by Unico Marketing Team | Sep 21, 2023 | Custom Homes, Design Flexibility, Design Services, Limited Space
In the new home market, there’s an increasing demand for energy efficiency. This trend is pushing more custom homes to have HVAC ducts in conditioned spaces (where heated or cool air flows through). The ducts you commonly see in attics or crawl spaces are technically outside the building’s thermal boundary. In fact, these ducts often lose about 15% to 20% of the air going through them.
The process of building ducts inside the conditioned space has led many projects to use ductless systems as the solution. What if there was a better way? Join us as we dive into why The Unico System is the best option for building ducts in conditioned spaces.
Why You Should Choose The Unico System Over Ductless Options
While ductless systems may seem like a great option for keeping ducts inside the home, they come with one big disadvantage—altering the aesthetics. Ductless units are hung on walls indoors. This sticks out and clashes with the design of the home. Many homeowners say that these units look bulky, especially when surrounded by the modern look of a custom home.
The Unico System is virtually unnoticeable while providing optimal comfort. By being 33% the size of traditional ductwork, Unico ducts can be threaded through tight spaces. You’ll even have the option of running ductwork through hallways for super short runs into every room. Homeowners can also get customized soffits to match the paint color or floor material.
Having Ducts in Conditioned Spaces Gives You Higher HVAC Quality
With ducts in conditioned spaces, you’ll have greater visibility of the HVAC system. If the system is in the attic or crawl space, they are out of sight, making it easier for problems to arise without the homeowner knowing. When ducts are built inside the conditioned space of the home, everything is visible and can be easily accessed in the floor joist space.
The process of getting ducts in conditioned spaces is much easier when it’s started during the design phase of custom home construction. Unico’s Design Services is a free resource that uses your project plans to calculate the right number of ducts each room needs. Given the compact size and high speed of Unico ducts, you’ll have more freedom with outlets that are only five inches in diameter.
The Unico System Has Smaller Ducts with High Velocity
In most cases, traditional ductwork is around six inches in diameter. The size of these ducts often makes it challenging to run them throughout the inside of home without running into other essential parts of the infrastructure. The Unico System has small ductwork that is only two inches in diameter. That means you’ll have much more flexibility in how the home is conditioned.
This small-duct high-velocity system can deliver up to nine tons of conditioned air without compromising the design of a new home. With The Unico System, it’s easier to optimize the HVAC energy efficiency of a home. Smaller high-velocity ducts are a great option to get efficiency credits that many local utilities and governments offer for new home construction.
The Unico System Offers Draft-free, Even Temperatures
The Unico System also creates efficiency by ensuring each room is conditioned with draft-free, even temperatures, which is accomplished in two ways:
1. The supply tubing used in The Unico System is wrapped in insulation and an outer vapor barrier to keep more thermal energy within the ducts. Ducts that are run through the home will have less thermal loss.
2. The Unico System uses a principle called aspiration to create a gentle suction around itself that draws the room air into its stream of cooled air. This delivers draft-free, even cooling, from room to room, floor to floor, and floor to ceiling.
The Unico System is the Best Choice for Building with Ducts Inside
The Unico System makes the HVAC system more efficient for custom home projects. Get draft-free, even temperatures for each room and create more effective duct runs. If you’re interested in seeing the benefits small ducts can offer your project, be sure to reach out to our Design Services team.
by Unico Marketing Team | Sep 14, 2023 | Custom Homes, Older Homes, Reduced Humidity
Aside from making a home less comfortable, did you know that high humidity increases the risk of mold and mildew buildup? It’s one of the reasons why lowering home humidity levels is becoming one of the top concerns for homeowners in warm climates. While accomplishing this might seem challenging at first, the Unico small-duct high-velocity (SDHV) system removes 30% more humidity than other HVAC solutions.
Keep reading to discover three benefits The Unico System offers homes by lowering the humidity level.
