Case Study

A client, Peter, came to us because the weather in his area just wasn’t the same anymore and he knew it wasn’t going back to how it used to be. Summers were getting hotter and he understood this was something that would continue. Previously, his home in a coastal town in Massachusetts would cool off over night and help to keep things bearable during the day. Now, it doesn’t cool off as much and there are more hot days each year. It was time to add air conditioning.

His home has a gas boiler and radiators and no existing ductwork. Running ductwork in the basement to serve the 1st floor is an option, but the attic access is nearly non-existent so that won’t work for the second floor. Peter decides he doesn’t want ducts so we move forward with identifying a ductless system that will work for his home.

Peter provides us with room measurements, window areas, and his best estimate of what the insulation is like in the walls and attic. Armed with this information, we determine how much cooling the home needs and the best layout for the minisplit heads. For equipment, Peter wants to evaluate if it will be more cost effective to install a DIY system or do most of the install himself and have an HVAC tech handle the refrigerant lines. He also wants to know if he should just start with cooling the main living areas for now or do the whole house. To help him decide, we ran pricing scenarios for DIY equipment vs standard equipment. We also provided pricing for whole home equipment that would qualify for the federal tax credit, utility company rebates, and the forthcoming federal rebates. We synthesized all of this information into one document and then talked through it with him and answered his questions. All of this allowed Peter to make an informed decision based on true costs, plus his the current and future needs in the home. He ended up being able to put in a system that served his whole home at a lower cost than just covering a portion of it.