We have old housing stock that often doesn't have duct work. It's really that simple and window acs are cheap
Replies
Proposal for dems (which was already part of build back better 1.0): federal job guarantee based on a new deal for housing We could spend the next 100 years just installing windows, electric water heaters, and insulation as well as building new houses!
jun 24, 2025, 2:41 pm • 5 0 • view
The inflation reduction act has a ton of energy efficient upgrades (but I really wish someone WOULD replace my gas stove, it stinks)
jun 24, 2025, 4:02 pm • 1 0 • view
Yes, it did! It represented a HUGE climate change investment. The biggest ever. And it's dead as roadkill in the summer... Because it didn't do the primary job of delivering dems the white house again. Time to change course and take FDR style direct action!
jun 24, 2025, 4:04 pm • 0 0 • view
It's really not the grassy knoll. Our buildings are old AF. They haven't been updated since WWII, and it's faster to just buy a window unit rather than wait two to three business centuries for your landlord to put in ducts or even those overhead wall units.
jun 24, 2025, 2:49 pm • 2 0 • view
And in some cases like, incredibly old housing stock. In my 1835 home a previous owner decided to run the central air through the fireplaces and while obviously I can't use the fireplaces now the entire house ended up cooled. Also the whole multiple fireplace thing always makes me sound rich I amn't
jun 24, 2025, 2:32 pm • 9 0 • view
I lived in a house that was built in 1865 and at some point they did put in blown heat so there's some duct work but they only out it on the first floor. There were two upstairs bedrooms that only got warm if you ran the Woodstove in the livingroom
jun 24, 2025, 2:35 pm • 7 0 • view
I lived in a 3 season log cabin (built in ~1910, it was a "vacation home" that got turned into a Regular Home) and that was the same with us. We ducted the woodstove so that it would go near my bedroom and then I think my parents had electric baseboard in theirs. I liked the spinny stove fan though
jun 24, 2025, 2:44 pm • 4 1 • view
Ours is like this - it's a Frankenstein house and God knows what exactly is happening inside it but there's a bit of duct in a few rooms. The problem is it's big enough for Bruce Willis to crawl through, so not exactly energy efficient.
jun 24, 2025, 2:46 pm • 1 0 • view
Ooh, I have a bunch of blocked fireplaces and now I'm wondering if we can possibly get AC through them. Can't imagine how. How is half 1830s half 1890s.
jun 24, 2025, 2:44 pm • 0 0 • view
Had to install well-filtered HVAC in grandma's WW1 era stone house as a health requirement for her and ended up running the ductwork through the few closets that house ever had. Installers had to buy new bits and blades for their equipment. Absolute nightmare. Would've kept window units if we could.
jun 24, 2025, 3:06 pm • 5 0 • view
-pounding fists- mini splits! there are tons of places in the world with this same problem and mini splits were developed basically exclusively to solve it. they are extremely popular in Asian
jun 24, 2025, 3:05 pm • 0 0 • view
And the old wiring. You might have a large Victorian parlor with three outlets. And the windows can present other problems, like being painted shut or inoperative because the sash cords are rotted or opening them scatters lead dust everywhere.
jun 24, 2025, 3:00 pm • 2 0 • view
One issue with this is that these buildings are often not wired to handle multiple ac units. I haven’t tripped the breaker yet this summer. Yet
jun 24, 2025, 5:07 pm • 0 0 • view
You’re never going to guess what just happened, lol. Stupid toaster
jun 24, 2025, 10:15 pm • 0 0 • view
same in chicago retrofitting to central air in old buildings is cost prohibitive
jun 24, 2025, 2:29 pm • 7 0 • view
Yep i live in a building with 120+ units and radiators
jun 24, 2025, 2:32 pm • 5 0 • view
we just bought an old-old house and the quote for central air is $30k because of all the ductwork — so yeah we have portable and window ac units.
jun 24, 2025, 2:34 pm • 5 0 • view
Look at minisplits. We did heads on outside walls. I wanted ceiling but that wasn't an option. Honestly, i don't notice the heads much and appreciate not having loud window units.
jun 24, 2025, 3:12 pm • 5 0 • view
If it was a gut remodel I would but this is in a historic district and it’s 95% original untouched bungalow — would be a visual crime to put minisplits in We have the rolling heat pump mobile units that do a solid 800-1000 sqft w ease. I think I paid $600 ea? And the window units (that work)
jun 24, 2025, 3:38 pm • 6 0 • view
I did think about the risks though on Sundy when I was wedging my ac into my window I'm high enough if it fell i could kill someone.
