In early November, these homeowners contacted ECI Comfort in a no-heat situation. Upon arrival, our service technician discovered an intricate boiler and radiant floor heating system. Our homeowners figured we would simply replace the boiler and get the radiant floor heat working properly. However, we were able to find a much better solution!
The boiler and radiant heat system included a Veissmann Boiler and multiple zoned piping. These boilers are high-end and quite tricky to work on, which resulted in a visit from our service manager, Jeremy, and a boiler expert from a distributor. After some analyzing, the two came to the first simple solution: replace the boiler and see if that gets the radiant floor heat working properly again.
The homeowners agreed and secured their spot on the schedule for the system upgrade. Since it was November and beginning to get cold, it was a priority for ECI to restore their heat. However, Jeremy was not satisfied with the decision they reached. This lead to him contacting Ron to approach the homeowners about a potential ductless heating and cooling solution.
Our team made it out to the home a week after the initial visit from Jeremy. We talked to the homeowners about the applications of ductless and walked around their home to see potential areas to place units.
During our conversations, we asked why they switched to the boiler and radiant floor heating, as we had noticed a fully functioning furnace in the basement as well. The homeowners had stopped using it due to the allergy problems it created from circulating dry air and dust throughout the home.
So we continued on, finished our walkthrough of the entire beautiful home. Then, Ron proposed an interesting offer.
Dust Defense (and more!)
Thinking back to their fully-functioning furnace and why they weren't using it, Ron offered the homeowners a unique IAQ package. This included an Aerus Air Scrubber, Aprilaire Media Filter, and Aprilaire Humidifier, all to be attached onto their existing furnace. The Air Scrubber uses UV lighting and their ActivePure technology to eliminate contaminants from both the air and surfaces inside of the home. The media filter provides an extremely tight-knit filter that catches almost all of airborne contaminants inside of it, and the humidifier puts moisture into the air, eliminating dryness.
Ron provided this offer on an 'experimental' basis - that is if it didn't work, ECI would provide their money back and revisit the original boiler changeout. This not only potentially saves the homeowners tens of thousands of dollars, but supplies a solution to the original problem. It gives the home heat without all of the nasty side effects the homeowners were experiencing.
The first step was to find placement for the three pieces -- the Air Scrubber, media filter, and humidifier all needed their own space to operate. The humidifier also required a bypass duct, so that way when the AC is running in the summer, it may be turned off without affecting air distribution. It also needed a water supply, which was hooked up to a water line running parallel to the ductwork above.
In addition, both the Air Scrubber and humidifier required a power supply, which was easily wired into nearby electrical supplies. ECI provided a new return drop duct, which allowed a cleaner finish to the newly installed products. Before installation, the homeowners also had their ducts cleaned, which eliminated any existing dust build-up before running the furnace with these new IAQ products.
The finished product is below! From left to right, you can see the Aprilaire Media Filter, Aprilaire Humidifier, and Aerus Air Scrubber. These three components of our customized Indoor Air Quality package provided a life-changing solution to a unique problem!
Checking Back
Upon following up a month after installation, the homeowners LOVED the IAQ package. They have been able to run their furnace with no issues and have even stopped taking their allergy medications! We plan to continue following up, as well as continue discussions to update the furnace and air conditioning unit to a newer, fully modulating system that will help constantly circulate air throughout the home, allowing the IAQ package to work even better than it already is.
This project allowed for ECI Comfort to bypass an easy and expensive fix to find out what the homeowners true concerns were. We were able to restore heat in the home, as well as fix such a major issue that they were experiencing in poor air quality, allergies, and headaches.
