My grandparents’ house was built in the 1930s, and its original heating system consists of a boiler and radiators.
The extended family has been discussing having central air conditioning installed for them because on humid days, both my grandmother and grandfather have difficulty breathing.
We’ve had several HVAC contractors give us quotes and options for the installation of central air conditioning. Naturally, we could install window units ourselves, but we would rather have the entire house cooled evenly. Also, because window units are so noisy, my grandparents would sacrifice what they are able to hear. They both have hearing aids and struggle with deciphering each other’s conversations. One cooling specialist told us that we could install ductwork in the house, but it would require tearing holes in the walls and ceilings in order to do so. And if the installer made any errors, the original plaster and woodwork could be damaged. And sacrificing space for the ductwork means losing closet space or lowering ceilings. One HVAC contractor told us about VRF, or variant refrigerant flow, systems. This is a ductless system that uses one outdoor condensing unit that connects to multiple indoor units. VRFs give each zone the power to control its own temperature. The third contractor encouraged us to go with ductless mini split systems, in which outdoor and indoor units are connected with a small conduit with refrigerant and electrical lines. Mini splits are small systems which are most often used to cool one or two rooms. After quite a bit of discussion among the extended family, we decided to use the variant refrigerant flow system.