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Case Studies

Dec 18, 2020 1:58:05 PM by Joe Berardi

Three Story Apartment Building in Philadelphia Gets Multi-Zone Ductless

PROBLEM: This apartment building, with an individual unit on each floor, had no heat after the existing oil furnace stopped working right as winter began. On top of that, none of these units had air conditioning either!

SOLUTION: ECI installed a Multi-Zone Daikin Ductless heating and cooling system. This system gave each apartment individual control over its heating and cooling needs, versus one single-controlled, single-zoned system. 

 

Red apartment building in Philadelphia PA

In the Fairmount section of Philadelphia, one of the city's more popular areas, resides a three-story apartment building. This complex, built in 1920, sits with perfect and easy access to most of the city schools like UPENN and Drexel, The Philadelphia Art Museum, and plenty of local parks. The building is currently owned by one of our awesome customers who recently had a ductless system installed in his own home, so he called us up with a major problem in the apartment.

The oil furnace used to provide heat to his apartment building suddenly stopped working. Upon one of our service technician's arrival, he found the furnace to no longer be in working condition.  There was a large build-up of soot from years of use, which was beginning to make its way through the ductwork. After his examination and expert opinion, the technician explained to the customer that it may be time to replace this older, worn-out furnace.

Soot in basement from broken oil furnace

After the tech explained the issue, he called ECI back out to the building to discuss some different options with the customer. We walked through the first-floor apartment and into the basement where we saw the condition of the furnace and talked through the tech's observations. 

The homeowner discussed his major concerns as well. It was beginning to get colder and he needed to have heat for his tenants, as each of the three apartments was currently occupied.

His primary concern was to ensure that those living in his building are warm and comfortable. Considering the first-floor tenant was his mother, it became an even bigger concern for us as well. This not only requires an intelligent and fast decision from the building owner, but quick action from us, too. 

A quick and obvious fix would be replacing the furnace with something similar. This would solve the issue of not having heat for the building. However, with this solution, the building would only be provided with a single zone and single controlled heat source. This brought us to our next question: "have you ever thought about adding air conditioning?"

The customer paused for a moment and responded, "yes, I actually was going to ask you that myself. How can we do that?"

A project like this sometimes requires an out-of-the-box solution. We presented him with a new option that would not only immediately provide heat to the building, but would also provide both air conditioning and individual control for each floor. By choosing to go with this multi-zoned ductless solution, the customer not only saves money on oil costs but now provides the best comfort possible to his tenants!

White Daikin indoor wall mounted ductless unit   White Daikin indoor ductless wall mounted unit and line hideDaikin Heat Pump mounted on wall of building

 

 

 

 

 

 

The solution was simple: install three outdoor heat pumps, one for each floor, accompanied by properly sized indoor units that were dependent upon the apartment size. 

For the first floor unit, we were able to provide a three-port heat pump and two indoor high-wall mounted units. One indoor unit in the front of the apartment and one in the back of the apartment. The three-port heat pump allowed the building owner the flexibility to add a third indoor unit at a later date if so desired. 

For the second-floor apartment, a similar setup was followed. One three-port heat pump and two indoor high-wall mounted units. One unit was installed in the back bedroom and the second unit in the front bedroom, which was currently used as an office space. The third port allowed the flexibility to add a third indoor unit into the middle kitchen/dining space in the future. 

Lastly, the third-floor apartment featured more of a 'studio' style. It was one large bedroom, with a secondary area containing the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry area. For this apartment, we were able to install a one-to-one heat pump and single indoor unit, sized large enough to maintain comfort in the entire space. 

A unique application to this project and similar others for Philadelphia-style buildings is using brown line-hide on the outside to conceal the line sets to and from each unit. This blends with the color of the brick quite well, hiding it in plain sight!

White Daikin indoor wall mounted ductless unitDaikin Heat Pump mounted on wall of buildingBrown line hide to hide line set on side of building

Now installed, the building owner can breathe deeply. He was able to provide his tenants with a new heat source just in time for our first major cold front and snowstorm of the year! 

Not only did he provide comfort to his apartments, but will now be able to save money on fuel costs by switching to this electric heat pump system. He creates a zone for each apartment, allowing the tenants to control their own temperature desires, as each tenant has their own level of comfortability. This not only saves him money but provides a feature that many apartments and homes in Philadelphia do not have: air conditioning! 

Schedule Your Free Ductless Consultation

Nothing could be better for a Philadelphia apartment building than an efficient, year-round comfort system. This ductless system will increase the long-term value of the building, as well as keep some extra money in the owner's pocket for other improvements needed. This becomes not only an efficient and immediate solution but also a great long-term investment.


ECI Comfort specializes in the installation of Daikin Ductless heating and cooling systems. If this sounds like a similar fix to one of your comfort problems, call ECI Comfort at (215) 245-3200 for more information, or schedule a free consultation today! 

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This entry was posted in Ductless, Philadelphia, PA, Daikin