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I've had about 6 different HVAC guys come out to replace my dead dead dead 1998 3 ton Trane. They have all quoted adding a register downstairs and I'm heavily considering the Amana 16 seer for my 2000 sf 120 y/o house. The best Amana price so far is $8247 for the Amana 16 and $9421 for the 18 Seer super swell inverter thingy. I like the Amana just for the warranty, 10 years parts and lifetime compressor. Anything else I should think of?
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Jun 29, 2018 13:14
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Sup 6 contractors and ten grand buddy.  Speaking as a new homeowner, having just done research, I am not a professional, etc, etc... From what I've seen, everyone has a 10-12 year compressor warranty. Lifetime's not bad, but keep in mind (again, from what I've read) warranty covers replacement parts, not necessarily labor. Or even shipping. If the difference between systems is over the purchase cost of the compressor, ignore the warranty. Personally, that seems high, especially for AC alone. Goodman is the Buick of HVAC, fine but no frills, somewhat loud. You may not ever make up the cost difference between 16 to 18 SEER, much less 13 to 16. It's worth running a calculator based on your zone and electricity cost. For us, we went with two stage heating and cooling with variable ECMs. Primarily this was for comfort over efficiency, although the efficiency came with. If it was up to me I'd probably pocket the $2500 difference and stick with a 80%/13 SEER single stage. Seriously, run the calculators- you'd be surprised at the payoff timeframe jumping from 13 to 16, or 80% to 96%. Anything that runs comparing your current unit (6 SEER, 60%, etc) are crap as the lowest minimums now are 80 and 13 SEER. Run the difference between the base and any upgrade to get the proper payoff calc. Anyway, we chose two of the most serious and badass installers we found- they were hyper nerdy about the level of vacuum they pull and how they braze, as well as the 100% labor and parts guarantee for 1-2 years after install. They both measured the ducts and one did a manual J load calc and issued AHRI specs for coil matchups. The cost was approximately identical, Lennox and Carrier, for furnace and AC with 96% 2 stage ECM heat and 16 SEER two stage AC running about $9500 installed, less tax. This includes installation of the condensing exhaust for the new furnace through my concrete wall. If you're getting billed nine grand for just AC you're getting ripped off. MAKE SURE they're giving you AHRI rated compressor and coil matchups. You'll see your 18 SEER system drop to 13 real quick depending on coil selection.
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Jun 30, 2018 13:50
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Ok, that's some good advice right there  The air handler is in the attic and the attic stairs are a little narrow. The compressor is in an awkward place to get to (hence the safety guy below). When the AC worked, it worked for crap, we'd get condensation out of a couple registers on the first floor and some rooms were godawful hot. In the winter it struggled to keep the house warm and the toaster oven in the attic would gift us with $600 electric bills. (Wood stove to the rescue.) House is about 2,000SF and fairly insulated in the attic but no insulation in the walls. Last summer I replaced all the doors and windows with doublepane glass. The house is in the north-east. So the payback calculator for my region is a bit eye opening. Even for my expensive rates ~13 cents I'd only save a few hundred bucks from an 16 to an 18. $10k is a lot, 18 seer definitely out. Let me lay out the quotes I got: C1: $9,600 - Goodman 18 Seer 4 Ton C1: $6,500 - Goodman 14 Seer 4 Ton C1 Notes: He oversized the unit by a ton because I mentioned the original Trane 3 ton never worked that well, does not include additional register run to first floor C2: $5427 Rheem 14 3 Ton C2: $6816 Rheem 15 Seer 3 Ton C2: Notes: doesn't include running register to first floor C3: No quote, guy kept complaining his "safety" department wouldn't let him do the job. (Other contractors told me he was full of poo poo and his company didn't even have a safety department.) C4: Seemed very knowledgeable, advanced the idea of running a return to the first floor, even told me how to do it. Promised quote never came. C5: President came out, geeked out a little to describe how nifty inverters were etc. C5: $6617 Goodman 16 3 Ton + run additional return to first floor C5: $9133 Goodman 16 Two-Stage 3 ton + return C6: $7,300 Amana 14 3T+ run return C6: $8,247 Amana 16 3T C6: $8,579 Bryant 14 3T C6: $10,431 Bryant 16 3T C7: $7,476 Air Temp 14 3T After re-evaluating I think maybe C5, seer 16 is the best, I just kicked out all the 18 quotes, that payback is rubbish.