jun 24, 2025, 2:31 pm • 62 0 • view
I once read the stat that men account for 77% of deaths by "accident and misadventure". And then I thought about watching every man I've ever known install a window AC, and went "Yeah, that checks out."
jun 24, 2025, 3:00 pm • 6 0 • view
The trend of using like a rack under the ac is a good one. My
jun 24, 2025, 3:14 pm • 1 0 • view
Jokes on me though I've finally accepted both my ac's are undersized so I'll be removing it this weekend and replacing it
jun 24, 2025, 2:32 pm • 50 0 • view
The other thing though that isn't talked about enough is like central air conditioning is lovely but forced air heating is awful and if I have to choose between radiator+ window ac or central air with forced heating I'm picking radiator+window ac every time.
jun 24, 2025, 2:39 pm • 91 0 • view
I grew up with forced air heat, and never had issues with it. I think it's doing a bad job of retrofitting it that's the problem, rather than inherent to forced air.
jun 24, 2025, 3:00 pm • 0 0 • view
I too grew with forced air and it was in a home built with it. You're likely less cold sensitive. It's also not just me saying this, there's a bunch of literature in how the body perceives heat that backs me up.
jun 24, 2025, 3:04 pm • 4 0 • view
Forced air gives me nosebleeds. Radiators are much more pleasant!
jun 24, 2025, 3:07 pm • 1 0 • view
Unless your radiators are leaking, the humidity is the same whether the heat is provided by forced air or radiator. Neither removes moisture from the air, both lower relative humidity by heating, increasing the carrying capacity. That being said, its much easier to add a humidifier to forced air.
jun 24, 2025, 4:50 pm • 1 0 • view
It's not the humidity it's the air movement
jun 24, 2025, 5:06 pm • 2 0 • view
Also it's very easy to add humidity in a radiator setting. You put a bowl of water on it
jun 24, 2025, 5:10 pm • 2 0 • view
Oh boy you’ve hit my trigger!! Bought my 1929 Craftsman house in 11/21 after a “remodel”. Oil furnace & radiators torn out, hi speed forced hot air system installed in attic with 2” tubes to distribute. No insulation added. I keep spending $$$ each year to get the heat to stay inside the house. 😕
jun 24, 2025, 4:51 pm • 1 0 • view
same same
jun 24, 2025, 2:40 pm • 1 0 • view
Everyone who thinks I'm talking about heating costs I'm not. I'm talking about thermal comfort with heating systems that use radiant heat you feel warmer at the lower temperatures than you do with forced air heating systems www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...
jun 24, 2025, 5:01 pm • 45 1 • view
Radiant heat is also less drying, so your skin doesn’t feel quite as terrible in winter. I miss radiators.
jun 24, 2025, 5:02 pm • 3 0 • view
If you've never noticed lucky you. But I personally only feel warm in forced air systems when the air is actually blowing. Once temperature is reached and they stop blowing i get cold. With a radiator I'm warm all day even when the radiator is done getting to temp
jun 24, 2025, 5:05 pm • 28 0 • view
The hours of NH winters I spent standing on the forced air grate to be warm. My mom and I would literally fight over the kitchen grate…
jun 24, 2025, 5:21 pm • 2 0 • view
I'm not arguing against heat pumps! I'm just going to write a million dollar screenplay, buy a tiny cottage in nyc and put in radiant floors with an electric boiler.
jun 24, 2025, 5:11 pm • 31 0 • view
Radiant floor heating, esp in bathrooms, is big life goals.
jun 24, 2025, 5:18 pm • 4 0 • view
My friend had it in turkey and Austria and it's been in my wish list ever since
jun 24, 2025, 5:25 pm • 1 0 • view
I stayed at an Airbnb with it for one night in winter.
jun 24, 2025, 5:37 pm • 1 0 • view
::opens chat gpt::
jun 24, 2025, 5:15 pm • 9 0 • view
I kid! I kid!
jun 24, 2025, 5:15 pm • 15 0 • view
🤣 You could become an air-to-water heat pump influencer in your nyc tiny house.
