Our team at Weiss-Johnson has proudly served neighbourhoods in Edmonton for nearly 50 years, and in that time, our city’s housing has only continued to grow and develop. Today, there are almost 400 distinct neighbourhoods in Edmonton, with some houses dating back to the late 1800s. While older homes have a lot of charm, they can also present challenges when it comes to their HVAC setup.
Do you struggle to maintain consistent heating and cooling in your home? Do you deal with restricted airflow? The size, age, and quality of your ductwork and furnace can significantly impact the efficiency of your heating system. Below, we’ll discuss a few common pitfalls of these systems in older homes and how our team at Weiss Johnson can bring your residential HVAC in Edmonton up to 2026 standards.
Old Edmonton Neighbourhood, Old Home Problems
Our well-maintained neighbourhoods boast timeless architecture and add a great deal of character to our city, but they weren’t designed to accommodate modern heating and cooling systems.
Many older homes feature outdated and inefficient ductwork, furnaces, and boilers, which make it challenging to maintain comfortable temperatures and indoor air quality.
Neighbourhoods like Kinnaird have been on our municipal map since the early 1930s (while many of the individual houses date back much further).
These pre-WWII homes often feature inefficiencies like a lack of zoning, outdated insulation, and drafty windows and doors, which result in energy waste and significant heat loss.
Even more recent houses built in the ‘70s and ‘80s feature combustion air outlets that were piped into the basement that dumped cold, outside air into the mechanical room so that your furnace and hot water tank could burn and operate properly. This can create a challenge for homeowners in areas like Castle Downs to maintain consistent heating in their homes.
Overall, if your home’s HVAC system hasn’t been replaced or retrofitted in two, three, or more decades, it’s likely not up to modern standards for energy efficiency, comfort, and safety.
How to Address Furnace & Ductwork Issues in Century Homes
If your Edmonton home was built in the early to mid-20th century, your HVAC system may need an upgrade. Here are a few common issues that century homes share, and how they can be improved by a skilled HVAC technician.
Bad indoor air quality: If your home’s air is uncomfortable to breathe in or triggers respiratory flare-ups, this can be due to outdated insulation, undersized ductwork, or a lack of filtration in the HVAC system.
Undersized or ductwork: Many old houses feature ducts that are too small for modern central air systems to circulate hot and cold air properly. How many homes out there have rooms that are much colder than others?
Systems that are based on old technology: Through the years, there have been many ways of thinking as to how to best heat a home. Old gravity furnaces had heat rising and delivered to the inside walls of the home and cold air floor grates around the exterior of the home pulling cold air from the outside walls. HVAC systems for the last 40 plus years have the heat being delivered to your outside walls under windows and cold air returns located on inside walls. Many homes have heat being ran through metal pipes that ran under the basement concrete that have since deteriorated from moisture over time.
Our team at Weiss-Johnson will assess your current system to determine the best course of action, including resizing and fabricating new ductwork, installing high-quality air filters, and offering more modern HVAC options for enhanced temperature regulation.
Limited space: Many older homes without lowered ceilings are unable to accommodate ductwork, which can cause your HVAC retrofit to skyrocket in price to add construction work on top of ducting and furnace installation.
Rather than having your ductwork completely redone, your home may be better suited to a boiler with radiant floor heating, or a combination of a boiler and a ductless mini-split heat pump. Our techs at Weiss-Johnson can help you find a unit that works within your home’s layout.
High energy bills: Inefficient HVAC systems can cause your home’s energy bills to skyrocket. As equipment ages, it must work harder to heat and cool your home, consuming more energy in the process.
At Weiss-Johnson, we collaborate with the industry’s leading brands to offer furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, and boilers that meet the latest energy efficiency standards. Our furnaces from brands like Trane, Goodman, and Daikin maintain excellent AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) ratings for enhanced energy and cost savings.
Partner with Weiss-Johnson for Residential HVAC in Edmonton
If your home’s HVAC system needs an upgrade, you can count on the expert work from our team at Weiss-Johnson. We have been serving neighborhoods throughout Edmonton since 1977 and, in that time, have helped thousands of homeowners retrofit their HVAC systems to meet modern standards for efficiency, safety, and personal comfort. From Highlands to Old Strathcona, we’re here to help our community get the most out of their charming, timeless homes.
Contact us today to learn more about our retrofitting and residential HVAC services.
