Unico Heating

rabbitsnake

I have a 100 year old two flat in Chicago, each floor is approx 900 square with small bedrooms & no closets. Unico HV systems look to be a great solution for AC, but I was curious if anyone has experience with their heating solutions. I see they have no gas furnace element, but can do an electric heating coil.

An HVAC contractor is telling me the Unico system would not be able to keep with below zero temperatures during the winter. He is pushing for traditional ductwork and dual gas furnaces. He indicated the Unico system could barely keep it at 50 degrees during the winter. Does anyone have any experience with Unico heating?

Thanks

Ironman

Don't use that contractor: he's full of hot air!

The Unico can be paired with a heat pump with electric resistance back up or it can be had with a hot water coil that derives heat from a boiler. As long as everything is sized properly, and vent placements are done correctly, (particularly the returns) it will heat fine. These two things are essential, though. The same would go for a traditional low velocity system.

Ductless Mini Splits (Mitsubishi, Fujitsu, Daikin, etc.) with some back up heat may be a better option.

FINDA A COMPETENT CONTRACTOR! This cannot be over-emphasized.

Try the contractor locator on this site.

I believe that Stephen Minich is near Chicago:

Stephen.minnich@yahoo.com

RobG

What Bob said! If your contractor cannot size a system you need a new contractor. Call Steve.

Tinman

We've been in touch via email already : )

Empire_2

I guess if Unico cannot keep up, it's time to demolish the entire house and start over......lol. Hot water coil are a favorite of mine. This is where the contractor you talked to could have shined to help you with the problem. After all, we are problem solvers in the greatest sense of the term!

Peace;
Mike T.

Steamhead

The nice thing about these mini-duct systems is that they really move the air around, which makes you feel cooler in summer. The bad thing is that they really move the air around, which makes you feel cooler in winter.

If that were mine and I were starting from scratch, I'd do mini-duct A/C only and have the boilers feeding panel radiators. This way you get the best of both worlds.

What are you using for heat now?

Tinman

rabbitsnake and I haven't met yet but my preference has always been to use a boiler for heat emitters that doesn't include blowing air across them. Ideally, that's the way to go and I doubt many here would disagree with that. I guess I'll find that out shortly.

In terms of AC, I'd go with high velocity systems over mini-splits if given a choice. Although, I do both and understand there's a place for each its still hard for me to wrap my head around a fan coil hanging in a living room or bedroom. The aesthetics of mini-splits just isn't my thing. And I've done the LG Art too. I wasn't crazy about the product.