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Jun 30, 2018 14:53
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My quotes don't include any ductwork aside from mating the evap coil to the furnace plenum. Careful about the oversizing tonnage, going oversize is one of those bandaids that may be counterproductive. It's better to properly size tons to house and seal the ductwork than hitting it with a brick with SUPER COLD TONZ. The reasoning being that you'll end up short cycling the compressor and blower, and continuous hard starts and stops dramatically reduce lifespan of these components. One of the reasons why we went with the two stage and ECM variable blowers is that my wife really, really hates the temp gradient in the master bedroom vs the rest of the house. We have an ecobee 3 with some remote sensors, so the system can "see" the +7F difference and attempts to compensate accordingly. With a two stage and ECM, we can keep the AC on longer at a lower setting. While it seems counterintuitive, the always-on blower evens out the temp in the house better. Or so it should work- I'm gambling a bit of money on the idea. Everything I've read supports this, though. As a bandaid we've been running the fan near continuously, which is 500W or so. ECMs should get that closer to 100-200W. If you're getting condensation on the vents and no airflow something is pretty jacked up. The problem is above my nonexistent paygrade. I'd think there's a structural issue going on- having the AC in the attic would generally be best as all the cold air sinks. I'm pushing all my air up from the basement. I can't stress the importance of a good installer who takes no shortcuts. The guys we had in discussed ducts, insulation, options, sealants, attic batting, verified return airflow, etc, etc. I found out that two of my returns are sucking 110F attic air instead of room air (holding a sheet of paper up to the return and it didn't stick is a quick test). If your ducts are poo poo, you may want to look to something like aeroseal. I was surprised that even my insulated and well-made supply ductwork leaks if I hold my hand to the edge while the fan is on. Get to tapin'. There's also duct booster fans, but I'm unsure if they help or hurt. Things that helped: hvac-talk.com has some good forums. You need a license to post, a lot of installers hang out there. As close to sitting in a bar with a bunch of hvac guys as you can get. Also http://www.loadcalc.net/ seems to be a DIY manual J. I didn't run it myself, though. Angie's list gave me a bunch of relative poo poo installers. The two best I had I got from going to Lennox and Carrier, respectively, and selecting their gold star/presidential award/hella good/whatever installer in my area. Walton and IT Landes, if you're near Philly. Landes has a rather decadent 100% money back guarantee, essentially saying that they'll get it right or just loving remove it at no cost. That and the manual J calc got us. For reference, one of my installs had Goodman GSX13 and GMH8 (13 SEER, 80% single) at $5200 installed, GSX16 and GMEC96 (16/96% ) at $6900. Again, no ductwork. Nice installer but not nerdy, recommended going to 3.5 tons over 3 for improved cooling. Meh. Again, this is all through personal research. I tried to go nerdcore on it since it's basically my savings vanishing into (cool) thin air. I could be hideously wrong. edit: I know literally nothing about inverters. Here thar be dragons. DkHelmet fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Jun 30, 2018 |
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Jun 30, 2018 15:21
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Background: Bought a house with a 5-ton Trane. Square footage is 2800 in a hot and reasonably humid climate. Had a really funky problem yesterday. My Nest was complaining about no power on the Rc wire. Jumpering red to yellow didn't do anything at the thermostat, but worked fine at the air handler. (Checked the fuse first). I started to trace it back and found I have a "Safe-T-switch" in line with the red wire . Short story is that although my condensate pump was working properly the PVC pipe that dumps condensate into the pump had somehow gotten clogged. I am pretty sure the pipe was resting on the floor of the pump, and lifting it up slightly and waiting a few minutes was enough to get everything working again. How high off the bottom of the condensate pump is the drain pipe supposed to rest? Second unrelated question: Is it possible that my air handler ductwork was put together such that I have no access panel to the coil? The system was running without a filter when I moved in and I want to check the coil for clogging, but there is no way in. It's pretty weird.
