The warm weather was getting to be too much for Lauren Mitchell. Even her pets felt it during the dog days of summer.
Lauren loved her quaint, Cape Cod-style home in Bordentown, NJ -- the only drawback to the old-style house was the old-style cooling: that is, none
Like many homes in this area, Lauren’s home was built well before central air was available. And, like many of her neighbors, she relied on window units to keep cool -- but they weren't cutting it.
The window units were too loud and couldn't keep her house as cool as she needed. Lauren was also tired of all the upkeep they required. After enduring heat wave after heat wave, she was ready to invest in a high velocity air conditioning system.
Lauren found out about high velocity from her friends Barbara and Bob Johnson. They had a Unico cooling system installed in their Bensalem home.
She saw what a difference it made for the Johnsons and heard about how happy they were with ECI Comfort’s work. Once Lauren had the financials squared away, it was a “no-brainer,” as she put it, to give us a call.
Cooling a Cape Cod-style Home in Bordentown, NJ
Despite being far from New England, you’ll find plenty of Cape Cod-style homes in Bordentown, NJ. These single-story, framed homes have a cozy, old-fashioned look. But the drawback of having an older home is that it wasn't made with a cooling system in mind.
Lauren’s home was built nearly a century ago, and central air wasn't available for homes until the seventies. Before that, people just used fans and opened their windows in the summer; but the temperatures have gotten hotter and hotter over the years, and fans and windows don't cut it anymore.
Lauren considered adding central AC at one point, but doing so would mean building and installing ductwork for a conventional system, which also means giving up the look, feel, and a large amount of space inside the home. It would add thousands of dollars to the job.
We'd have to run the ductwork through closets and along the ceilings. You don’t want to see exposed ducts, though, so we'd also have to build big, boxy soffits around them.
That wasn’t an aesthetically-pleasing idea to Lauren. And, with one look at her carefully-decorated house, you’d understand how much pride she takes in the home she keeps.
Installing Unico High Velocity AC During a Heat Wave
Air conditioning you feel, but don't see
A high velocity system has many advantages over a conventional system. For one, they take up significantly less space, and usually do the job better.
Instead of bigger ducts, the air runs through narrow, flexible supply tubes. Take a look at the difference in size between the regular, rigid ductwork on the right and the high velocity tubing on the left:
Because of this size and flexibility, we can easily snake the supply tubes through the walls or place them in the corner of a closet. They fit neatly behind a two by four piece of wood.
From there, high-pressure air comes through small circular vents that we put in the wall or the floor. The vents can be hidden so well that you won't even notice them unless you know exactly where to look. Check out the photo below - the vent is barely noticeable!
...And also don't hear
The Unico systems are virtually silent. The trick is that they circulate air in a room much better than traditional HVAC, therefore we can put them behind doors or tucked away in a corner and they’ll still get the job done.
Installing the system
Thankfully, Lauren called to get this highly beneficial system just in time! The temperature was already climbing by the time the ECI Comfort truck was on its way across the Delaware River to the New Jersey Turnpike.
By the time we got to Bordentown, it was nearly 100 degrees outside. But, that didn’t stop us. There was work to do.
As always, we started by covering all the furniture and rugs, and we tried to stay out of the way as much as possible. Later, Lauren told us how much she appreciated the care we showed in her home.
We won’t lie: it was rough being up in an attic, running lines in triple-digit temperatures over the course of a week -- but we got it done!
The results
It was the hottest week of the summer so far when we arrived to install Lauren’s Unico cooling system, but it only got hotter from there.
After we left, Bordentown got hit with three more heat waves before Labor Day finally came around. The amazing thing? Lauren barely noticed.
Her entire home was as cool as she wanted it -- there was no fiddling with various window units, and no mechanical roar drowning out her TV or conversations. And, she said that even the dogs could feel the difference.
Lauren was so impressed that she recommended us to her neighbors. Before the summer was through, we’d installed another system in the neighborhood.
Fortunately for us, it was "only" around 80 degrees that week!
Are you ready to upgrade the cooling in your older home without ruining the look and feel of the house? Click the button below or give us a call at 215 -245 - 3200, and we’ll design a system that’s perfect for you.
