My only hope really is that my apartment building would install some kind of central cooling solution, which is an incredibly expensive endeavour.
This comment got me wondering how apartments can retrofit their central heat into some kind of climate control that goes both ways.
For apartments with ducts and forced air, it seems like the central furnace/boiler can probably be replaced with some kind of heat pump setup for more efficient heating in the winters, and reversed to provide cooling in the summers, through the same air ducts. The total cost/complexity would probably depend heavily on the space for the furnace and its service/maintenance, I imagine.
With steam/hot water radiators, though, I imagine it’s even harder. Can these systems safely be modified to pump cold water?
Or, if they need to add ducts where none currently exist, that seems like it would be unbelievably complex and expensive, if people are going to be living there the whole time. Seems like a real challenge.
This comment got me wondering how apartments can retrofit their central heat into some kind of climate control that goes both ways.
For apartments with ducts and forced air, it seems like the central furnace/boiler can probably be replaced with some kind of heat pump setup for more efficient heating in the winters, and reversed to provide cooling in the summers, through the same air ducts. The total cost/complexity would probably depend heavily on the space for the furnace and its service/maintenance, I imagine.
With steam/hot water radiators, though, I imagine it’s even harder. Can these systems safely be modified to pump cold water?
Or, if they need to add ducts where none currently exist, that seems like it would be unbelievably complex and expensive, if people are going to be living there the whole time. Seems like a real challenge.