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Jun 30, 2018 16:34
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Naffer posted:Second unrelated question: Is it possible that my air handler ductwork was put together such that I have no access panel to the coil? The system was running without a filter when I moved in and I want to check the coil for clogging, but there is no way in. It's pretty weird. Extremely common. The install guys ain't gonna be there several years later to clean it. So why bother? 
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Jun 30, 2018 16:39
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Would like some help diagnosing an A/C issue in my new house. It seems like sometimes the blower motor isn't kicking on when it should. Seemed to be working fine the day before we moved, and I left it running overnight so it would be cool for the movers. But when we got there with the movers I heard the compressor running but didn't feel much air out of the vents. I shut the thing off to prevent any issues. An hour later I noticed a ton of water flowing out of the return vent. Also noticed a few inches of the cold side refrigerant piping at the compressor isn't insulated, and was totally covered with ice. My totally uninformed guess is that the blower or its capacitor is failing but the compressor kept running and froze up the evaporator coils. When I shut the thing off the coils melted and due to (lovely?) design that didn't go into the condensate drain. Or is the fact this didn't all drain into the condensate drain its own problem? Today the unit seems to be running fine. It can cycle normally and the fan starts up each time, there is no ice buildup outside, and no water leaking anywhere (and condensate drain seems to be flowing fine). Question though...how the hell am I supposed to get at the blower motor to take a look? This is a...creative.... ~25 year old retrofit install and I cannot figure out how this thing opens to access anything.   Any ideas how I'd get at the fan to take a look? My best guess is the normal access panel is on the side blocked by what seems to be a structural piece of the house... Also, the whole system is done in that flexible insulated black ducting. I remember reading in this thread that is looked down upon. Maybe it makes sense for how they ran stuff in tight spaces in this 150 year old house, but that big duct on the bottom is just a 45 degree elbow going straight into the return vent panel on the opposite wall.
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Jul 1, 2018 23:51
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Sounds like low refrigerant pressure to me. Icing will slow the airflow.
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Jul 2, 2018 02:43
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Vaporware posted:Sounds like low refrigerant pressure to me. Icing will slow the airflow. chicken/egg problem. no airflow can cause icing it could be a lot of usual suspect problems. dirty filter/coil dirty blower wheel low refrigerant charge. low outside ambient temp
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Jul 2, 2018 03:08
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Sounds like something is definitely icing up there, but it's kinda hard to say what the cause would be exactly. When you fire it up, you can feel airflow coming out right? If you feel that and it's not instantly icing up you can pretty much rule out the fan motor. Is there any way you can see up into the return vent into the coil compartment? It might be impacted with dust and dirt, which based on the picture you sent of the "install" there, it sounds like it's probably never been cleaned or anything. And, uh, it doesn't really look like there's any way to really access the coil or anything there. Gotta love lovely installs.
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Jul 2, 2018 05:24
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Thanks for the replies. Filter is clean and it was 90-95F outside yesterday, so ambient temp is fine. The fan is definitely blowing strong when it works, but I was wondering if it, its relay, or capacitor are starting to fail, resulting in an intermittent failure of the fan. I crawled into the return vent and took this picture of the coils. Seem pretty clear but what are the little black dots?  Is it necessary or even possible to get this cleaned or serviced? Or am I looking at a full replacement when it breaks down?
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Jul 2, 2018 11:28
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Based on the age, extremely poor install quality, and inaccessability for repairs, I probably would be budgeting for a system replacement there.