1. Expect Better Comfort with The Unico System
Have you ever been inside your house and felt overheated even when the AC is on full blast? This is most often caused by high humidity. While traditional HVAC systems focus on setting the right temperature, The Unico System also pays attention to humidity levels. The air handler in the system takes advantage of lower airflow and has larger cooling coils. This means that the air spends more time on the cooling coils, allowing moisture to be removed more efficiently and creating a more comfortable level by reducing temperature and humidity.
With a traditional AC system, cool air is dumped into a room until it hits the temperature set on the thermostat. Once it hits that level, the system shuts off and the humidity level slowly increases and makes the living space uncomfortable. The Unico System is equipped with relative humidity control to help prevent this situation from happening, so homeowners can expect better comfort.
2. Improved Indoor Air Quality
Partly fueled by the growth in remote work positions, people are paying more attention to the indoor air quality inside their homes. While traditional AC systems circulate air, they often struggle with larger particles, like dust, pet dander and more. Plus, high indoor humidity also makes it more likely for harmful bacteria to grow. In fact, the EPA states that indoor air quality can be two to five times worse than outdoor air.
The good news is that The Unico System addresses both issues. Results from testing conducted by the Florida Solar Energy Center found that an SDHV system offers 31% lower relative humidity inside the home. To help catch smaller particles in the air, The Unico System uses MERV 7 filters, which can even capture mold spores. For hot and humid climates, Unico has one of the best systems to help keep the inside of homes comfortable and filled with clean air.
3. Lower Home Humidity While Preserving Architectural Features
Many older homes are often caught between a rock and hard place when it comes to humidity. Without any form of AC, wood doors, floors and window frames can swell during the summer, causing damage to the home. On the other hand, putting in traditional AC ducts often requires tearing down and replacing walls, woodwork and other beloved features. With The Unico System, homeowners don’t need to choose between comfort and preserving their home’s unique charm.
The small and flexible ducts can easily be installed without tearing up walls and floors. You can preserve the aesthetic by feeding ducts through tight spaces that wouldn’t be possible for traditional AC systems. For even more added value, you can choose air outlet covers to match the finish of almost any floor, ceiling or wall. Instead of reconfiguring your home to match the needs of an HVAC system, Unico adapts to provide reliable comfort without major renovations.
Our Design Services Team Makes Home Humidity Reduction Easier
Whether you’re building a custom home or doing work on an older one, Unico is here to help do some of the heavy lifting. Our free design services team is ready to lend a hand with putting together a Unico System design and estimated materials list. All you need to do is submit your project plans, and our team will be in touch with next steps.
by Unico Marketing Team | Sep 7, 2023 | Custom Homes, Energy Effeciency
When many people buy a car, one of the first questions they ask is about energy efficiency. The same is true for HVAC systems. Ideally, you want an HVAC system that strikes the perfect balance between being energy efficient and providing the right level of comfort for the home. In the HVAC industry, the SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) is used to help determine the efficiency of the system.
While SEER ratings are important, they don’t tell the whole story. Join us as we break down SEER ratings and other important factors that impact HVAC systems.
What an HVAC’s SEER Rating Means
The SEER rating is one of the important indicators for an HVAC system’s efficiency. Usually, the higher SEER rating an HVAC unit has, the more energy efficient it is. The rating itself is a ratio that divides the average output of cooling used by the amount of energy that session took. It’s important to note that the SEER rating signifies the highest level of efficiency the unit can reach, not necessarily its average efficiency rating.
For example, a unit with a SEER rating of 18 will only achieve an 18 when everything is running perfectly. That’s why many HVAC experts think of SEER ratings as a guide principle instead of a hard rule. Any SEER rating you see also isn’t guaranteed. There will always be other factors like a home’s ductwork that can influence an HVAC system’s performance and the length of the run between the AC unit and the air handler.
Why SEER Ratings Are Important
SEER ratings provide a guideline for not only managing energy costs, but also for finding an ideal level of comfort inside your home. Most air conditioning systems have a SEER rating that falls between 14 and 21. Part of why SEER ratings are important is because they can help you identify other factors that could be making the HVAC system less effective.