jun 24, 2025, 5:57 pm • 1 0 • view
I wonder if it's from the radiator itself retaining a significant amount of heat and continuing to warm the room? I never thought of that before, but radiators are my favorite. Useful for drying things, and letting cats sit at windows too :)
jun 24, 2025, 5:12 pm • 3 0 • view
Yup just like the sun
jun 24, 2025, 5:14 pm • 1 0 • view
It's not just that: radiant surfaces directly warm our bodies *and* warm the air, while forced air only warms the air, while losing heat to surfaces (even in a perfectly insulated house, the walls will be well below body temp, which means they pull heat from your body as well as the air).
jun 24, 2025, 7:21 pm • 2 0 • view
This is why big, stone spaces (like in museums or churches) are so cool in the summer: you're surrounded by stone that is way below body temp and stays there except in very rare conditions (less rare all the time, alas).
jun 24, 2025, 7:21 pm • 2 0 • view
Growing up in New England I just learned to bundle up in the winter and use lap blankets. Works well for forced air heating, but my PNW spouse who had overpowered in-floor heat thinks “comfortable” in winter is 73, so I hardly need even socks.
jun 24, 2025, 5:11 pm • 1 0 • view
He's right and I grew up in nyc
jun 24, 2025, 5:12 pm • 1 0 • view
My frugal father is rolling in his grave every time I touch the thermostat
jun 24, 2025, 5:13 pm • 1 0 • view
When I was a kid my parents used to threaten to lock the thermostat because if I was left alone I'd put it to 90. That was my glory.
jun 24, 2025, 5:14 pm • 1 0 • view
My dad grew up poor, and was very insistent about not wasting money on heat. He also grew up without AC, and by God he was going to enjoy the hell out of that as an adult. Later we realized he was just always running hot.
jun 24, 2025, 5:16 pm • 1 0 • view
Yeah, i can tell when our forced air heat has kicked on by my comfort level alone (otherwise it's very quiet and i can almost never hear it). I have Raynaud's and am REAL sensitive to keeping myself at a good temp in winter. I miss our radiator co-op. I was NEVER cold when we lived there.
jun 24, 2025, 5:12 pm • 2 0 • view
Occasionally if I've been sitting for hours I'll get chilly and think huh that's strange and within a minute or two the radiators will kick on. That's how good they are at keeping bodies warm.
jun 24, 2025, 5:13 pm • 2 0 • view
Bless you for sharing this. I learned this as part of my architecture education 30mumble years ago, it's useful to understand, and it's incredible that people try to talk authoritatively about these matters without seeming to know it.
jun 24, 2025, 7:16 pm • 0 0 • view
“some heat is hotter” I gotcha ;)
jun 24, 2025, 5:05 pm • 0 0 • view
It's true though! 😭
jun 24, 2025, 5:07 pm • 1 0 • view
I’ve lived in LA for 20 years so may have forgotten but… what’s bad about forced air heating?
jun 24, 2025, 2:40 pm • 2 0 • view
It dries you out and you're only really warm when the air is blowing. The best analogy i can think of is think how 60f feels warm in the sun but 60f in the shade feels cool. Forced air is 60f in the shade. Radiators or even better radiant floors are 60f in the sun
jun 24, 2025, 2:43 pm • 10 0 • view
Exactly!! Plus with radiators you can warm your pajamas and socks before you go to bed then turn the heat way down, lol. I imagine radiant floors to be the best but haven’t lived with it yet.
jun 24, 2025, 3:22 pm • 3 0 • view
I grew up in a house with a forced air system. It’s inefficient and doesn’t heat well. Radiator systems are much better at heating, more efficient and just better overall
jun 24, 2025, 2:49 pm • 3 0 • view
BTUs are BTUs. If the heat’s getting into the house it’s just as efficient.
jun 24, 2025, 3:27 pm • 0 0 • view
Yeah this was the root of my question. I get the air thing. May as well not blow dust in/around if you don’t have to, but heat is heat, and R-value is R-value
jun 24, 2025, 3:38 pm • 1 0 • view
This this is false
jun 24, 2025, 4:57 pm • 1 0 • view
That article has nothing to do with radiators. It’s about the sun warming up the various heat sinks in a house. But also you can generally insulate your way out of this mess as well.
jun 24, 2025, 8:05 pm • 1 0 • view
The house itself absorbs heat (and cold). The walls and other surfaces, plus the furniture and everything else. It takes time for those things to adjust.
jun 24, 2025, 9:14 pm • 0 0 • view
Okay so my 1990s build well insulated house with forced air heating would feel warmer than an older brick building with radiators because the walls are less cold.
