The Florida room that's ten degrees off from the rest of the house

The room with its own weather

A Jacksonville ranch with a glassed-in Florida room off the back. The central system was sized for the house as built; the room was added later with a single duct run from the nearest trunk, and in July it’s ten degrees warmer than the kitchen. Or the garage turned gym, or the bonus room over a St. Johns County garage. Every one of those is a ductless call.

Retrofit versus new construction

Retrofit is most of what Cook’s does with mini-splits: adding conditioning to an existing room without tearing into ceilings. A line-set hole through an exterior wall, an outdoor unit on a pad or bracket, a dedicated circuit, and a wall-mounted indoor unit. Done in a day, with no change to the central system.

New construction and whole-home ductless is the other use: a guest house, a small home, a historic building where ductwork would wreck the ceilings, or an owner who wants each room on its own control. Multi-zone systems run several indoor units from one outdoor unit. The design is more involved, and Cook’s treats it as a system design rather than an add-on.

The ductwork realities

Florida rooms, enclosed lanais and garage conversions were almost never in the original duct design. Extending a duct to them steals air from the rooms that were, and the new room is usually poorly insulated, with glass on three sides, so it needs far more cooling per square foot than the house. A mini-split gives the room its own capacity and leaves the central system alone.

Sizing

Ductless units are sized to the room, and the trap is oversizing: a room needs less than most charts suggest once the glass and insulation are accounted for honestly, and an oversized inverter unit short-cycles and leaves the room clammy. Cook’s runs a load calculation on the space, including sun exposure and the hours it’s used, and sizes to it.

What Cook’s installs and maintains

Lennox ductless mini-split heat pumps in single- and multi-zone configurations, wall-mounted as standard with ceiling and floor options. Installed with the line set protected in a cover, a drain routed properly, the charge verified and the system run in both modes. Models and prices appear on your quote. Maintenance and repair cover mini-splits of every brand already on the territory’s walls. Ask for the labor warranty term on the quote. [[CONFIRM WITH JERRY]]