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H110Hawk posted:I don't know what sort of temperature you're fighting outside, but if a 1 year old house can't hold temp on modern construction something is seriously broken. My leaky as hell 1947 house can hold temp on a low-mid grade system now that we blew in insulation against 110F+. Are you sure both units are actually blowing cold air? That none of your walls are suspiciously hot or cold? 4.5 tons seems like a decent amount for a correctly insulated house, but I am a lay person when it comes to HVAC. I'm dumb and forgot I enrolled my Ecobees in the electric companies program where they can adjust your thermostat during peak demand times. It was part of the agreement when I submitted for the 300 dollars in rebates I got for installing them. San Antonio go really hot last night and they remotely adjusted my thermostat for a little while. False alarm.
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Jun 20, 2019 20:04
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My window AC is making a rattling noise when it's cooling, but not when only the fan is on. Supposedly rattling means it's an issue with the fan, what would cause rattling in this case?
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Jun 23, 2019 19:28
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Compressor. Is it a new sound, or has it always done this? If it's a new sound, it may be the compressor dying, or it may just be the rubber isolators the compressor mounts to rotting out. If it's always been noisy since day 1, you might check the way it's mounted to make sure it's well supported (hint: they need more than just the window frame).
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Jun 24, 2019 15:01
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Really? I thought they were meant to be supported only by the frame. Do I need one of those metal boxes? Also, I think it’s sort of new. It didn’t use to do that when I first started using it (it’s a fairly old one), but that didn’t last very long. It does improve somewhat/for a bit if I jiggle it around a little.
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Jun 24, 2019 15:26
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Not a metal box, but some kind of support on the outside part (where all the weight is). If you google "Window ac mount" you'll see what I'm talking about. A lot of people run them without any mount/bracing, but it leaves the heaviest part just dangling in the air, and can damage your window frame after awhile. But if jiggling it helps, that really sounds like the rubber bushings for the compressor rotted out. Not much you can do except run it till it dies. Propping the outside part up somehow (either with a mount or even just wood) may help.
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Jun 25, 2019 14:24
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Alright gents, it took like 3 weeks but I convinced a local HVAC guy to come reclaim my remaining R22 for $100. Had two larger outfits quote $500+ for what ended up being a 30 minute job. Give me a loving break. Besides making absolutely sure to disconnect the 240V, any pro-tips for removing the condenser+lines+evaporator?
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Jun 25, 2019 21:53
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Tonight, I discovered my condensate line had clogged. The pan under the coils had filled up with a full gallon of water, overflowed, run into the bottom half of the unit, put a quarter inch of water there, and was then finally making its way out of the unit across the floor to the drain. Cool. Got it all cleaned up, no apparent damage done, unclogged the condensate line, and everything seems hunky dory. But, I don't want it to happen again. So I'm wondering: why the gently caress is there a p trap on this condensate line?! I am 90% sure that's where the clog happened. The hose from the pan to that fitting inside the unit is clear, and I could tell it was filled with water. The downstream hose, from that trap to the floor drain, is also clear, and I could see it was dry. I'm assuming that trap just had sediment/gunk collect in it over the years. Why is it even there, though? Upstream from that is an open drain from the pan. Downstream from that is an open hose making an air gap to the drain. I can't see any reason on god's green earth that there should be a trap there. So I want to just yoink that out and put a barb right there where the trap connects to the fittings coming out the side of the unit. Is this plan so crazy it just might work, or am I missing something here?
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Jun 26, 2019 04:03
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My pan has an overflow switch that kills the system if it gets tripped. Not an hvac expert but the trap is necessary so air doesn’t get sucked in through the drain system
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Jun 26, 2019 04:11
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skipdogg posted:My pan has an overflow switch that kills the system if it gets tripped. This is correct. You need a trap on the condensate like or the system will suck (potentially nasty) air in through the drain and prevent water flowing out.
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Jun 26, 2019 11:53
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angryrobots posted:For that kind of runtime, imo yeah that's an oddly high indoor humidity level. Finally got up into the attic and took a few pictures. The last 2 are of the downstairs unit drain system. Generally everything looks like it's supposed to. Returns look sealed properly. The only thing i'm not sure of is if the drain lines should be capped. My old house had an upflow type A/C unit in a closet in the living area, so that one was capped so it didn't suck air in via the drain. This one is configured differently, and I can feel cool air being pushed out of the first drain line before the p-trap. The primary drain lines drain to a bathroom on the 2nd floor, and the drain lines for the overflow pan are routed outside. It's been 9 days since the tech was last here, and humidity still has never dipped below 60% inside. https://imgur.com/a/sH66BrV
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Jun 27, 2019 19:50
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skipdogg posted:Finally got up into the attic and took a few pictures. The last 2 are of the downstairs unit drain system. What's that thing in the first picture on the far left? It says OPEN, is that a fresh air intake that's stuck open?
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Jun 27, 2019 23:24
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devicenull posted:What's that thing in the first picture on the far left? It says OPEN, is that a fresh air intake that's stuck open? It certainly looks like a ventilation damper wide open.
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Jun 27, 2019 23:43
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Yeah the system was running while I was up there and it was open. He programmed it to 60% humidity. I dropped it to 55 and it closed. I’ve ran the system for a month with it disabled before and it doesn’t make much difference. It does close as it should though.
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Jun 27, 2019 23:54
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But when you disabled it, was the damper open or closed? Set it to like 40% and see what happens.
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Jun 28, 2019 01:59
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When I dropped the humidity settings the damper closed. When I disabled it previously it closed as well I can’t really inspect the seal easily but the damper seems to work.