jun 24, 2025, 5:12 pm • 1 0 • view
This was based on my personal experience with both systems over many years
jun 24, 2025, 3:35 pm • 0 0 • view
My forced air heat kept my house cozy and warm when it hit -7 in February so it seems to be working just fine.
jun 24, 2025, 3:40 pm • 0 0 • view
Thank your insulation
jun 24, 2025, 3:41 pm • 4 0 • view
we have radiators and plan to add a mini-split...got a quote just after buying our house but the carpenter ants told us we had a different worry first 😬 & i was hoping a harris presidency would lead to expanded rebates/incentives 😭 might get more quotes this fall and see how scary they’ve gotten!
jun 24, 2025, 5:35 pm • 1 0 • view
we had a house in DC that had been built in the 20s, we had central air installed via some system with extremely narrow pipes, sounded like the house was about to take off half the year, but very effective. We kept the radiators for heat, it was a pretty ideal solution.
jun 24, 2025, 2:43 pm • 5 0 • view
My condo in Boston had central air and radiators and it was glorious.
jun 24, 2025, 2:46 pm • 3 0 • view
This is what we do in DC in our 99-year-old house as well…
jun 24, 2025, 2:55 pm • 1 0 • view
The Gradient window heat pump / a/cs are real game changers. Loved seeing the nycha pilot results!
jun 24, 2025, 2:44 pm • 15 0 • view
if I lived in an NYC apartment I’d be so tempted to try to get one
jun 24, 2025, 2:55 pm • 3 0 • view
I don't think they're for consumer sale
jun 24, 2025, 3:02 pm • 0 0 • view
amazing
jun 24, 2025, 3:45 pm • 1 0 • view
Jesse Jenkins has referred to his in home Gradient units on podcasts a couple times.
jun 24, 2025, 3:47 pm • 1 0 • view
Option b is only for single unit home dwellers not for apartment dwellers. I can't install a unit in my apartment only my building can
jun 24, 2025, 3:47 pm • 5 0 • view
because of your building rules? wondering if this would work for coop owners or if they’d have to go to their board
jun 24, 2025, 3:48 pm • 1 0 • view
No it's gradients own language. Idk why.
jun 24, 2025, 3:49 pm • 1 0 • view
In general I can tell you that co-op owners would have to go via their board for installation and operation here. :)
jun 24, 2025, 3:51 pm • 2 0 • view
Ah important distinction, thank you.
jun 24, 2025, 3:48 pm • 3 0 • view
Any idea on single unit price?
jun 25, 2025, 1:30 pm • 0 0 • view
bsky.app/profile/jess...
jun 25, 2025, 1:32 pm • 3 0 • view
Oof, though if they eventually hit half that I'm in Thanks!
jun 25, 2025, 1:35 pm • 2 0 • view
Are they really available to buy for everyone? When I go there it shows me the screen you showed, then I have to give them my name and email and it says someone will contact me. Has anyone bought one retail from them?
jun 25, 2025, 6:50 pm • 1 0 • view
So some replies came back on this that they are not currently selling to individuals. It seems the supply is all currently going to fulfill their commitments to NYCHA
jun 25, 2025, 6:51 pm • 2 0 • view
bet that’ll shift at some point
jun 25, 2025, 8:33 pm • 1 0 • view
A friend was partly behind that
jun 24, 2025, 2:45 pm • 7 0 • view
Same
jun 24, 2025, 2:42 pm • 1 0 • view
I had a heat pump in last apt, 3 actually. It was great. Now we are on first floor of same building and its almost half the cost of rent just for utilities in winter and summer
jun 24, 2025, 5:00 pm • 0 0 • view
I didn't say a peep about heat pumps. Heat pumps aren't the only forced air systems and I'm talking about thermal comfort www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...
jun 24, 2025, 5:02 pm • 1 0 • view
Have you ever lived in a split level? Let me tell you about the absolutely wild range of temperatures throughout my house lol.
jun 24, 2025, 5:06 pm • 2 0 • view
Lol I haven't!
jun 24, 2025, 5:27 pm • 1 0 • view
Ooof it’s rough. Central air is a lifesaver here
jun 24, 2025, 6:28 pm • 0 0 • view
The house I grew up in has radiators, and I wish it were feasible to install them in my current house. Just the absolute best heat!! And the clanking is one of my favorite sounds.
jun 24, 2025, 5:32 pm • 0 0 • view
Heat pumps are another nice option! They do use air to move the heat (at least most heat pumps currently available), but since they can ramp down to a low level they should be able to run at a low level for long periods of time, allowing surface temperatures to warm up and creating a more even heat.