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Jul 2, 2018 16:06
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It doesn't look that dirty, you are likely experiencing a loss of fan or low refrigerant charge. Set your thermostat very low so the unit doesn't shut off, make sure the fan is running, and let it go for an hour or so. You might need to leave the system off for a couple hours to let the house warm up. if it still ices up and you know the fan is running and you are getting good airflow, you know its a refrigerant issue. While it is running for a while, check the larger of the two pipes that go to your outdoor condensing unit. If the larger is "beer can cold" you are in the ballpark for proper refrigerant charge. Its not an exact science that way, but it sounds like you don't have the tools to do the proper tests. You can buy some no-rinse evaporator cleaner off amazon if you can get in there to spray it. Don't get it in your eyes, wear goggles, etc.
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Jul 2, 2018 21:34
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iForge posted:It doesn't look that dirty, you are likely experiencing a loss of fan or low refrigerant charge. Set your thermostat very low so the unit doesn't shut off, make sure the fan is running, and let it go for an hour or so. You might need to leave the system off for a couple hours to let the house warm up. if it still ices up and you know the fan is running and you are getting good airflow, you know its a refrigerant issue. While it is running for a while, check the larger of the two pipes that go to your outdoor condensing unit. If the larger is "beer can cold" you are in the ballpark for proper refrigerant charge. Its not an exact science that way, but it sounds like you don't have the tools to do the proper tests. You can buy some no-rinse evaporator cleaner off amazon if you can get in there to spray it. Don't get it in your eyes, wear goggles, etc. Followed this advice and let the A/C run overnight (12 hours). It is stupid hot outside and the system is not great, so it ran continuously. I woke up to a decently cool house but the coils had entirely frozen over.  The fan was still running just not pushing any air obviously. Is this still consistent with low refrigerant? I've been able to run the system like 5 hours straight with no freezing over, and the only other time its frozen is the only other time I left it running overnight. And what are my chances of getting someone out to do a recharge on July 4 before my inlaws come for two nights?
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Jul 4, 2018 13:23
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Given what most places charge for a holiday service call, I wouldn't. I would stick the inlaws in a hotel if they can't suck it up, and start budgeting for a replacement.
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Jul 4, 2018 13:41
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Y'all are being awful dire. Let it melt (fan on, AC off), then run it less so it doesn't freeze up and get a service call tomorrow after the holiday and see if the refrigerant is actually low before you decide to R&R the whole thing. Or I dunno, call around and a service call may be the same or less than a hotel room at a holiday rate and get it looked at today. How low did you have it set when you let it run all night, and what indoor temp did you wake up to?
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Jul 4, 2018 15:23
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I had it set to 75 because I knew it would never get that low. I woke up and the thermostat read 78 and the coils were frozen over. Also forgot to mention the cold side line at the compressor was frozen over as well, for the inch or so that wasn't covered by insulation. Have a service call set for tomorrow morning. I also dumped a can of coil cleaner each on the compressor outside and the evaporator inside. The evaporator might actually be totally compacted with dirt...the tiny little spot I was able to rub with a brush was full of dirt. But I'm not Gimpy so I couldn't get my hand any higher up in the return air duct to brush more of it. I may fashion some sort of brush on a stick to try to clean more of the evaporator coil surface if you guys think that isn't a totally terrible idea.
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Jul 4, 2018 18:35
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mcgreenvegtables posted:I had it set to 75 because I knew it would never get that low. I woke up and the thermostat read 78 and the coils were frozen over. Also forgot to mention the cold side line at the compressor was frozen over as well, for the inch or so that wasn't covered by insulation. As long as you don't bend the fins, go hog wild with the brush.
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Jul 5, 2018 02:32
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Update if anyone is interested. The technician came today and set up his gauges to take a reading.  He told me based on the superheat (SH) number of 50, the refrigerant was low and said based on the outdoor temperature it should be reading about 10 and that his guess was it was at 60% charge. I asked if this meant there was a leak and he said "the service fittings looked a bit loose, so my guess is that is where the leak was" and he didn't bother to look for an actual leak. Which I thought was illegal? He charged me $85 service charge + $140/pound to put in 2.5 lbs of R22. Let me know if that is ripoff pricing and if so I'll throw his business card in the trash. But my guess is that is reasonable? Hard to tell yet if the system is working better. The tech promised me the recharge would change everything. Based on my IR temp gauge vent air is now around 52F instead of 60F, and the refrigerant line is definitely colder to the touch at the evaporator. Fingers crossed this solves my problems for the next few years.
