Air Handler Installation & Repair
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What Does Air Handler Installation Include...
Air Handlers are the Lungs of your House!
Air handlers are basically the lungs of your HVAC system work in conjunction with the rest of your heating and cooling system and manage the air temperature inside your home. For most of us in Barrington IL and the surrounding area, air handlers are not the most logical choice unless you live in a neighborhood or building that does not have natural gas. An air handler essentially a furnace that uses an electric heating element or heat pump to provide heat to your home in the winter instead of natural gas.
How do they work?
Your air handler consists of 2 primary components, a blower motor that circulates the air throughout your home and an evaporator coil.
During the summer months, your air handler will activate your air conditioning condenser and begin to pull air through your return vents. This air is then filtered and pulled though your evaporator coil to dehumidify and cool the air. That cool air then get divided by your homes ducts and flows though the supply vents in each room.
In the winter months, most people with air handlers have 2 forms of heat, one primary and one secondary/emergency heat source. Due to our unpredictable weather and subzero temperatures in the Barrington IL area, the secondary or emergency electric heating coil is required to provide a source of back-up heat when a heat pump looses its effectiveness.
An electric heating coil, also know as an electric heat strip, is essentially a very large hair dryer coil and it works in the same way. When your heat pump is not keeping up, the air handler activates one of the electric heating coils and it begins to glow red hot.
Once it is glowing, the blower motor draws air past the coil to warm the air and disperse throughout your home. Most electric heating coils have 2-3 stages of heat that are activated by timers. If your home does not warm up after a certain amount of time, the heating coil will activate another coil to increase its heating capacity. As long as the electric heating coil is sized correctly, your home should have no problem staying warm when the temps drop below zero.
Adding A Heat Pump Condenser To Your Air Handler Installation
The primary heat for air handlers is provided by a special type of air conditioning condenser called a heat pump. Instead heating your home with natural gas, heat pumps have what is called a reversing valve. When your system calls for heat and the outdoor temperature is within range of your heat pumps capabilities, the reversing valve will activate to reverse the direction of refrigerant flow.
Essentially, a heat pump operates your air conditioning condenser in the opposite direction to heat your home in the winter. Instead of the indoor coil getting cold as the refrigerant expands inside of it in the summer, it gets warm as the refrigerant condenses and the outdoor coil gets cold and condensates. Because of this condensation on the outdoor coil in the winter, heat pump will freeze up. There are sensor built into the condensers that sense this and deactivate the reversing valve to melt the ice and then reactivate once its defrosted.
In recent years, heat pumps have become much more efficient in operating at subzero temperatures and therefor are becoming increasingly popular in our northern climate. As natural gas and electric cost have been increasing, it may be a good idea to have this as an additional alternative heating source for your home. One thing to consider is that the heat coming from your vents with a heat pump will typically be about 80F-90F compared to 100F-120F with a furnace.
Now this has its advantages, since your system will run longer, the temperature in your home will be more consistent but it may cost more to run depending on the efficiency rating. Additionally, heat pumps do typically have a higher initial cost compared to an air conditioning condenser, there are many tax incentives and electricity company rebates available if you would like to make the switch.