jun 24, 2025, 2:57 pm • 4 0 • view
100%, check these out. Vastly superior to AC and they also do heat!
jun 24, 2025, 3:47 pm • 0 0 • view
I think it depends on how cold it gets where you live as well. I'm in the SF east bay. It gets chilly in the winter but it almost never drops below freezing. We had a gas furnace and then switched over to a heatpump last year. It can keep the house in the high 70s/low 80s fine.
jun 24, 2025, 4:08 pm • 0 0 • view
Here in NE Ohio we get PLENTY of winter nights below 0C, and often below 0F. I hate how it dries the air, but I love how it keeps this drafty old house *warm.*
jun 24, 2025, 4:18 pm • 0 0 • view
This isn't what I'm talking about www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...
jun 24, 2025, 4:59 pm • 0 0 • view
One of the benefits of a newer system (which would probably work with a radiator as well) is that I can schedule things much easier. So I can drop the temperature at night and then 30 minutes before I wake up I have heater bring up the temperature a bit. My old setup had this but it was so tedious.
jun 24, 2025, 4:22 pm • 1 0 • view
Yeah, we took out our oil boiler/radiator system (oil boiler was in the ground and very aged out), and installed heat pumps. They're great for lots of reasons, the a/c is a huge relief, I miss our radiators.
jun 24, 2025, 2:52 pm • 3 0 • view
I have experience with both central air and window units and the central air is sooooo much quieter it’s unbelievable. That’s enough to make the decision obvious for me at least.
jun 24, 2025, 3:41 pm • 1 0 • view
I use ac maybe two months out of the year. Heating season is 8 months long. I'm preferencing the system i use the most. Also inverter tech has made window acs much much quieter.
jun 24, 2025, 5:30 pm • 1 0 • view
Yess, yes, oh my lord, yes!
jun 24, 2025, 3:46 pm • 0 0 • view
They have these neat strappy contraptions to make mounting window AC units safer! They look like a bondage kit for it but they look like they work great for not losing it out the window. If I ever replace ours (which I did drop out the window when I first installed it) I'm getting one.
jun 24, 2025, 3:34 pm • 1 0 • view
I lost my grip and dropped an AC out a third story window once. Thank god it was into an alley. The entire ground shook and people in the building next door literally came to their windows to see what the sound was.
jun 24, 2025, 2:42 pm • 24 0 • view
I lost grip on my 1st-story-above street and someone ended up catching it. And when I moved into a 39th floor apartment years later the previous tenant couldn’t understand why I was so uptight about not having one on the sill. I went with one of those standing in-room ones.
jun 24, 2025, 2:51 pm • 6 0 • view
Mine on St. Mark’s didn’t all the way fall, the dude who caught it saw what was happening and came to the window.
jun 24, 2025, 2:53 pm • 1 0 • view
Omg! Omg! Ive often wonder if it's ever happened. You're the one! I'm glad it's just a good story and that no one was injured
jun 24, 2025, 2:48 pm • 16 0 • view
It was a pretty expensive slip! I also instinctively grabbed for the chord?? Like that was gonna do anything other then take me out the window with it?? This is why NYC requires AC support brackets LOL.
jun 24, 2025, 2:53 pm • 11 0 • view
Oh here I'm learning in actually a criminal 😩
jun 24, 2025, 5:22 pm • 3 0 • view
Do you have a super? I’m pretty sure your landlord is required to install one for you.
jun 24, 2025, 5:29 pm • 4 2 • view
I have a super ill ask. But after the heatwave. The window its in has a problem anyway which is it dislikes staying open and I'm replacing it anyway.
jun 24, 2025, 5:33 pm • 3 1 • view
I, too, have dropped one out the window As did one of my roommates once upon a time It’s a good requirement!
jun 24, 2025, 6:33 pm • 2 0 • view
We also had a near miss. Old roommate who never screwed hers into the frame had it fall out. Luckily it was the middle of the night and her window faced an interior courtyard that was only used by maintenance staff. It was confusing to hear it from both down the hall and out the kitchen window.
jun 24, 2025, 2:52 pm • 4 0 • view
To think we grew up on cartoons of anvils and safes falling out of the sky—nah, it’s air conditioners!
