IF YOU LIVE in a part of the country where spring is about 10 minutes long, and then summer comes roaring in, you may already have started thinking about the approaching air conditioning season.If you live in an old house, you may also already know that retrofitting can be a problem.However, you do have a number of options.The easiest solution is to simply install window units. The advantage is that they are economical to use: You cool only the room you want, and only when you want it.The disadvantages are that they are unsightly from the outside, and hard to seal against the weather so they usually need to be removed and reinstalled each season.Despite the disadvantages, window units are the most common because they are so easy to install and cost a lot less than a central system.If you decide on window units, do some research to make sure you are getting the proper size for the most efficient cooling.Measure the rooms where you plan to install them, and select the exact number of Btu (a measure of heating and cooling units) recommended.

A slightly larger unit is more efficient than one that's slightly too small. Even though the smaller one may be less expensive, it won't cool the space.If central air is what you want, in most cases a system can be installed in an existing house. However, there are many things to consider.If you have an existing forced-air system for heat, you may think all you have to do is add the cooling coil, right? Wrong.A forced-air system that is designed only for heat is different than one designed for heating and cooling. The main difference is the way the return-air is set up.With heat, the return air is drawn from a low position -- because heat rises and you want to draw the colder air away.For cooling, the return works best when it's high -- to draw away the hotter air at the ceiling. So even if you have ductwork, some modifications will have to be made.When you add central air to a house with radiators or baseboard heat, you will have to make a decision. Should you keep the boiler system for heat and add air only, or replace the whole thing?

Most people really like the heat you get from the hydronic (water-based) system.Depending on the condition and fuel source of the existing system it may or may not make sense to change it. You should discuss all the options and pros and cons with your heating-ventilation and air-conditioning contractor.A major part of the cost of installing central air in an existing house is cutting and enclosing the new ductwork. You may have to live with some obnoxious bulkheads or give up some closet space to accommodate the installation.However, there is an alternative system that is far less intrusive and easier to install.It's been around for decades, but for some mysterious reason, isn't used very often. It's called SpacePac, made by Hydrotherm Inc. of Westfield, Mass.This system uses high-pressure ductwork. The inside diameter is only 2 inches, making it easy to install in an existing closet or joist space without taking up a lot of wall or ceiling space.The SpacePac fan coil unit fits neatly in a small horizontal space.

It may be installed in an unconditioned space such as an attic, garage, or crawl space, as long as it is protected from weather. It may also be installed in a basement, closet or utility room.This system is ideal for homes that can't accommodate conventional systems, such as ductless homes heated with hot water, steam or electric radiant heat; older homes with limited space, and historical landmarks where architectural integrity has to be preserved..Ron Nodine is owner of American Renovator Inc., a Baltimore design-build remodeling firm, and former president of the Remodelors Council of the Home Builders Association of Maryland. do you need cover ac unit winterOr write c/o HOME WORK, The Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, Md. 21278. ac power supply circuit designQuestions of general interest will be answered in the column; the best home ac units

comments, tips and experiences will be reported in occasional columns. Nude photos expose Jones and her selective memoryChild sex abuser sentenced to 8 years Girl and 2 boys were victimsMinor's future arrives early Rookie didn't expect to make a start at third this seasonThe misunderstood 'rule of thumb' Misconception: Many feminists for years thought the phrase "rule of thumb" referred to British common law's tolerance of wife-beating.Charles Kuralt's other life Scandal: The late CBS newsman had a wife in New York and, secretly, a longtime companion in Montana. The two have now met, in court.Relief At Last Intro: For Bobby Ojeda, life nearly ended on a Florida lake in 1993. It began again at Sheppard Pratt. Today, he plans a reunion.Sorry there seems to have been a system error. The file you are looking for may have been moved to another location or can't be found in the DataBase. Use the Custom search form to find what you are looking for or clickUntil late last year, I lived in the first floor of a split-level house and always felt too cold.

