Featured Products
#1: Unico Unichiller
(Hydronic Heat Pump) manufactured and produced by The Unico Company
The Unico Unichiller is a heat pump—with a twist. All heat pumps function well at low temperatures. Air to air heat pumps are capable of raising the air within the house 20 – 28 degrees when the outside air temperature is about 45 degrees. So if the indoor air temp is 66 degrees, the discharge air temp (DAT) in a duct system will 86 – 94 degrees. This is called temperature rise. At a 32 degree outdoor temperature the temperature rise with an air to air heat pump is around 12 – 15 degrees. With a DAT of 78 – 81 degrees the heat pump may never shut off even though it is producing BTUH’s . Refrigerant is such a poor conductor for heat at low temperatures that we shut heat pumps off with an outdoor thermostat and switch to back up heat in order to actually satisfy the indoor thermostat. This has been common practice during the winter of 2008-2009 which has devalued the efficiency of the air to air heat pump.
The Unico reverse cycle chiller (RCC) produces water temperatures of 110 – 125 degrees down to 10 F outdoor temperatures. This makes the temperature rise in a RCC system 40 – 50 degrees, like a gas furnace. The DAT in a RCC air system will be 105 – 120 degrees, even at low outdoor temp’s, which will satisfy the indoor thermostat. Water is an excellent heat transfer device. Unlike a gas furnace that at best operates at 95% efficiency (even with the most recent advancement in furnace technology)—the Unico RCC’s COP is 2.3 down to 17 degrees F. COP stands for coefficient of performance and it is a measure of how much energy is input vs. output. In this example, for every 1 KW of electricity input into the RCC—it yields 2.3 KW. That is 230% efficient even at very cold temperatures. That is very impressive and extremely efficient! Mitchell Mechanical has installed them in 6 different residences to date with exciting results. We already have 9 more slated for installation by summer of 2009 with many more proposed. Learn more about them here.
#2: MyTemp
(zoning control system) manufactured and produced by Home Comfort Zones.
A typical home in the NW with a forced air heating/cooling system has areas in the home that can be much colder or hotter even thought the central thermostat says it is, say-68 degrees. We’ve all experienced and bemoaned this problem. The MyTemp system is not a replacement for your furnace or air-conditioner. You don’t have to replace your furnace and rip out your entire duct system to be comfortable! It is a room-by-room temperature control system that uses your existing heating and cooling equipment and ductwork.
When the MyTemp system is installed in your home, a wireless smart controller is placed in each room. It continuously measures and transmits the room's temperature. A wireless receiver collects this information and passes it along to the master control unit (which replaces your current thermostat). Using temperature information from each room as well as temperature data from an outside monitor, sophisticated software determines which rooms need conditioning.
Using air pressure and vacuum supplied from an external air pump and power supply, individual rooms are included or removed from the conditioning cycle by opening and closing dampers in the duct work. The master unit then activates the heating, cooling, and circulation equipment in your home to achieve your settings. Using information from the plenum sensor, the master unit can determine how many dampers can be simultaneously closed without effecting your equipment. You can control where you want your heat or cooling room by room. Save energy—don’t heat or cool rooms that you aren’t using. This system is retrofitable. We can literally take an existing home that has this problem and fix it in one day—making you more comfortable and saving you energy at the same time. Mitchell Mechanical is a licensed and trained dealer and we have several systems installed to date with fantastic testimonials. Learn more here.