jun 24, 2025, 2:54 pm • 6 0 • view
I have never understood why they don’t have handles They’re heavy They’re awkward They’re sharp Whyyyyyyy
jun 24, 2025, 5:26 pm • 2 0 • view
A support bracket and industrial Velcro strips removed that worry for me. (The bracket alone was too slick.)
jun 24, 2025, 5:25 pm • 1 0 • view
Ductless heat pumps . Zone heat +AC. Work in cold climates.
jun 24, 2025, 4:22 pm • 0 0 • view
I’m in Toronto. We installed AC in our two story, ductless, 100 yo house a few years back. The blower unit is in a 2nd floor hall closet. The new ductwork goes into the attic, then to ceiling vents in each bedroom. Two ducts, to the ground floor ceiling, were hidden in 2nd floor closets.
jun 24, 2025, 5:54 pm • 0 0 • view
This assumes attic
jun 25, 2025, 1:45 pm • 1 0 • view
Yes
jun 27, 2025, 9:47 pm • 0 0 • view
MA is the same way. Sooo many rental properties here are very old converted housing stock, and for so many years you *could* just get by on a window AC before we started regularly having record breaking heat once a week
jun 24, 2025, 2:56 pm • 3 0 • view
We had to do some work on our house when we moved in and someone said "Oh, you should put in central air". I choose to believe they didn't know that would have meant ripping parts of every room in a 1925 house down to the studs.
jun 24, 2025, 2:33 pm • 26 0 • view
Attic based systems with 2” distribution tubes are not that invasive to install and does work effectively. It’s the heat part that does not work well with that configuration.
jun 24, 2025, 4:53 pm • 1 0 • view
This assumes you have an attic. I've never lived in a house with one
jun 24, 2025, 7:38 pm • 2 0 • view
True. This is the first house I’ve had with one.
jun 24, 2025, 7:42 pm • 1 0 • view
Like, sorry, the plaster & lathe and horsehair insulation aren’t gonna give way for this.
jun 24, 2025, 2:34 pm • 19 0 • view
It hadn't stood for 75 years to give up that easily.
jun 24, 2025, 2:36 pm • 13 0 • view
Much like New England herself, stubbornly in it for the long haul.
jun 24, 2025, 2:36 pm • 12 0 • view
I also have lathe and plaster in my place except for a handful of interior walls and yeah it's...fun
jun 24, 2025, 2:38 pm • 10 0 • view
Ours is metal lathe and good fucking luck running duct behind these walls.
jun 24, 2025, 2:41 pm • 4 0 • view
"If I drill this hole for an anchor will I actually create a 3-inch crater" roulette.
jun 24, 2025, 2:42 pm • 12 0 • view
like the one behind our new thermostat where the old thermostat used to be!
jun 24, 2025, 5:43 pm • 2 0 • view
You're picking up what I'm putting down.
jun 24, 2025, 6:46 pm • 2 0 • view
No drilling ever. I found i can use nails with a picture hanging system for relatively lightweight things i don't want to risk a command hook and a couple of things I've screwed directly in the wall again not heavy no anchors everything else is command hook
jun 24, 2025, 2:50 pm • 4 0 • view
I have a curtain rod I’ve been putting off hanging for literal years because drilling a hole in that horsehair plaster is a project straight out of Shawshank Redemption
jun 24, 2025, 2:58 pm • 6 0 • view
Great idea! Next time I'll just use a sharpened spoon so I know with greater certainty how much damage I'll do. 🤣
jun 24, 2025, 3:11 pm • 3 0 • view
And I see the evidence in your avi that you know from plaster and lathe and how to approach it! 😀
jun 24, 2025, 3:12 pm • 2 0 • view
I’m similarly dreading a curtain rod rehang (above the molding) that fell out of the wall when some jackasses were doing construction on the building and it is soooo intimidating
jun 24, 2025, 3:56 pm • 2 0 • view
*by molding I mean the picture rail
jun 24, 2025, 3:56 pm • 3 0 • view
I think there are 4 different kinds (i.e., materials) of walls in my apartment. Building was built in 1907 and has been reconfigured many times since then. Every time I mount anything anywhere, it's a little adventure.
jun 24, 2025, 3:01 pm • 3 0 • view
There’s a term for this: Remuddeling
jun 24, 2025, 4:11 pm • 3 0 • view
Mine was built in 1900 and the solution to this at the time was picture hangers, a strip that looks like decorative molding but has a groove in the back for hardware to hang a framed object. It works about as well in the 21st century as it did in the 19th century
jun 24, 2025, 4:04 pm • 2 0 • view
We put in minisplits 6years ago in our 1929, hot water radiator house. There's one room we couldn't fit a head and some pipes on the walls but otherwise really nice.