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Jul 5, 2018 23:57
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Not Illegal, as your system is unlikely to hold more than 50lbs with a correct charge. I have several large commercial systems that have known leaks, but will not get repaired until later this month when I can safely shut them down. Many people in this industry like to use loose interpretations of EPA rules to browbeat clients. I can't say I haven't, in order to motivate people to actually fix stuff. Nobody is going to go chase after you, joe homeowner. It's up to what you think is right, and how much you can afford. That's why I recommended budgeting a replacement. The amount of r22 you leak is insignificant
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Jul 6, 2018 00:29
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mcgreenvegtables posted:Update if anyone is interested. Refrigerant and other parts are commonly marked up by contractors but $140/lb is absurd. If memory serves right, I pay around $22/pound for R-22 last I bought it around a month ago. If I was doing the repair, I would have charged no more than $40/pound. I'd find a new contractor.
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Jul 6, 2018 01:36
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iForge posted:Refrigerant and other parts are commonly marked up by contractors but $140/lb is absurd. If memory serves right, I pay around $22/pound for R-22 last I bought it around a month ago. If I was doing the repair, I would have charged no more than $40/pound. I'd find a new contractor. I recently got charged $45/lb for R-404A, but it was a commercial contractor. The labor cost was such a large part of the bill that I didn't balk at the refrigerant charge. Question: I live in a humid part of the country and the internet says a slower fan speed is better for getting the humidity down with an A/C. I have a 5 ton system with 4-speed blower. At high (the current setting) the blower is rated at 2260 cfm at 0.50 (INS. w.g.). Can I swap the wire to the one that would drop the flow to 1703 cfm at the same pressure? (That would be 2/4, the 3/4 setting is attached to the heat terminal) Is this is a bad idea? Will my evaporator be likely to freeze? Will I lose some cooling capacity? Will this reduce the efficiency of my AC?
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Jul 6, 2018 18:23
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You are making the assumption that your total External Static Pressure is 0.5. Unless that's a value you actually measured, your blower isn't working at that pressure, nor giving you that many CFM. But let's assume you have an ideal installation, and you are at approximately 0.5 You want 400CFM a ton. Maybe 350 for humid areas. That puts you under at 2/4. Assuming the 3/4 tap gives you 2k cfm, that might work, some boards you can wire to run the same tap for both heat and cool.
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Jul 6, 2018 22:45
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MRC48B posted:You are making the assumption that your total External Static Pressure is 0.5. Thanks for your response. According to my blower's datasheet it drops below 2K cfm: on high speed at an external static pressure of 0.9. at 3/4 speed at an external static pressure of 0.6 at 2/4 speed at all external static pressures. At this speed it only achieves 1750 cfm at very low static pressures. I think in light of what you said it makes sense to leave the fan alone. I should be able to get some more of the dehumidification I want by just setting the thermostat lower to extend the runtime. It has only been running about 7-8 hours a day this week to keep the house 76 during this humid mid-90 week.
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Jul 6, 2018 23:29
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It’s was 120 degrees here today and our neighborhood experienced a brief power outage. When the power came back one one of my two compressors doesn’t seem to be working right. My upstairs blower will kick on and push air but it’s not cold. Checked the compressor, fan doesn’t spin and there’s a slight hum when it tries to kick on. If I give the fan a push with a stick it will go full speed but it’s still not cold air. I tripped the breakers and let them rest a few times, no dice. Any thoughts where I can start troubleshooting? My buddy is an HVAC tech but he’s booked up for a bit and we’re going to be 100+ degrees for the next week. The busted unit is a cheap model installed by the bank who owned the home in 2011.
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Jul 7, 2018 08:26
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The start capacitor probably took a poo poo.
