Air Handlers & Fan Coils
Where your air is shaped before it reaches you.
The outdoor unit gets the attention, but the indoor unit does the quiet work. Every breath of conditioned air in your home has passed through it: moved, filtered, cooled or warmed, and dried.
What the indoor unit does
With a heat pump, the indoor unit is called an air handler or fan coil: a cabinet holding a blower, a coil, and often backup electric heat. With a gas furnace, the furnace's blower does the same job, with a cooling coil sitting on top of it.
Either way, it does three things. It moves air through your ducts and filter. It cools or warms that air as it crosses the coil. And in summer, it pulls moisture out of the air and drains it away.
In many Southern California homes the indoor unit lives in an attic, a hall closet or the garage. Where it sits affects how it should be insulated, drained and protected, and we plan for that on every installation.
Variable-speed: the quiet upgrade
Modern variable-speed blower motors use far less electricity than older single-speed motors and adjust their airflow to what your home needs at that moment.
Quieter
Most of the time the blower runs gently, well below full speed.
Cleaner air
A low, continuous fan setting keeps air moving through your filter all day at very little cost.
Better humidity control
Slower airflow across a cold coil removes more moisture, so rooms feel fresher at the same temperature.
Warmer heat
With a heat pump, controlled airflow delivers air that feels warm rather than lukewarm.
A detail few people see
Moisture, mold and the drain pan
When the coil cools your air, moisture condenses on it and drips into a pan beneath. If that pan holds standing water, it becomes a place where mold and mildew can grow, right in the path of the air you breathe.
That is why we favor indoor coils with sloped, fully draining pans that leave nothing behind, and why every maintenance visit includes clearing the condensate line and checking the overflow safety switch that shuts the system down before water can spill into your ceiling or walls.
It is a small detail that rarely gets mentioned, and one of the most important things we do for the health of your home.
Matched to the outdoor unit
The indoor coil and outdoor unit are engineered and tested as a pair. A mismatched coil can stop the system from reaching its rated efficiency and add strain that shortens its life. When we replace a system, we replace both halves together, sized to your home.
Room for better filtration
A standard one-inch filter catches the larger dust, but the indoor unit is also the natural place for a deeper media filter cabinet or an electronic air cleaner. We will check what your system can support without restricting airflow.
Is your indoor unit working as hard as it should?
And as cleanly? Let us take a look.