jun 24, 2025, 3:10 pm • 0 0 • view
Sure but they're still more expensive than window acs.
jun 24, 2025, 3:13 pm • 2 0 • view
True.
jun 24, 2025, 3:13 pm • 1 0 • view
My parents installed them too and they love them but as a renter who has to pay the electric bill i still prefer window ac because I'm not tied to the cheapest least efficient model the landlord could get away with installing while calling it an amenity.
jun 24, 2025, 3:15 pm • 6 0 • view
My landlord "offered" to install them in our apartment. Was going to increase our rent to pay for them, on top of the expected annual increase. Easily more than the energy savings. Would be one thing to make the investment if we owned the place, but to pay for our landlord to do it? No way.
jun 24, 2025, 7:11 pm • 0 0 • view
Yeah lots of things suck about owning but being in control of heat/ac is good.
jun 24, 2025, 3:19 pm • 2 0 • view
Can I put in a word for mini-splits? All the machinery is outdoors. They just make a few small holes that are covered by the registers.
jun 24, 2025, 2:47 pm • 5 0 • view
I put one in and it’s exceptional (in terms of performance and cost) for AC. It isn’t doing as well for heat.
jun 24, 2025, 4:57 pm • 1 0 • view
Agree, we kept our furnace for days below 30.
jun 24, 2025, 5:12 pm • 1 0 • view
I’ve got a weird mix. My Bosch heat pump creates heat down to -4F but my house HAD an oil furnace & radiators that flippers removed in favor of high velocity forced hot air that’s crap because of no ducts but 2” tubes. Heat from above is useless. Had to get a pellet stove and put it in the basement.
jun 24, 2025, 5:16 pm • 0 0 • view
Ugh, flippers!
jun 24, 2025, 5:17 pm • 1 0 • view
Not to mention they are vastly more energy efficient. I saw a marked drop in winter heating bills after installing a couple in my home.
jun 24, 2025, 2:57 pm • 2 0 • view
I was living in NYC for a few months (my ex had temp work there) and I loved it, until my 14 mo and I got a resp. virus and radiator heat came on at the same time. I took my baby home early bc that combination was sooo miserable idk why but UGH!
jun 24, 2025, 3:02 pm • 0 0 • view
Home is Raleigh area, where I’ve had heat pump/central AC everywhere I’ve lived my whole 47 years of life. Even ratty college apts! I never realized how nice that was for air quality and comfort until traveling out of state, country.
jun 24, 2025, 3:05 pm • 0 0 • view
NYC radiator buildings are designed so the heat is too hot and you have to open the window to regulate the temperature, it was a purposeful design after the Spanish Flu killed so many people who stayed indoors, with windows closed, for the heat. Forces you to have air flow.
jun 24, 2025, 4:06 pm • 1 0 • view
In CO in the 90s we didn't have AC, only central heat. There were a few really hot days, but we had ceiling fans for those. My dad retired in 2002 and installed AC that year because he couldn't hang in the summer. 😒 Now I think it's pretty much non-negotiable there thanks to climate change.
jun 24, 2025, 5:15 pm • 1 0 • view
Also look, central air is one big thing, but can we talk about the cloth-covered wiring when these houses were built (or converted from gas to electric) that adds a fire risk *and* how there’s no sprinkler systems (this is what really concerns me)
jun 24, 2025, 4:00 pm • 1 0 • view
Living in a 1958 cottage in steamy Maryland, no central air for first time in over 20 years. And, ya know what? A few strategically place window units and it's FINE. And if you're not in that room, you can turn it off. I may never go back. If I could, I'd put mini-splits in. Playing Lotto meanwhile.
jun 24, 2025, 5:20 pm • 2 0 • view
It’s deeply prohibitively expensive even if you don’t mind ripping up your walls/floor. We were given a price of 30K for a 2000sq ft house. Gotta window unit it up instead.
jun 24, 2025, 5:15 pm • 2 0 • view
In a lot of NYC buildings from the 60s on there are PTACs that are fine for heat but not so great for AC. And they are $2K+ and usually only last a few years before an expensive condenser repair or replacement. Window ACs not allowed.
jun 24, 2025, 5:26 pm • 2 0 • view
Are ptacs even still a thing like outside of that era because whenever I raise them people look at me confused.
