my ducts are killing me

[Guest guest]

Hi all. The foundation has been poured in my new house, so I am

against the wall with making the most important decision, the

heating

and cooling system. Having been round and round with different

ideas, the latest was putting a thermador de-humidification and

filtration system on to a heat pump- I have realized the obviouse- I

cannot live with ducts. I could not breath when the ductwork came on

in my old house, and I have not been able to use the central air in

my rental either- and the system was just put in last year! I have

de-humidified the crawl space, covered the vents with filters, and

have hepa filters running full blast so I can't even hear, to no

avail- I still can't breath! So I bought a small window unit for the

back room ($95 at Sears) And hide in there to work, eat, sleep.

Plus you have to put in real ducts (not the cheap flexible type) to

be able to clean them . The heat pump moves so much air, it would be

an impossible task to filter it enough so I could breath. I have

decided to go totally ductless- with enerjoy radient heat panels

for heating, and a mini split-duct system for the air conditioning.

I will add suplemental stand alone de-humidifyers if needed. not

having ducts has the added benifit that if there is ever a mold

problem, maybe I can catch it before the ducts spread it to every

corner of the house. An electrician can put in the heat panels, if

one blows, it is easily replaced, and Sears can put in the mini

split ducts- A friend down the road has them as a retrofit in a

house that they couldn't squeeze ducts into- and he is very happy

with them-they hang on the walls near the ceiling and are quieter

than window units. One problem with mold accross the southern US is

the high efficiency Heat pumps that cool before they de-humidify-

thus molding-and in winter -the heat pump does not put out hot air-

so the mold keeps growing in the ducts . I would enjoy hearing from

anyone who has these systems

Thanks,