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As a Midwesterner, it is absolutely bonkers to me how common it appears to be for HVAC systems to get installed in attics.
Don't do that. Stop doing that! WTF?
That's bad enough, but then you go and run the ducts up there, too?
Y'all.
If you keep the system and the ducts within the space you're trying to heat and cool, you don't have to account for any losses, now, do ya?
Put the air handler in a utility closet. Run ducts /below/ the ceiling. Enclose with soffiting if you must.
The end.
@TechConnectify Can't speak for the general case, but in ours (heat pump, Nova Scotia, ftr):
- We have two closet upstairs, they're in use: one laundry, one storage
- We got an attic unit specifically to run vents to each room upstairs
- The attic unit needs an intake, 20"x20", because it moves a lot of volume; infeasible for a closet
- It also needs to run refrigerant and drainage to the exterior (and then down to the ground); also not closet-compatible
- That's the unit for just the top floor
@delta_vee An important consideration here is that I'm mainly talking about home design. If you're retrofitting stuff, convention flies out the norm.
We would /never/ design a home from scratch where any of the HVAC stuff is in an unconditioned space like an attic. They may go in basements, but those need some heat, too, so it all works out. And we design return ducting in, too.
But, circling back to retrofits, this is a key reason I expect mini-splits to become a lot more common soon
@kazriko @TechConnectify Well mine are heat pumps, so they have indoor and outdoor portions, connected by refrigerant and power lines - it's the placement of the indoor part we're talking about
@delta_vee @kazriko Yeah, to clarify, the condensing unit (or more properly outdoor unit since it's arbitrary with a heat pump) is always outside. I'm talking about where you put the cooly heaty blowy thing.
Ideally, you only want refrigerant to move between indoors and outdoors. Always keep the air you're paying to heat and cool within the space and you're not fighting with losses.
@kazriko @delta_vee At this point I'm kind of lost and don't know what your idea of normal is (which is kind of the whole point of the discussion!)
The outdoor portion of an air conditioner can be hooked up to anything, really, and that's what's known as a split system. The two heat exchangers are separated. It might be an individual mini-split head or it might be a large evap coil in an air handler for central air conditioning.
What you mean by "whole unit" eludes me
@kazriko @delta_vee OK, well then you're largely gonna sidestep the original problem I imagine. If you don't have ducted heating, you're not gonna use it for cooling!
@TechConnectify @kazriko So I actually do have central ducting for a forced-air furnace - we decided not to add the heat pump to it because the ducting is too small and thus and loud, and it can vary up to six degrees between basement and top floor - the separate per-floor units gave us better temp control