The Goals of an HVAC System

What are the goals of an HVAC system? The answer may seem straightforward, but surprisingly not many of the systems out there tick these boxes. The really cool thing about all of these goals are that they create a “zen” of HVAC (thank you Russ King for the phrase) when you do careful, thoughtful work. Designed comfort leads to home durability, which dovetails into healthy homes, which keep you safe… well you get the picture. The interesting thing is, a poorly designed and installed HVAC system can actually decrease all of these goals for your home. Here is my take on the ideal goals of a well designed HVAC system:

• Safety

  • If your house catches on fire because someone didn’t install your furnace correctly, you can’t live in it. That one is obvious, but what about things like carbon monoxide poisoning? Improperly installed appliances can make you less safe, even though you might be using the heater to keep you comfortable. Safety is the prerequisite for the other goals of the system.

• Comfort

  • This is probably where your mind automatically went when you clicked on this article. And for good reason, cooling and heating systems are what make homes comfortable to a large degree. The roof and walls keep the rain out, but the HVAC system maintains temperature and humidity ranges that are ideal for humans. There is a sliding scale in terms of how much comfort can be delivered, because no system is perfect. For example, maintaining perfect humidity levels is not possible with an air conditioner alone, and may require a dedicated dehumidifier.

• Health

  • This goal sits under the comfort goal, but is an important one. We spend 90% of our lives indoors, and some HVAC systems can make your indoor air quality and home environment worse, not better. Things like bad filtration, leaky ductwork, and poor humidity control can cause allergies. Our goal in designing a system is to do no harm, and when possible, to create health benefits. Now again, there are degrees to this, and healthier homes often require careful thought and significant budgets. Options like ventilation air, and HEPA filters may not be for everyone. But at a minimum, the work HVAC contractors do should be neutral or beneficial to your health, not detrimental.

• Durability

  • Water is the number one enemy of home durability. The roof, walls and windows keep liquid water out, but the HVAC system helps maintain consistent moisture levels in the air of your home. High moisture levels can cause mold and rot, as well as create inviting environments for pests. A great example of this is crawlspaces. My almost 100 year old home needed to have the main support beams under the house replaced due to dry rot. That was not cheap to fix. Now I have insulated and air sealed the crawlspace, and installed a dehumidifier to keep it dry. When combined with a well built enclosure, a properly designed HVAC system can help your home have a long life.

-Matt Bruner

The Unexpected HVAC Contractor

When I was a kid, I wanted to be someone like Zorro or Robin Hood, a good guy defending people against the forces of evil. The books I loved to read were about mountain climbers, brave explorers, or fearless generals who changed the world or conquered nature. As I moved into my teenage years, I realized these career goals were a bit unrealistic and became a cynic instead. My heart had moved from child-like enthusiasm to bitter disappointment. I had dreams of escaping into nature and fleeing this complicated, often heartbreaking and difficult world.

Then I went to college. Although I couldn’t articulate it back then, those years were a time spent attempting to bridge the gap in my own thinking between the two places I had vacillated throughout my life. How do we live with hope in a world where hope can seem fleeting? What can my life and work mean within such a framework?

Over time I have come to believe, with the help of many others, that our lives and what we do with them matters. I hold onto the promise in the Parable of the Mustard Seed, that small beautiful things, hidden away, can carry the day. I believe that each day we should do good, ordinary work, and then go home to our families and eat dinner with them. I believe that living an ordinary life and changing the world are not at odds. In fact, maybe they are the same thing.

During the course of asking these questions, I found myself in need of a job. As it turns out, I’m not half bad at turning a wrench. I began to fall in love with the science and seemingly endless complexity of HVAC systems. Residential air conditioning has only been around for around 80 years, so in some ways it’s still a pretty new field of study. There are lots of interesting problems to solve, such as dehumidification, ventilation, healthy indoor air quality, energy retrofits, and better business models that serve both the homeowner and contractor. I began to see that in my own small corner of the world, there is good, quiet work to be done.

So if ordinary lives can make an impact, maybe an ordinary business can too.