An ageing central air unit usually shows it before it quits
The common signs are warm air from the registers on a hot afternoon, a unit that starts and stops every few minutes, ice on the copper line at the outdoor unit, and a breaker that trips when the compressor kicks in. A unit that needs refrigerant added every summer has a leak, and topping it up only buys a season.
Check the simple things first. Change the furnace filter, make sure the thermostat is set to cool, and rinse grass and cottonwood fluff off the outdoor coil with a garden hose. If it still will not cool, it is a repair call first. When the fault is a failed compressor or a leaking coil on an older unit, replacement is often the better spend. The guide on how long a central air conditioner lasts explains where that line usually falls.
Many village homes have ducts that were never built for cooling
Most of Norwood's houses are older than they look from the street. In the 2016 Census, 235 of the 560 occupied homes in the village were built in 1960 or before, and another 165 from 1961 to 1980. The oldest, on the lots that grew from Keeler's Mill, were first heated with wood or coal and converted later.
In those houses the ductwork was usually added after the fact. It is often undersized, poorly sealed, and short on returns upstairs. Cooling needs more airflow than heating, so a new air conditioner pushed through those ducts runs loud, freezes its coil and leaves the second floor hot.
The technician measures the ducts and checks the return air before suggesting central air. Sometimes sealing joints or adding a return is enough. Sometimes the ducts cannot carry it at all. Old wrap on ducts or pipes can contain asbestos; if it is found, the technician stops and tells you before anything is disturbed.
Ductless systems cool the rooms the ducts never reached
Where the ducts cannot do the job, a ductless system is the usual answer. One outdoor unit feeds one or more wall heads through a small line set that runs through a hole in the wall. No new ductwork goes through the walls or ceilings.
This suits the older village houses with hot upstairs bedrooms, additions that were never ducted, and homes heated with hot water or baseboard. Most ductless units are heat pumps, so they also heat in spring and fall. If you want them to carry more of the winter load, read about heat pumps and the grants and rebates that may apply.
Newer Norwood Park homes need the system matched, not oversized
The newer homes off Albine Street, including Norwood Park Phase 4, are tightly built, with high-efficiency furnaces or heat pumps, small duct runs and ventilation units that bring in fresh air. Problems here rarely come from worn parts. They come from equipment that was sized wrong or never balanced.
An oversized air conditioner in a tight house cools the air fast and shuts off before it pulls out the humidity, so the house feels cold and damp. The technician sizes from the house itself, matches the indoor coil to the furnace blower, and balances the airflow so each room gets its share. A ventilation unit with clogged filters is checked too, since it affects how the house feels in summer.
How an installation is done
It starts with a visit. The technician measures the house, looks at windows, insulation and which rooms run hot, and works out the cooling load room by room. The ducts, the furnace blower and the electrical panel are checked. You get a written price for central air, ductless, or both where it makes sense.
On install day the indoor coil goes on top of the furnace, the outdoor unit goes on a level pad or wall bracket, and a dedicated circuit is run from the panel. Refrigerant lines are pressure-tested for leaks and vacuumed out before the system is charged. The condensate drain from the coil is run to a floor drain or a pump.
Placement matters through the winter as well. The Peterborough station averages 151.2 cm of snow a year, with depths up to 71 cm in March. The outdoor unit is set where drifts and roof run-off will not bury it, and kept clear of the furnace's side-wall intake and exhaust pipes.
Before leaving, the technician runs the system, checks the temperature across the coil and the airflow at the registers, and shows you the filter and the thermostat. Work is performed by 313A refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics. For what moves the number up or down, see what decides the price of new central air.
A few things to know before the quote visit
Note which rooms are hottest and when. Find the age on the furnace label; if the furnace is near the end of its life, it may make sense to replace both together, and the furnace replacement page covers that. Check whether the electrical panel has open spaces. Then ask for a quote or get in touch.