We install three main types: heat pump air handlers, ductless mini split air handlers, and conventional air handlers matched to a straight-cool system. Which one is right is determined by your heating source and your ductwork, not by preference.

Heat Pump Air Handlers

If your home uses a heat pump, the indoor unit does double duty — moving cooled air in summer and heated air in winter from the same equipment.

These air handlers include supplemental electric heat strips that engage when the heat pump alone cannot keep up during a cold snap. Correct staging matters enormously here: strips are electric resistance heat, which is expensive to run, and a control system that engages them unnecessarily will quietly inflate winter bills.

Given our long cooling season and mild winters, heat pumps make good sense in much of the Hill Country, and they are the most common configuration we install in all-electric homes.

Ductless Mini Split Air Handlers

Ductless mini splits use compact indoor units mounted on a wall, in a ceiling, or recessed, connected to an outdoor unit by a small line set. Each one conditions the space it serves directly, with no duct system at all.

They solve problems central equipment cannot. Garage conversions, additions never included in the original duct design, shops, casitas, wine rooms, and rooms that have always been ten degrees off from the rest of the house.

They are also the practical answer where running new ducts would mean opening finished ceilings, and in mobile and manufactured homes where existing ductwork is limited or in poor condition. Multi-zone configurations give each area independent temperature control.

Conventional Air Handlers

Homes with a gas furnace generally do not have a separate air handler — the furnace blower moves the air, and the evaporator coil sits on top of the furnace.

Homes with electric heat or no heating equipment beyond strips use a dedicated air handler matched to the outdoor condensing unit. Matching matters: the rated efficiency of any system assumes a specific indoor and outdoor pairing, and a mismatched combination will not deliver its rating.

The Specification That Matters Most

Across all three types, the single most important choice is the blower motor.

Older units use single-speed PSC motors — full output or nothing. Modern units use variable-speed ECM motors that modulate to match demand, and in a Texas summer the difference is substantial.

Running longer at lower speed removes far more humidity from the air, which is what actually determines whether a house feels comfortable. Dry air at 76 degrees beats humid air at 73. Variable speed also mixes air between rooms more effectively, uses less electricity, and runs much quieter.

It also enables better filtration, because a variable-speed motor can overcome the resistance of a higher-MERV air filter that would choke an older blower.

Ductwork Decides More Than You Think

Before recommending anything, we look at your duct system, because it constrains the choice.

If returns are undersized, a powerful new blower will fight static pressure it was not designed for. If supply ducts leak into the attic, a premium air handler delivers conditioned air to a space you do not live in. Variable-speed equipment is more sensitive to duct problems than the equipment it replaces, not less.

Sometimes the honest recommendation is duct sealing plus a mid-tier air handler rather than premium equipment on compromised ductwork. Where ducts are genuinely beyond correcting, a ductless approach may be the better long-term answer.

How We Decide With You

The assessment covers your heating source, existing duct condition and static pressure, a load calculation for the space, which rooms are currently uncomfortable, and how long you plan to stay in the house.

From there you get a recommendation with the reasoning attached, not just a model number.

Installation includes commissioning — measuring actual airflow rather than assuming it — and annual maintenance keeps it performing. Financing is available.

We install and service air handlers throughout Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Boerne, Comfort, and the surrounding Hill Country. Contact 72 Degrees or call (830) 468-5316.