You can add air conditioning to a Victorian home
If you bought a Victorian-era home, you probably fell in love with its grandeur and period detail. But you may not be so happy with having to keep it cool in hot and humid weather. Victorian homes, built before central cooling was common, require a few special considerations when you're adding air conditioning. From the easiest and cheapest to the most difficult and expensive, here are some things you can do to stay cool in your Victorian home.
Instructions
1. Take advantage of passive cooling--even with central air conditioning, it will make your system more efficient and cheaper to run. Weatherstrip your windows and make sure your doors are airtight. If you don't already have trees or shrubs on the southern side of the house, plant them for shade. Trees that shade your house can save up to 25 percent of your household's energy.
2. Depending on the square footage and layout of your home, window air conditioners may be sufficient for your space. The efficiency of any air conditioning unit--window or central--is measured by its seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER). The higher the SEER, the more efficient the unit or system. Make sure that your window units are sized properly for your space. Using a ceiling fan with your window units will spread the cool air throughout your rooms while saving energy.
3. Enlist the help of an experienced residential contractor if you're interested in a central air conditioning system, preferably someone who has worked on Victorian-era homes before. Your contractor should analyze your house's heat gain and calculate the cooling load. Taking into account your climate, your house's insulation, its placement of windows and doors and its location on the site, your contractor will be able to recommend a properly sized system. Based on the calculations, you may benefit from upgrading your insulation and making your home more energy-efficient before installing the system
4. Find the most efficient system for your house. Like window units, systems have a SEER, and like window units, systems with a higher SEER are more efficient. Their initial cost is higher but their operating cost will be lower. In older houses, which are "leakier" than new construction, controlling humidity can be a bigger challenge than reducing temperature. A system with a higher SEER will be better at reducing humidity.
5. Add ducts to retrofit a Victorian home for central cooling. Victorian homes predate forced-air heating systems, and few of them have ducts to accommodate central air conditioning. New systems use "mini-ducts," which are much smaller than old-fashioned metal ducts and fit more easily in small spaces, like Victorian closets, but are highly efficient.
6. Consider a ductless air conditioning system. These systems have two parts. One includes the noisy compressor/condenser, which is housed outside. The second includes the quiet air-handling unit composed of an evaporator and a fan, which is indoors. The two are linked by a conduit that houses the power cable, refrigerant and suction tubing, and a condensate drain. Ductless systems need only a small hole in the wall for the conduit, and are easier and less intrusive to install than systems with ducts.
Tags: window units, your house, central conditioning, higher SEER, more efficient,