How To Add A Central Air Conditioning To The Home

Economical air conditioning of any kind of house is now possible with the introduction of new central air conditioning equipment. The last large category of existing homes previously considered difficult or expensive to air condition - those with hot water or steam heat and those without central heating systems - can now add summer cooling at a reasonable cost without modifying the heating equipment.

Practically all homes fall into one of the following five categories as far as heating systems are concerned.

1. If you live in a home with warm water or steam heat using radiators or one of the other radiant heat applications, you can install a summer air conditioner such as the Summer Weathermaker. The small unit located inside the house contains cooling and dehumidifying coils, filter and air-circulation fan. It can be hung from the ceiling in a hallway, closet or utility room, or placed in a minimum space in the attic, basement or crawl space.

The simplest kind of duct system can be used because perimeter discharge of air which is usually advisable for heating systems in cool climates is not necessary for cooling. It is connected to a refrigerating unit requiring no water which is located outside.

2. If your house has a floor furnace or space heaters, the approach is the same as indicated above for houses with wet heat.

3. If you have a modern forced warm air heating system in good condition, you can obtain year- round air conditioning at a comparatively low cost. You can install a conversion unit which uses the furnace and existing duct system for filtering and air circulation and adds cooling and dehumidifying. There are models available which can be installed with any kind of forced warm air furnace, whether it is the standard vertical type, counterflow or down-flow unit, or a horizontal heating plant installed in a crawl space or attic.

The small, quiet cooling and dehumidifying coil package is located at the discharge end of the furnace, and a weatherproof and tamperproof refrigerating unit requiring no water is placed out of doors.

4. If you have a forced warm air furnace which is getting old and worn, it might be better to replace it with a summer and winter unit like the Year-Round Weathermaker than to try to convert it. You can usually use the same duct system. This is less expensive than installing a new forced warm air unit and adding a conversion unit later on.

The complete unit handles both summer and winter air conditioning. It supplies cooling, dehumidifying, heating, air circulation and filtering. A simple control shifts it from cooling to heating and the same thermostat sets the temperature level for summer and winter. It is available either with air-cooled refrigeration using no water, or water-cooled, and for heating it burns oil or gas.

5. If you have an old gravity warm air furnace with warm air pipes coming off in all directions, your best bet is to replace it completely with a unit which will provide winter and summer air conditioning. Conversion is not recommended. Some modification will be necessary in the ducts and outlets, but you would need this if you installed a new forced warm air system.