The Philosophy of Comfort

The Greek philosopher Socrates said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

As their multiple Quality Home Comfort Awards over the years attest, the team at Sigman Heating & Air Conditioning/Sigman Indoor Climate Solutions knows a little something about creating some of the country's finest residential comfort systems. Yet Joel Sigman, president of the company's Indoor Climate Solutions division, doesn't hesitate to acknowledge the truth behind Socrates' statement.

Faced with a new challenge at this spectacular home — namely, a 2,500 sq.ft. indoor pool room — Sigman spent many hours researching what it would take to provide the proper comfort levels in the pool area, as well as throughout the rest of the home.

“I wish I knew everything, but I'm very far from that, and I know I'll never be there,” Sigman admits. “But that's what makes it interesting, and keeps me reaching for new goals.”

The challenges were numerous at this home. Nearly 4,000 new sq.ft. were being added (plus the pool room's 2,500), and much of the existing 8,000+ sq.ft. was undergoing complete renovation.

The original scope of work for this home was to remove the duct from the basement of the existing house, install new air handlers for the main floor and second floor, maintain all high velocity outlets and add new outlets where necessary, remove the existing boiler and replace it with geothermal water-to-water units for the radiator system, add a new geothermal system for the addition, install radiant heat in the floor of the new indoor pool area, install a pool dehumidification system, install a geothermal water-to-water unit for the radiant heat and chilled water cooling, and install a 22-ton vertical loop.

Consultation and Agreement

“The final mechanical system was slightly different from the original scope,” Sigman says. “For example, the addition was re-designed with a full basement instead of a crawl space. We offered the homeowners the option of installing radiant heat in the basement, which they accepted. We also suggested putting radiant heat in the addition, as the ceilings there are 20-ft. high. These were the first of many changes designed to provide the homeowners with the ultimate in comfort and efficiency.”

Sigman had installed a geothermal system for these homeowners at a previous home, so geothermal was definitely the order of the day at this new home. “These homeowners like the idea of minimizing outdoor equipment, and appreciate the energy efficiency of geothermal,” Sigman says. “They also want to make sure that the equipment installed was eco-friendly, helping to create a better environment.”

A full, finished basement in the new addition changed the forced air design and mechanical room design. For comfort and control, zone controls were added for the new basement. The addition now had an additional forced air zone and two low temperature radiant zones. The ground loop manifold that was originally going to be in the existing basement was moved to the new basement, and a mini-manifold was added.

The homeowners also decided to condition an existing sunroom that had been unconditioned, and added 12 skylights to the third floor. These changes meant that the geothermal ground loop had to be sized 2-tons larger than it was at the start of the project, to match the corresponding load changes.

One of the project's biggest challenges came on the home's third floor. This area had flat ceilings and an attic space with existing duct. This ceiling was removed, the structural cross members were retained, and the 12 skylights were added. The redesign of the third floor not only affected the heat gain/heat loss calculations, it also removed the attic space from the equation. With no attic space, the duct for both the second and third floors was changed to spiral duct.

The second and third floor spiral ductwork was installed above the structural beams. The ducts are side by side, with enough separation to get proper air flow for the flush mount registers that were installed to give a clean, smooth look to the third floor low velocity duct system. The second floor duct is for a Unico high velocity system. Supply air outlets were installed through the roof rafters to the second floor ceilings. Rough-in plaster frames were used at the ceiling of the third floor for the supply outlets. The ceiling was finished, and ducts installed.