Comfort At Home: What’s New

Real-Life Invironments:

Two Carrier Dealers Receive National Award for State-of-the-Art Systems

If you’re looking for examples of state-of-the-art, high-quality heating and cooling system design and installation, you need to look no further than two recent award-winning projects by Carrier dealers.

The HVAC system installations by Carrier dealers in Eastchester, N.Y., and Berlin, Md., won 1995 Quality Home Comfort Awards from Contracting Business magazine and Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) for outstanding system design and installation. The contest, now in its fifth year, was created to “recognize high-quality design and installation of comfort systems in both newly built and renovated homes.”

Refurbishing a Colonial Mansion

The award for the best existing home project above 6,001 square feet went to All Makes Heating and Air Conditioning (AMHAC) of Eastchester, N.Y., for a retrofit installation in a 10,000-square-foot home on the shores of Long Island Sound. The two-story Georgian Colonial mansion, built in the 1920s, is located on a three-acre waterfront lot, which presented challenges to the contractor in controlling humidity and temperature.

The system design, which included 13 air conditioning and 15 heating zones, incorporated six Carrier split systems and three Carrier induced draft boilers for back-up heating, Comfort Zone™ dampers and controls, Comfort Ventilator™ heat recovery ventilators, and Carrier humidifiers. In addition to the six split systems, two zones of existing cast iron radiation were re-connected and radiant in-floor heating was installed under the den flooring.

A Guarantee of Comfort

Another Carrier dealer was so convinced of the benefits of Comfort Zone that he installed a Carrier 40,000 BTUH furnace in a 2,400-square-foot home with zoning and guaranteed the system’s performance. Academy Heating and Air Conditioning in Berlin, Md., won an award for the best new construction project up to 3,000 square feet for a home in the new Ocean Pines community on Maryland’s eastern shore.

The specifications for the home originally called for a 90+%-efficient furnace and a 12 SEER air conditioner for the first floor and a 12 SEER heat pump system for the second floor. After reviewing the home plans, however, Martin Jolles of Academy was skeptical that a non-zoned system could handle the diverse heating and cooling needs, and recommended to the builder and homeowners a single furnace/air conditioner system with zoning instead.

The installed system includes a 40,000 BTUH Carrier condensing gas furnace, a 3.5-ton, 12 SEER Carrier condensing unit and a power humidifier, and is divided into four zones that are controlled by Carrier’s Comfort Zone. The home also includes unique two-way light switches that the homeowners can flip when they enter a room, to let the comfort system know where they are and which sensor to monitor.

Teamwork Key to Success

Contracting Business editors noted that the common thread running throughout most of the eight award-winning projects was the element of teamwork between the contractors, homeowners and builders. Before work began, the HVAC contractors sat down with the homeowners and builders to discuss the owner’s needs, desires and concerns. Communication continued throughout the design and installation phases to make sure the project was progressing as planned and to handle the changes and challenges that arose.

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