The HVAC industry is rapidly pursuing innovation. For homeowners, it can be hard to keep up with some of the top trends in the business. However, folks who are installing, upgrading or even repairing HVAC systems in their homes can keep up by studying several recent trends. We encourage all residents of Anaheim, CA and the Orange County region to look at these seven HVAC trends if they’re planning work in 2025.
1. Ductless Mini-Split AC Systems
A ductless mini-split system avoids the traditional HVAC model of air conditioning that relies on air ducts that go from a central system into a series of ducts. Using a ductless mini-split system tends to be more efficient because you can better target specific rooms with AC. Also, multiple temperature controls allow you to set the system on a per-room basis. If you want a cooler bedroom while you sleep than someone else in your house would prefer, ductless mini-split solutions make that possible. You also have reduced air quality concerns because there aren’t ducts that collect hundreds of feet of dust.
Ductless mini-split systems are also great for retrofitting many types of buildings. Especially if a building doesn’t already have ducts, such as you might see in a small vacation house, installing a mini-split system makes adding AC easy.
2. Indoor Air Quality
For a long time, people treated indoor air quality as a minor issue when it came to HVAC. Basic filters would prevent large dust bunnies from floating around in the air. However, these systems tended to not deploy high-quality solutions like HEPA filtration. Especially with more people who are concerned about conditions like COPD, asthma and even dry skin, indoor air quality is becoming a bigger focus. Air scrubbers and purifiers also do an excellent job of targeting viruses, bacteria and mold.
Even if you don’t have any specific medical issues, indoor air quality still lets you breathe easier. A good filtration system can ensure that smells don’t collect in your home’s air. Also, a high-quality indoor air quality solution can filter many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that come from activities like cooking, painting or using certain chemicals. Indoor air quality controls can filter out outdoor pollution and pollen that might get inside your house, too.
3. Heat Pumps
A heat pump serves as a single HVAC solution that handles both heating and cooling. Especially in a region like Anaheim, where furnaces and other heating solutions only pull duty on cool nights, older heating systems can be inefficient and expensive options compared to a heat pump. However, using a refrigerant system that’s similar to what you see in an air conditioner, a heat pump can cool the indoors on hot days and warm the indoors on cool days. Even better, a heat pump can maintain a precise temperature point on mild days when the balance between heating and cooling can be trickier for older solutions to hit.
Heat pumps are also notably efficient. With options that include air- and ground-sourced heat and cooling, there are plenty of ways to make a heat pump work well. Likewise, Southern California is an optimal environment for heat pump efficiency. The main threat to heat pump efficiency is extreme cold weather, typically well below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Our local climate doesn’t challenge the efficiency of any modern model of heat pump.
4. Variable Refrigerant Flow
Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) is a solution that’s growing quickly in popularity. The idea behind VRF is to improve efficiency by pushing less refrigerant through coils when it isn’t needed on mild days. Especially with more heating systems using refrigerant, specifically because of the rising popularity of heat pumps, variable-flow solutions are more easily integrated into the whole of your HVAC. In some cases, it is even possible to retrofit VRF systems to existing HVAC sets.
5. Smart Technologies
The declining cost of microcontrollers is making advanced smart home systems increasingly popular throughout the HVAC business. These are essentially low-power computer systems that take over the controlling role of older solutions like switches and knobs. What makes them particularly great in the HVAC world is that they allow you to set your home’s thermostat intelligently.
If you’re going to be gone for most of the day on the hottest day in summer, why pay to cool your house? A smart system can keep it cool enough that nothing goes wrong, and then it can kick the air conditioning up when you’re close to coming home. You can use a timer to set it, an ideal solution for families that expect kids to arrive home at a particular moment.
Also, newer technologies can connect to your phone or your vehicle’s built-in voice assistant. When your phone or car detects that you’re getting close to home, it can send a signal ahead to the smart thermostat. This lets the air conditioning kick on, cooling your home in time for you to arrive in a comfortable and air-conditioned setting. Naturally, the same logic applies to heating your home on cool days.
Also, smart technologies are wonderful for when you might be gone for long stretches. You can trust the system to keep the climate controls at the right levels if you’re on a business trip or a vacation. Particularly if you have pets at home, this lets them be comfortable without breaking the bank on utility costs.
6. Predictive Maintenance
Many smart technologies support predictive maintenance, too. The system can track how long and hard the HVAC system has operated. When it reaches a certain threshold, the smart system can then tell you that it’s time for HVAC maintenance. It also can provide direct messages to remind you about basic maintenance needs. For example, you can get notifications straight to your phone that let you know that it’s time to replace the HVAC filters.
Predictive maintenance reduces the odds that a catastrophic failure could lead to expensive or irreparable damage to the HVAC. It also can improve efficiency by ensuring that basic preventative maintenance like lubrication of moving parts happens regularly. Even if you’re committed to handling such maintenance regularly, a predictive smart system provides peace of mind. If you get busy and forget, the system will remind you to maintain your HVAC on schedule.
7. Dual-Fuel Systems
On the heating front, many people are opting for systems that use two heat sources. For example, you might have a furnace and a heat pump. The idea is that the heat pump will do a great job of regulating the temperature on cool days and the furnace can kick on during those rare nights when it gets cold in Anaheim. Especially with modern smart control systems, you can easily tell your HVAC what the threshold should be for moving over to the more aggressive heating system.
Sano Heating & Air Conditioning is proud to serve the people of Anaheim and the surrounding areas. We handle all kinds of heating and cooling work, including installation, maintenance and repair. We’re also experts on all things heat pumps! If you’re excited about any of these seven HVAC trends, contact us today to discuss how you can implement them in your home.