I wore pants and sweaters at home and had hot drinks at the ready. At work, people were complaining about the unexpected Seattle heat—we were calling it the Great Meltdown of 2014—but even though nobody we knew had central air conditioning at home, I was still able to spend my evenings in cool comfort.I was lucky to have air conditioning in the living room at my old place, but it’s an older model so it only goes from colder to arctic. I have to climb up the stairs to get to my bedroom, which is not air conditioned (and as we know, heat rises), so if I wanted to stay cool during a heatwave I had to sleep in the living room downstairs. Still, it’s better than no air conditioning, and since I live in the bottom floor of a split-level house, it doesn’t ever get too hot.I started spending most of my time at Lukas’ house last summer, right before the Great Meltdown of 2015. His house was built in the 1950s as a rental, and Lukas is the fourth generation owner of the building in his family.

The house sits on top of a hill with a flat roof and has large windows everywhere. During the day we never have to use the lights; at night, nearby office buildings illuminate the living room. We have the best view in town: we can watch everything from birds to Blue Angels, and we never have to pay to see the Seattle Center’s NYE fireworks display. If we’re really bored we can watch the 405 gridlock from our eat-in kitchen.But this spectacular view comes with a price. The geography, flat roof, and massive windows equates to unbelievably hot spring or summer days, a good ten or more degrees hotter inside than it is outside. When temperatures reached the 90s in the Great Meltdown of 2015, the inside topped off to an even 100. We drove around town drinking large cups of Diet Coke, and walked around the mall and grocery stores—anything to escape what I dubbed “the boiler house.”We tried taking turns sleeping in each other’s houses during a heat wave, but found ourselves dealing with new sets of problems.

My apartment had AC, but we spent our nights listening to noises and tense arguments coming from our upstairs neighbors. Lukas’s apartment (within his rental house) had a $400 portable AC that provided a tiny bit of cooler air, but his house is quiet and isolated. Then we decided to move in together—a story I wrote about last December—which meant we gave up my cooler apartment for a house that we both knew would become a boiler in six months.After I moved in, we talked about getting central heat and AC for our house. The Great Meltdown of 2015 drove us to plot and scheme to get things done before the summer began. We picked Greenwood Heating and Air because they had commercials running every day on TV—and great Yelp reviews. We knew that whomever we picked would have to not only install heat and AC, but also fix our 1950s-era electrical panel. Since the building has always been a rental, it’s never been vacant long enough to update things like the ancient wall heaters and the electrical panel that trips whenever I use my hair dryer.

So on top of the costs of central AC, we had to think about the costs of updating our electrical panel into 2016 standards.We had the whole third week of April to get everything accomplished, and Lukas and I both took two weeks off our jobs to be available for the contractors. The electricians came in on Monday and Tuesday to tear a hole in our wall (another project unto itself), and install a new panel and meters outside our house. Wednesday we had an electrical inspection from the city. Thursday was the AC installation and two contractors worked a full business day to get it done. The AC stopped working after five minutes and another contractor had to come in the next day to troubleshoot the problem. On Friday, the AC fixer came in, said he’d be done in an hour, and ended up staying for five.Now I know why home renovations cause some couples to consider divorce. The delays, surprise bills, and stress could undo anyone, especially a fragile relationship. We’ve had five individual house calls just to get the project underway, and seven different men stomping all over our house and using our bathroom.

Lukas and I took turns vacuuming the floors and wiping down dusty surfaces, and I cleaned the bathroom every day so the contractors wouldn’t have to use a filthy sink and toilet. The electricians had to change course, and every change cost us more money. Bills were coming at us, not to mention our mounting hotel and food bills—because we couldn’t live in that house during a wave of both heat and construction.Of course the heat wave broke on the first day we had AC, although warmer temperatures are coming our way any time now. But we’ve now got systems in place to deal with both the hot days and the gray, chilly ones; the heater works beautifully, even on the mildest “whisper” setting, and the heat feels like a warm cloud rolling over us while we sleep. The highest setting of both cold and heat is incredibly powerful; our Mitsubishi ductless AC and heat could withstand any and all inclement weather.The good news is we paid for everything in cash. We enjoy the luxury of central AC and heat, but we’re not willing to go into debt for it.