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Jul 7, 2018 11:10
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STR posted:The start capacitor probably took a poo poo. Tested it with my multimeter, looks like you're right. Can't get parts until Tuesday though 
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Jul 7, 2018 21:08
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iForge posted:Refrigerant and other parts are commonly marked up by contractors but $140/lb is absurd. If memory serves right, I pay around $22/pound for R-22 last I bought it around a month ago. If I was doing the repair, I would have charged no more than $40/pound. I'd find a new contractor. A lot of big companies are jacking their prices on r22 to add incentive for people to replace systems rather than repair them. With r22 being phased out in a year and a half it isn’t necessarily a bad thing to swap your old system from a nearly obsolete refrigerant to 410a, but that doesn’t make the method any less underhanded. The company I work for charges $183 per pound and it sucks telling elderly people how much it costs for me to fix things. I’m about to switch back to install full time until I get my contractors license this fall just so I can stop feeling so guilty every drat day when I get home. I’ve never been more excited at the prospect of taking a massive dive in salary. Also $22 per pound seems pretty high. Supply houses here in San Antonio are at $475 per 30lb cylinder.
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Jul 9, 2018 05:05
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mcgreenvegtables posted:Update if anyone is interested. Based on the liquid line pipe clamp still having the factory twist tie on it I’m guessing his gauges are new. he should have both clamps hooked up to take proper readings. Underneath where the pipe clamps connect to the manifold are black circles that rotate to calibrate the temperature being read, both are set in the factory default meaning he never zeroed them in so his super heat, sub cool, liquid line temperature, and suction line temperature will never read properly. I have that same set, when I first tested them both clamps were reading 8 degrees high and had to be lowered. Based off pressures your system is low, but 10 degree superheat is unlikely unless he is checking the value right at the evap coil. Most systems will be running about a 20 to 25 at the condenser which is where he was checking. Impossible to determine exactly what yours should be off of just outdoor ambient, also needs to check indoor wet bulb. The neat thing about those gauges is you can enter the outdoor ambient and the indoor wet bulb and it automatically calculates your target superheat, no guess work required. Use a probe style thermometer to check the temperature of air entering the system vs air exiting the system. Your ir gun is telling you the temp of what ever surface you are pointing at not the actual air. 18 degrees of difference is the standard most people fall back on but that number will change based off the humidity level inside your home. If your system truly needed 2.5 lbs you have a fairly significant leak somewhere and should start setting aside money for the eventual replacement. R22 is going to continue climbing exponentially in price for the next few years. Jaweeeblop fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Jul 9, 2018 |
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Jul 9, 2018 05:31
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I'm no expert, and I know this is just a temporary install (... on ~35-40 year old apartment building), but goddamn, it ain't pretty. It looks downright Payneful.
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Jul 9, 2018 07:39
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Jaweeeblop posted:Also $22 per pound seems pretty high. Supply houses here in San Antonio are at $475 per 30lb cylinder. I guess this is pretty local. DC was $575ish last fall for me. The price my mechanical contractor was getting buying 100s was only a little better, too.
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Jul 9, 2018 12:40
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STR posted:I'm no expert, and I know this is just a temporary install (... on ~35-40 year old apartment building), but goddamn, it ain't pretty. It looks downright Payneful. I'd say that's a neat solution to Carrier them over until the new concrete pad cures. Whoever came up with that is a Goodman.
