Climate controlled Lanai
 

I saw a Lantana home for sale today that has an acrylic enclosed lanai. The lanai is climate controlled with two vents in the ceiling which look professionally installed. My concern with adding vents to a central A/C and heating system is that the flow of air is compromised for the rest of the house.

The reason for my concern is we had a home built in south Florida several years ago which we paid to have an additional A/C and heat vent added to the dining room. To our dismay, we never could cool the adjacent living room adequately in the heat of the summer. We were told by the company that installed the additional dining room vent in our brand new home that the flow of air was disturbed by adding that vent. I never did understand why we weren't told by the builder that there was a possibility that the cooling in other rooms may be compromised.

Is there a problem with adequate cooling and heating in a Lantana when two vents are added to an enclosed lanai? Thanks to all who reply.

Bump
 

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I am interested in hearing responses to this too

My lanai is already controlled by the climate!

To be perfectly honest...I would prefer a lanai not enclosed with acrylic windows. I like the idea of having as much breeze as possible going through the lanai but realize I wouldn't use the lanai very much in the middle of the summer.

Before you can "extend" your existing AC to cover additional space, the contractor is required to test your AC for adequacy. Rather than extending our existing AC into our enclosed lanai, we opted to add a Mitsubishi wall unit that handles humidity, heat and AC. Very convenient. We only have to put it on when we need it, rather than having the AC/heat run in the lanai when we don't want it to. For example, this past week when we had those 2 cold days, we turned on the heat in the lanai for about 15 min to get the chill out, but we did not need the heat in our main residence area.

Probably depends
 

a lot on the direction your lanai faces, how big it is, how shaded it is, etc.

That is the way to go. Anytime you add extra vents to a ac system you lower its cooling power to the rest of the house. The system that was put into your house was designed to do your home. The Mitsubishi system is a good one. I installed ac in supermarkets.

Thank you!
 

Thanks! That was the type of information I was looking for. My ideal house of the future will include an enclosed lanai. One reason is that natural predators could tear birdcage screens and hurt my pets.

I currently have a large screened lanai - part birdcage, part screened and covered. But the rain, pollen, roof grit, and other things come in and need to be vacuumed regularly, and power washed yearly. In spots where the drainage is not even, puddles build up that have to be removed by a wet/dry vac, and cause mold stains. And during the summer when it is above 85 I won't enjoy sitting out there. Enclosing the lanai in a climate controlled environment, with the the option of louvered windows or sliding windows with screens sounds best for my situation.

Can you say what model Mitsubishi you have and how is it installed? Does it protrude out a window or????? How does it look in the room? Thank you as I am making this decision as we speak

ductless split
 

They are called ductless split heat pump systems. you will have a condensing unit outside and the airhandler wall mounted on your lanai. they will be connected by refrigeration line set and line voltage wiring. you will also need a condensate drain line. Mitsubishi is a good one but there are others too.
This is IMO the only way to go. Just make sure they size the unit (BTUs) properly. To big is as bad as too small.

Thank you! I just talked to my contractor and indeed that is what he is pricing out for me is a split unit. Exactly as you say and yes, IMO I do not want to have reduced air in the villa as I know it will be HOT in summer! We have a big view with windows and I probably will not do blinds too much as no one can see in.

A Mitsubishi split system air-source heat pump, Indoor Unit #MSZ-GE15NA was installed in our 12 x 30 indoor lanai. Our lanai has large sliding windows with screens. Ventilation is great when we want it and dehumidifier, heat and AC are available also. The indoor unit is installed near the ceiling of one of the walls and is approximately 12 x 30... very small and very quiet. Because we installed it on an outside wall, we did not require a pump to move the condensation to the outside.

When we enclosed our Lanatna Lanai we also added heat and AC. The county required our contractor to get a heat/AC survey to determine if our existing heat/ac units could handle the extra Square footage (approx 400sf). This survey was conducted by Mumms and it takes into consideration the type of windows and features (Low E, Insulated, heat gain etc) you are enclosing your room with, the extra SF to be cooled, the direction the added room faces to include the amount of full window space, and where the sun sets. After this survey we were able to add a heat/cooling duct directly to our existing furnace that provided EQUAL air flow to the added sf. The absolute worst senario would be to extend the duct work from your family area to the new lanai area. As you said you would be stealing heat/cooling air flow and it would just be uncomfortable. BE AWARE alot of contractors when adding heat ac to an enclosed lanai space will price it out as an extension from your family room so your contract needs to be specific as to how heat/ac will be piped into the new SF area.

If your heat/ac survey shows that your existing furnace/ac units cannot accomodate the new added sf...the ductless ac vent system is a great alternative. Miitisibuti Mr BIG is a very popular one and very effective and comes in diferent sizes. This feature looks good, and is a reasonably priced alternative.

This is our big debate this morning now. I am convinced NOT to extend what we have into the lanai. The calculations say it will max it out but I talked to Munn's and they say if you like it cool do not do this as we will not be comfortable. I know Florida well even though we are not living there yet as my parents lived in Florida for 30 years.
I think we may upgrade the whole system though not sure. I am thinking I will put it up for sale as it has not even been used (we do not live there yet) and maybe someone else who has a smaller villa and is doing what we are doing would like to use it to upgrade theirs?
We are going to get a price from another air conditioning contractor from our contractor for the same upgrade and compare their price to Munn's price. We have not closed in the lanai yet, it is happening the next few weeks, so if we are going to change out the whole system now is the time to do it. We will either go split or change it all out. I appreciate all the comments.
My husband is not happy with changing out a brand new system and not being able to exchange it for another new one!

Thanks to all those who replied on this thread. Besides great information, the responses certainly confirmed that I must be careful when purchasing a pre-owned home if the home has A/C and heat vents in the enclosed lanai.