In theory, the higher the rating, the lower your energy bill should be. While a higher SEER rating usually makes the unit cost more up front, it’s expected to save homeowners money in the long run by using less energy. If your HVAC system is using more energy despite having the right SEER rating, it could be a sign that your ductwork or home insulation need to be looked at. Think of each rating as a starting point to help you find the best HVAC system for your home or project.
Going Beyond HVAC SEER Ratings
While SEER ratings are an important guideline, energy-efficient HVAC systems need to address other factors as well. Have you ever thought about ductwork having its own efficiency? With traditional HVAC systems, heat or cold air can leak through the walls of the duct, often making the system work harder to meet the desired temperature when conditioned air reaches a room.
The smaller ducts in The Unico System are wrapped with insulation and an outer vapor barrier. It’s a large part of the reason why third-party testing showed that The Unico System loses less than 5% of the air volume the unit puts out, compared to the 25% in traditional systems.
Another factor that plays a direct role in energy efficiency is lowering humidity. Traditional HVAC systems dump air into a room, creating uneven temperatures. Once the system shuts off, the humidity level starts to rise and causes the system to turn on more frequently to compensate for it.
The Unico System removes 30% more humidity thanks to the efficient design of the cooling coils. This means you can set the thermostat higher, and still enjoy the same level of comfort, since the space feels like it’s a lower temperature. With a higher set temperature, the system takes less energy to run, saving you money. To get the highest level of efficiency, The Unico System can work in tandem with a high-SEER-rated HVAC unit.
Make Your Home or Project More Energy Efficient with Unico
At Unico, we’re dedicated to helping make custom and older homes more energy efficient. If you have a project that could benefit from The Unico System, our design services team is here for support. Let us do the hard part by building out an HVAC system design. Contact our design services team today to get started.
by Unico Marketing Team | Aug 31, 2023 | Custom Homes, Design Services, Older Homes
Whether it’s a new custom home or renovating an older residence, there’s a lot of planning when it comes to installing an HVAC system. You need to perform an HVAC load calculation, figure out how many ducts are needed, and plan where to place them. Plus, finding an expert to perform HVAC load calculations is becoming harder to come by.
The good news is that the right HVAC partner can make your next project easier. If you’re planning on using the Unico System in an upcoming build, support isn’t far away. Keep reading to discover why you should use Unico’s Design Services.
Unico’s HVAC Design Services are Free
Unico has free design services to help make the HVAC portion of your projects easier. Here’s how it works. First, you’ll need to submit the design and layout of your project. A PDF file is preferred, and you’ll want to get specific about the type of insulation used in the building, what kind of windows you’re working with, and an elevation view. The more detail you can provide, the more accurate Unico’s recommendation will be for the type of HVAC system that’s needed.
It’s also important to mention that Unico Design Services for HVAC systems are completely free, and it includes:
- A Manual J HVAC load calculation to determine the right small-duct high-velocity HVAC system needed for your project.
- A full HVAC system layout that includes an estimated material list to make the planning and installation of the project easier.
- A drawing of supply and return duct locations overlayed on your project’s design plan.
Unico’s Design Services for HVAC Systems is Powered by Wrightsoft
As a builder or contractor, it’s important to know that Unico Design Services use Wrightsoft (an industry leading HVAC design software) to help make your HVAC plan more accurate. Not only is Wrightsoft known throughout the HVAC industry for its reliability, but the software is a Manual J (calculation to help determine the correct size for an HVAC unit being added to a building). In many states across the country, Manual J is required to obtain certain building permits.
The Wrightsoft data also is used to construct a visual to show you how a Unico small-duct high-velocity HVAC system would look in your building project. While it’s nice to see the recommended locations for ducts in this visual, The Unico System has an added benefit: due to the system’s flexibility, you can install the ducts virtually anywhere in the room or zone. This eliminates the tedious process of changing other building elements to accommodate ducts.