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Jul 9, 2018 17:38
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Jaweeeblop posted:
Very possible that I am remembering wrong, since I buy with a corporate account and don't really have to pay attention to price. I did just look and we sell it to the customer for $30/lb so we must get it well under $22
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Jul 9, 2018 18:04
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Jaweeeblop posted:With r22 being phased out in a year and a half quote:R22 is going to continue climbing exponentially in price for the next few years. Imma stop you right there, because this is exactly what I meant by the FUD surrounding EPA phase-outs. What is actually happening is R-22 will be unlawful to Produce or import. So unless your name is Chemours, Arkema, or Honeywell (all of whom are ahead of the game and want R22 gone.) You have nothing to worry about. Your household system will not be "illegal" Recharging it will not be illegal. Repairing it (or not) will not be illegal. Buying existing stock of R22 will not be illegal. Yes, the price of 22 will rise a bit, as supply decreases, but recovery and recycling of r22 is also not illegal, so there will be a supply available for the (already declining) demand. You can still buy R-12 on ebay. Yeah the price is higher than in the 1960s. So is milk and gasoline. There's also 32 Flavors of R-22 replacement refrigerants, for all applications. Anyone telling you "R-22 will be illegal" just wants to sell you a new system, because he's too lazy to fix yours. you should buy a new system
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Jul 10, 2018 00:35
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MRC48B posted:Imma stop you right there, because this is exactly what I meant by the FUD surrounding EPA phase-outs. Jaweeeblop fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Jul 10, 2018 |
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Jul 10, 2018 01:09
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Yeah sorry, that post was aimed at all the lurkers reading the thread. Yes you, sweaty broken AC goon. I know you're out there. Every time I hear the phrase "R22 will be phased out", 9/10 the person hearing it equates that with "R-22 is now like HEROIN and PCP And the feds will come to my house and rip out my air conditioner". It's a colossal communications failure on the part of the EPA, and a lot of people take advantage of it to scam other people.
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Jul 10, 2018 01:42
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Jaweeeblop posted:Based on the liquid line pipe clamp still having the factory twist tie on it I’m guessing his gauges are new. he should have both clamps hooked up to take proper readings. Underneath where the pipe clamps connect to the manifold are black circles that rotate to calibrate the temperature being read, both are set in the factory default meaning he never zeroed them in so his super heat, sub cool, liquid line temperature, and suction line temperature will never read properly. I have that same set, when I first tested them both clamps were reading 8 degrees high and had to be lowered. Based off pressures your system is low, but 10 degree superheat is unlikely unless he is checking the value right at the evap coil. Most systems will be running about a 20 to 25 at the condenser which is where he was checking. Impossible to determine exactly what yours should be off of just outdoor ambient, also needs to check indoor wet bulb. The neat thing about those gauges is you can enter the outdoor ambient and the indoor wet bulb and it automatically calculates your target superheat, no guess work required. Use a probe style thermometer to check the temperature of air entering the system vs air exiting the system. Your ir gun is telling you the temp of what ever surface you are pointing at not the actual air. 18 degrees of difference is the standard most people fall back on but that number will change based off the humidity level inside your home. If your system truly needed 2.5 lbs you have a fairly significant leak somewhere and should start setting aside money for the eventual replacement. R22 is going to continue climbing exponentially in price for the next few years. drat, okay. Thanks for the info though, that is extremely helpful. Definitely not going to use this company again. Pretty annoyed I not only massively overpaid for R-22 but also got a totally half-assed service. I found these guys on homeadvisor, will probably post a review saying they don't know what they are doing. I guess I am just getting that information from someone else on the internet, though... Is there some easy way I can screen HVAC people in the future? Like something I can ask them on the phone without sounding like an rear end in a top hat where their answer is incredibly predictive of their competence?
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Jul 10, 2018 03:25
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STR posted:The start capacitor probably took a poo poo. Replaced the capacitor and I once again have cold air. No more sleeping on the couch for me. Thanks again 
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Jul 12, 2018 16:52
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angryrobots posted:I'd say that's a neat solution to Carrier them over until the new concrete pad cures. Whoever came up with that is a Goodman. I mean, they certainly did make it a bit more Comfortmaker. It's been hot as Heil here lately, hopefully they didn't get Rheemed too bad on that work.
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Jul 17, 2018 04:05
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STR posted:I'm no expert, and I know this is just a temporary install (... on ~35-40 year old apartment building), but goddamn, it ain't pretty. It looks downright Payneful. Bet you a nickel there's inappropriate jumpers in that loving electrical hookup
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Jul 17, 2018 04:15
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