Choosing the best HVAC system for a home in Whitney demands serious thought about the local climate. The town, perched at an elevation of 4,800 feet, swelters in the summer, with average highs in the 90s and low humidity. For most of the year, though, your central air conditioning unit and heat pump (if that's the kind of system you've chosen) really just serve as giant, energy-sucking fans, for which kinds of set-up (per Heat Spring, a website dedicated to educating consumers about energy-efficient home heating and cooling options) "both heat and cool your home," are "kind of reverse-engineered to work efficiently in the cooling mode," and are "constructed to be efficient in an Earth-we're-at-4,800-feet-temperature.
When choosing an HVAC system, it's crucial to consider the size and configuration of your house. If your home is large or has an unusual layout, you may need a more powerful system to get conditioned air to all the rooms and to distribute it evenly throughout your living space. On the other hand, if you have a small house or apartment, a powerful system sized for a much larger space could waste energy and could also lead to uncomfortably rapid cycling. Zoning is another consideration. If your house is divided into several zones that can be conditioned separately, you're going to need a different kind of system than if your house has an open floor plan.
Consider the technological developments in today's HVAC systems. These advanced structures, often half-completed during the time of sale, are accessible enough for the average homeowner to tinker with. However, they're smart enough that they're often incapable of being broken—no matter what sort of handiwork gets done in or on top of them. They're designed not only for efficiency but also for convenience, with Wi-Fi connectivity that allows the average person to control them as if they were working an old-timey radio. And this is to say nothing of the intelligent Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) that was somehow built right into the latest central air conditioner.