jun 25, 2025, 1:47 pm • 0 0 • view
In most buildings (like mine) that have them, window ACs are not allowed. It’s a weird niche and not a lot of work going on for better alternatives that take air through the wall openings.
jun 25, 2025, 2:13 pm • 0 0 • view
Mini-splits are a great option too these days. Obviously not for renters, but for owners (and landlords if we force them)
jun 24, 2025, 3:50 pm • 0 0 • view
My 1912 home is made of rock and plaster. Even doing split ACs will be a huge demo project. Window ACs are getting more efficient and quieter too
jun 24, 2025, 3:29 pm • 6 0 • view
📌
jun 24, 2025, 6:16 pm • 0 0 • view
i have an old drafty house and tbh window units are actually more efficient than trying to cool all of it all the time. we can just cool where we need it
jun 24, 2025, 2:53 pm • 3 0 • view
For no reason whatsoever I am again encouraging everyone to familiarize themselves with "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" by Tufte.
jun 24, 2025, 2:48 pm • 2 0 • view
In SF, it’s currently 53 degrees. My space heater is getting a work out this time of year. Old house, no insulation. There are like two weeks in September that warrant a fan.
jun 24, 2025, 2:51 pm • 1 0 • view
A thread that makes my HVAC heart sing (because it's all true)
jun 24, 2025, 5:44 pm • 0 0 • view
What is this “duct work” you speak of? Sincerely, England
jun 24, 2025, 5:14 pm • 7 0 • view
PS I know what duct work is. It’s just insane to expect it everywhere
jun 24, 2025, 5:14 pm • 6 0 • view
To be fair, it sucks and isn't actually a great way to distribute cooling,...
jun 24, 2025, 5:26 pm • 1 0 • view
Is there "a great way" at all?
jun 24, 2025, 6:29 pm • 0 0 • view
The architecture of mini-split systems is pretty close to optimal. You're transporting the energy using a compressed fluid in a closed loop and then doing your heat transfer right next to the place where the work needs to be done rather than trying to push cool air around at atmospheric pressures.
jun 24, 2025, 6:34 pm • 2 0 • view
Well said, thanks
jun 24, 2025, 6:49 pm • 1 0 • view
How anyone with radiators for heat is supposed to use them for cooling is beyond me
jun 24, 2025, 6:59 pm • 0 0 • view
I don't understand the link between mini-splits or heat pumps and radiator systems...
jun 24, 2025, 8:15 pm • 0 0 • view
In large, commercial buildings, you tend to have hot water & chilled water loops that are then used by local units to temper the ventilation air coming through ducts. There are many variations, but the big factor is that public spaces need lots of ventilation air, so you're stuck with ductwork.
jun 24, 2025, 7:29 pm • 0 0 • view
Houses really aren't: either they're older & fairly leaky* or newer, fairly tight, and just need small heat/air exchangers. Conditioning houses with central air is stupid & wasteful, even w/ heat pumps. *not that this is ideal, but the fact is that it means you don't need ducts moving lots of cfm
jun 24, 2025, 7:29 pm • 1 0 • view
Where I live heat pumps don’t cool, they only heat
jun 24, 2025, 7:35 pm • 1 0 • view
Which is wild, since the design difference is basically a reversing valve - and local expectations. Of course, I have been in plenty of houses with a separate furnace and air conditioner b/c the AC unit lacks the same valve, so...
jun 24, 2025, 7:47 pm • 2 0 • view
I guess early versions had issues with providing adequate heat at low exterior temperatures, but it just strikes me as an oversight that heat pumps were not popular in areas that have hot summers and mild winters. Its been the perfect application for a long time.
jun 24, 2025, 8:03 pm • 2 0 • view
Are people commonly plumbing the heat pump into pre-existing radiators from a boiler system? Sorry if I'm overthinking this.
jun 24, 2025, 8:05 pm • 0 0 • view
Typical heat pumps (the mini-split kind) provide conditioned room air; you need a heat pump "boiler" to work with (hot water) radiators. So basically, a ducted heat pump can heat & cool, but a minisplit does nothing for radiators. Dunno if heat pumps work w/ high velo ducts.
jun 24, 2025, 9:12 pm • 1 0 • view
But on the upside, it harbors dust & microbes and is incredibly hard to clean.
jun 24, 2025, 7:23 pm • 1 0 • view
We're only talking about the us though. Not "everywhere"
jun 24, 2025, 7:37 pm • 0 0 • view