowe's, Home Depot,
or even WalMart.....

wrote in message
oups.com...
OK - this may be a silly idea - feel free to laugh at me...

I have a 2nd story bed/bath suite that is currently heated with an
electric furnace in the attic. Both the bath and bedroom are served by
this unit.

I want to replace the electric furnace with something that is more
efficient and can provide some cooling. An regular heat pump won't work
because they don't make them small enough (1.5 ton would be extreme
overkill for 350 sq ft). A mini-split system would be very expensive
professionally installed.

There isn't a good place to install a room heat pump in an external
wall.

What I would like to do is to install a room heat pump in an attic wall
and rig up something to hook the output into the existing ducting. I
will then set up an external thermostat to controll the AC power - this
means I wil have to set it to heat in the summer and cool in the
winter, but that is not a big deal. I will also have to rig up the
return from the existing return. This seems like it would be an
inexpensive and effective solution.

Does this seem like it would work?

Thanks!
-Alex

wrote in message
oups.com...
OK - this may be a silly idea - feel free to laugh at me...

I have a 2nd story bed/bath suite that is currently heated with an
electric furnace in the attic. Both the bath and bedroom are served by
this unit.

I want to replace the electric furnace with something that is more
efficient and can provide some cooling. An regular heat pump won't work
because they don't make them small enough (1.5 ton would be extreme
overkill for 350 sq ft). A mini-split system would be very expensive
professionally installed.

There isn't a good place to install a room heat pump in an external
wall.

What I would like to do is to install a room heat pump in an attic wall
and rig up something to hook the output into the existing ducting. I
will then set up an external thermostat to controll the AC power - this
means I wil have to set it to heat in the summer and cool in the
winter, but that is not a big deal. I will also have to rig up the
return from the existing return. This seems like it would be an
inexpensive and effective solution.

Does this seem like it would work?

Thanks!
-Alex


First you talk about efficiency, then you go on to cobble up some mess that
may, or may not work at all! the two generally do not go hand in hand!
Sorry, but I am from the school that if you want it done, do it right. Cut
corners, try to re-engineer something and it never works as well as planned.

I don't recommend it, but you can buy most any equipment over the 'net and
do at least part of the install your self. You may be able to find a local
AC tech that may do the final connections and pump down for the line sets.
The problem here is often manufacturers will not warranty their equipment
that is installed by a homeowner.
Greg

Thanks for the observations Greg - that is insightfull. If I were
looking to buy a house with a setup like I described I would probably
think it was pretty lame, which is probably a pretty good indicator.

"SQLit" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
OK - this may be a silly idea - feel free to laugh at me...

I have a 2nd story bed/bath suite that is currently heated with an
electric furnace in the attic. Both the bath and bedroom are served by
this unit.

I want to replace the electric furnace with something that is more
efficient and can provide some cooling. An regular heat pump won't work
because they don't make them small enough (1.5 ton would be extreme
overkill for 350 sq ft). A mini-split system would be very expensive
professionally installed.

the manual calculation you did on the room told you that 1.5 tons is to
big?
Heat rises and I have seen allot...

What is 'allot' ?

Yes, yes, laugh at me. OK, I'm convinced, I won't go with the
cluster**** solution. As to static pressure - I have no idea, which is
why I posted.

The well insulated upstairs bedroom is in Eugene, OR. July and August
temperatures usually do not rise above 80 - so it doesn't take a huge
cooling effort to bring it down to a comfortable level. 1.5 ton seems
to be overkill, which is what the online calculators and the two AC
contractors I got bids from have said.

The bids were $3,000+, btw, which seems like an awfull lot of money to
me to cool one room...

I've been considering options for a bonus room over a garage (the only
upstairs portion of the house) that I don't want to put on the central
system.

I've done some research on "portable AC and Heat Pumps" that are not
window units but stand alone units that generally require only a vent
duct to get rid of the heat. They can be placed anywhere in a room
that is adjacent to an area that can accept the vent pipe. They are
more expensive than a window airconditioner/heat pump but still
affordable at $500-1000 depending on the BTU rating. They use the
produced water as additional cooling for the unit. Have seen units up
to 13,500 BTU that can alledgedly cool/heat up to 450 ft.

I've not used one, only done the research. Maybe someone who has can
give a review.

Do a google search for portable air conditioning and several
manufacturers will come up.

Frank
On 1 Oct 2005 14:49:16 -0700, wrote:

OK - this may be a silly idea - feel free to laugh at me...

I have a 2nd story bed/bath suite that is currently heated with an
electric furnace in the attic. Both the bath and bedroom are served by
this unit.

I want to replace the electric furnace with something that is more
efficient and can provide some cooling. An regular heat pump won't work
because they don't make them small enough (1.5 ton would be extreme
overkill for 350 sq ft). A mini-split system would be very expensive
professionally installed.

There isn't a good place to install a room heat pump in an external
wall.

What I would like to do is to install a room heat pump in an attic wall
and rig up something to hook the output into the existing ducting. I
will then set up an external thermostat to controll the AC power - this
means I wil have to set it to heat in the summer and cool in the
winter, but that is not a big deal. I will also have to rig up the
return from the existing return. This seems like it would be an
inexpensive and effective solution.

Does this seem like it would work?

Thanks!
-Alex

My father's upstairs in Myrtle Beach, SC is 300 SQ. FT.. Load
calculation is just over 1/2 ton. We installed 9 SEER 1.0 ton Heil
Heat Pump, 10 years ago. Trane makes a 1 ton 10 SEER now. I would use
that. Yes, for 350 Sq Ft in your area, 1.5 ton seems awfully big, but
it depends on insulation and glass as much as weather. A mini split
would be a good idea if you leave the bathroom door open when not using
it. Look at how many hotel rooms have a PTAC under the window in the
main room and nothing in the bathroom that do just fine that way. Mini
splits go down to 3/4 ton. Carrier makes one that is less expensive
than imported Japanese jobs.

Stretch