You’ll Be in Contact with Our Small-Duct High-Velocity HVAC System Experts
When you submit plans to Unico Design Services, our team will be there to support you. If there are questions about your project, an expert will reach out to help create the best load calculation possible. Since we know how fast building projects can move, it’s our goal to deliver design plans within 10 business days of your submission.
To help personalize the design plan for your project, our team gathers data about the building and local codes to help the calculations be exceptionally accurate. At Unico, we’re dedicated to making projects easier.
Try Unico’s HVAC Design Services for Your Next Project
If you want to make HVAC planning and installation easier for your next project, try Unico Design Services. This complementary service is just another way Unico supports those who want to find the best HVAC solution.
by Unico Marketing Team | Aug 25, 2023 | Custom Homes, Maintenance, Older Homes
Did you know that according to Cornell University, an average of 10,000 severe thunderstorms occurs in the US each year? And that doesn’t even include hurricanes that develop throughout the year. Why are we bringing this up? It’s because HVAC protection against storms is often overlooked, even though taking some small precautions can save you from big headaches later.
Join the experts at Unico as we share four tips for protecting your HVAC system from storm damage.
1. Keep Your HVAC Unit Secured
- Strong winds and even flash floods have the potential to remove an outdoor HVAC unit from its mounting plate or base. If a severe storm is forecasted for your area, go out and make sure the mounts on the unit are undamaged and properly tightened. For added protection against storms, you can use tie-down straps to create a stronger anchor.
- If your HVAC unit has moved, carefully move it back into place and inspect your supply lines for kinks, leaks or any other damage that may have occurred.
- High-speed winds will often pick up debris and throw it against your HVAC unit. The dirt, dust and debris can even penetrate the exterior of the system and damage the coils, fan and electronics inside. To help prevent this, wrap your HVAC unit with a weatherproof tarp. The key is ensuring that all sides are covered, and the tarp is secured with the right amount of tension.
- In areas where you may be expecting winter storms, it’s wise to secure a tarp around your unit to keep ice, snow and critters from damaging your system.
2. Elevate Your HVAC Unit
- Severe storms like hurricanes often open the possibility of flooding. To guard against this, you’ll first want to determine what the flood line is in your local area. Then, plan on installing your HVAC unit so that it sits above that line. By raising up the entire system, you’ll help prevent water damage in the event of flooding.
- It’s also important to note that you should reach out to a professional before moving an HVAC unit on your own. Even though lifting it a few inches seems easy, you run the risk of core components like the refrigerant lines being damaged.
3. Turn Off Your HVAC Unit
- It’s common during severe storms for nearby power transformers to short-circuit from lighting strikes or high-speed winds. Electrical surges have the potential to damage the internal electronics of an HVAC unit. When there’s a storm expected in your area, turn off your HVAC system. In the event of a power outage, it’s a good rule of thumb to wait until the other appliances in your home have regained power before turning the HVAC unit back on.
- If you’re interested in more security against power surges, you can ask an electrician to install a surge protector on your home’s main circuit breaker box. This will help ensure that any power surges that happen are weaker, lowering the risk of damage caused to the HVAC unit.
4. Clear Your Yard Ahead of a Storm
- When a severe storm is going to hit your local area, you want the yard to be empty. Every branch, stick, toy and piece of furniture has the potential to be turned into a projectile. In severe winds, all these items can be thrown into your HVAC unit and home, causing damage. Before a storm hits, go out into your yard and clear out anything on the ground.
- If larger items like furniture are difficult to move, you can secure them on the ground or a nearby tree instead.
Let Us Help Your HVAC Unit Run Smoothly
Whether it’s protecting an HVAC unit from a storm or finding the optimal comfort level for your home, the design services team at Unico is here to help. If you have an upcoming home project that needs design assistance, Unico is ready to share its expertise. Let us do the hard part when it comes to the HVAC system design layout. Get in touch with Unico’s Design Services today!
