The first week of May in Lincolnville, when the window units would go back in: a ductless alternative
Early May is when St. Augustine's oldest houses give up on open windows. If the plan is to drag the window units out of the shed again, read this first.
The scenario: a frame house on a narrow lot, early May
A two-story Victorian in Lincolnville, built in the decades after 1866 by people who cooled it with shade, porches and twelve-foot ceilings. There has never been ductwork; there is nowhere to put any without tearing out plaster or giving up the attic. For twenty summers the answer has been window units: three of them, loud, dripping on the porch roof, blocking the sash windows that are the best thing about the house, and running the FPL bill up every July.
The first week of May the dew point climbs into the 70s and stays, and the homeowner is standing in the shed looking at those units.
What we would recommend for that house
A multi-zone ductless heat pump: one slim outdoor unit on the side or rear of the house, screened from the street, feeding a wall head in each bedroom and one in the parlor. Each head has its own thermostat. The line sets run inside painted covers up the exterior wall, or through a closet chase where one exists. The outdoor unit sits on a pad or a wall bracket, above the ground in case Hospital Creek or the bay ever comes calling.
Because this is a National Register district, exterior equipment is subject to preservation review. The pattern of what passes is well established: side elevations, screening, matching paint, no equipment on the street face. We put that into the proposal so the owner is not negotiating it alone.
Installation day, start to finish
Morning: we mount the wall plates where the heads will hang, drill a single three-inch hole behind each one for the refrigerant lines, condensate drain and control wire, and set the outdoor unit. Midday: line sets run and connected, covers installed and painted to match, the condensate routed to a drain or a small pump where gravity will not do. Afternoon: the system is evacuated with a vacuum pump, charged, and every head tested in cooling and heating. A three-head system is done in a day; a five-head house takes two. No ductwork, no attic work, no plaster dust.
Living with it through a St. Augustine summer
Each head has a washable screen that wants rinsing monthly from February through April, when the oaks are dropping pollen, and every couple of months otherwise. Run the heads in dry mode during the soggy, mild weeks of May and October, when the house needs moisture removed more than it needs cooling. Hose the outdoor unit down with fresh water a few times a season if the house is anywhere near the bay or the beach; salt is the one thing that shortens its life. For second-home owners, the app control is worth setting up before you leave in May, so the house never spends a summer at 80 degrees and 70 percent humidity.
Other places we put them
Lighthouse Park cottages around the lighthouse, garage conversions in St. Augustine Shores, the bonus room over a Murabella garage that the central system never reached, condos at Vilano Beach, and the enclosed Florida rooms across Anastasia Island that have their own weather. Wherever ducts are impossible or one room is the whole problem, this is the product.
Ductless questions from St. Augustine's old neighborhoods
Will the preservation board allow a condenser where the street can see it in Lincolnville?
Usually not, and we don’t ask them to. The outdoor unit goes on a side or rear elevation, screened, with the line-set cover painted to match the trim. Exterior work in the National Register districts is subject to review; we draw up the placement so the application is simple.
How many wall heads can one outdoor unit feed in a four-bedroom Victorian?
Multi-zone outdoor units commonly serve three to five heads. A big frame house may be better with two smaller outdoor units than one large one, both for placement and so a single failure never takes down the whole house.
Do the heads keep up with a July afternoon in an uninsulated frame house?
If sized for the real load, yes. We size each head to its room, including the west-facing ones with single-pane sash windows, and we tell you when attic insulation would let us size smaller. A head that is too small for a room is the one ductless complaint we see, and it is a sizing problem, not a product problem.
Can a mini-split handle a Florida room on Anastasia Island by itself?
Yes, and it is the best tool for the job. A sunroom full of glass has its own weather; a dedicated head lets it run hard without dragging the rest of the house along.
Ready to retire the window units?
Free estimates on ductless systems, from the Colonial Quarter to Crescent Beach.