Available Solutions for one room in a loft

[JayKay88]

Hey Guys,

I'm looking for a summer cooling solution for my loft. It's a 2400 Sq. ft. condo with, I'd say, 13 ft. ceilings, the walls for the two bedrooms do not go all the way to the top. It costs quite a bit to cool and I was thinking that there would be a better long-term option to keep just the one bedroom cool at night.

A bit on the climate control system: It's a centralized heating and cooling system located in a lofted space, sealed from the rest of the condo, there is a duct that goes though a common area of the condo and into the outside though a wall in the hallway. It's a modern loft, all the ductwork is exposes throughout the condo. There is only one thermostate located in a the living room.

Now I was thinking that it is quite inefficient to cool the whole place when all I want is a frosty bedroom. I was wondering if there are any solutions you guys can give me, any options to explore.

The bedroom falls directly under the lofted space where the main HVAC unit is, I'm pretty sure the association wouldn't allow for another duct to be installed so I'm pretty limited in my options. I was wondering whether a pro would be able to connect a wall-mounted ac unit an use the ducts that are preexisting to expel the exhaust, but that's probably against some kind of code.

Any suggestions, or even just a point to a possible solution to explore would be helpful, I'm definitely not against some further reading.

Thanks,

J.

[skibme]

Look into ductless mini splits. Sanyo,Mitsubishi,Lg to name a few.

[RayD8630]

Definitely look into a Mini-split. But what about a window A/C in the bedroom? Does your bedroom have walls up to the ceiling or are they simply divider type walls?

[luskys a/c]

Mini split for sure. You wont regret it.

[HoneyDo]

Mini-Split gets my vote.

They are available as small as 9000 btu. Economical to operate too.

[RayD8630]

Mini split for sure. You wont regret it.

And if he ever does decide to sell it will his property value up too.

[luskys a/c]

I totally agree Ray and Honey do...I installed a LG model in a loft this summer and he had a window shaker before. He called me a couple of weeks ago just to tell me how satisfied he was with the comfort and Noise level. Interested to see what he saved in power consumption at the end of this season.

[motoguy128]

What kind of insulation do you have. You mgiht be better off spending $$$$ on insulation rather than 2X that amount for a mini-split. You could also look at how the system is balanced and if you could do 2 zones so the bedroom area can be kept cooler at night than the rest of the space.

Although the only good way to insulate cathedral ceilings is spray foam. it might cost less than you think. They may be able to just cut small holes at the peak of hte ceiling and spray it in form there.

[lp1075]

Mini split is going to be your best bet cutting in to duct work would decrees the effect on the rest of your heating/ cooling system seeing it was sized for the house with out the loft and for some mini split systems have a heat option if getting heat in to the loft is a problem as well for you