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Jun 28, 2019 02:32
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Gotcha. Just noting that the HVAC tech (or whoever "they" is) had it set to 60% which is the same reading you mentioned it hasn't dropped below. I would definitely drop the setpoint of the fresh air system to whatever humidity level you want it to be, as a start. Assuming the damper is operating, you should be able to get to the fresh air intake (does it have it's own air filter?) and test for airflow using something like tissue paper. Also, yeah the condensate drain clean out things need to be capped. You shouldn't have conditioned air blowing into the attic space. I don't think this is the cause of your humidity issue in total, but it could be a contributor. Whatever volume is blowing out into the attic, the same is being drawn inside the living space from outside.
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Jun 28, 2019 04:51
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Your post got me thinking. Upstairs is usually a little less humid than downstairs, and both returns are on the second floor. The fresh air sensor is in the return duct work, so it's possible it was sensing air with less than 60% humidity, although downstairs it was still more than that. I can tell a slight difference upstairs after I changed it to 55% yesterday afternoon. I cranked the thing down to 45% humidity this morning, and I'll see how things go. Is there a decent tool I can pick up off amazon to doublecheck the ecobees?
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Jun 28, 2019 16:49
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skipdogg posted:Your post got me thinking. Upstairs is usually a little less humid than downstairs, and both returns are on the second floor. The fresh air sensor is in the return duct work, so it's possible it was sensing air with less than 60% humidity, although downstairs it was still more than that. I can tell a slight difference upstairs after I changed it to 55% yesterday afternoon. Why not set it to like 20% and let it rip? Something which will be really obviously lower. 55-60% I would presume is somewhat within the error bars of a system like this. Do you have anything which can reach the intake on the outside of your house? (Any long stick or ladder.) You could test the draft there with a piece of tissue.
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Jun 28, 2019 17:02
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45% is the lowest setting on the Aprilaire 8126x unit according to the manual, short of turning it off. It's been unseasonably rainy for south central texas lately so I'll be patient and see if things improve. I do appreciate everyone's sanity check though on the system.
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Jun 28, 2019 17:27
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skipdogg posted:Is there a decent tool I can pick up off amazon to doublecheck the ecobees? The thing you're looking for is called a hygrometer and there's a billion cheap ones on Amazon, though buyer beware, I have three sat next to each other and they seem to have something like a 10RH% margin of error. Properly accurate ones need calibrating and cost a lot of money.
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Jun 28, 2019 17:34
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RH is very expensive to measure with extreme accuracy. Question for you: You're using ecobees, what is your cooling threshold set at? Your units may be short cycling, or at lest not running long enough to make a dent in the humidity level of the space. If you don't need precision temp control (you don't), I would recommend setting the cooling threshold to 1.5 degrees or higher, so the units run longer and have more time to pull water out of the air. Other settings you may want to play with: overcool: the higher the better. minimum on/off times if you are in auto heat/cool, make sure you have a large enough split between the heat/cool setpoints. Note: all of the above will cause more energy use. the ecobee is set up by default to save you energy. MRC48B fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Jun 28, 2019 |
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Jun 28, 2019 23:12
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^^^^^quoting this post from him earlier. I think you are probably correct about the ecobee settings based on the morning runtimes, but IMO it is also fighting the fresh air system. It's like the worst of both worlds  .skipdogg posted:Maybe this house will be different, but want to make sure I'm not missing something. That system was arguably undersized for the house though. It ran non stop most summer days.
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Jun 28, 2019 23:51
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My DIY HVAC saga continues: https://imgur.com/a/E7ViLVd The concern now is that the Furnace outlet measures 28 x 17.5 (actual opening is only 21 x 17.5) and the plenum measures 29x21. When choosing my A-coil, Im thinking of getting one that matches the furnace opening (21 x 17.5) and only fabricating/modifying the plenum portion. Will an HVAC specific store carry premade duct portions of the required dimensions? I have really no frame of reference for what modifying the plenum is going to take.
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Jun 29, 2019 21:50
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The internet seems to suggest delta-T on air conditioning should be 16-22F... mines 15... does this warrant getting someone out to look? Last year it looks like it was doing 19...ugh, that's probably not good.
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Jul 4, 2019 02:24
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devicenull posted:The internet seems to suggest delta-T on air conditioning should be 16-22F... mines 15... does this warrant getting someone out to look? are those dry bulb measurements? those don't tell you the whole picture. EDIT: A large part of cooling is humidity removal. MRC48B fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Jul 4, 2019 |
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Jul 4, 2019 03:26
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When that happened to my old system it was a couple pounds low on charge and the evap coil had a slow leak. It limped along with an early summer recharge a couple years before I had to replace the evap coil. It can’t hurt to have someone come out and check the pressures
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Jul 4, 2019 03:36
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TLDR: Will a piece of foam pipe insulation jammed in between my heating and return duct catch on fire and burn down my house this winter? In the process of cleaning off my evaporator coils inside my Frankenstein's monster of a furnace/central air unit I noticed one of the duct panels had split it's bottom seam (it's entirely attached with tape) and was blowing cold air all over the basement. I just barely got my hand in far enough between the heating and return duct to reattach it, and then the air pressure bowed out the top of the panel (which was not attached with anything). I've fixed it temporarily by shoving in some foam pipe insulation to hold the gap closed and then taping it as far in as I could reach. Is this something I'm going to have to fix properly before I turn the heat on, or will the ducts never get hot enough to damage the foam?
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Jul 5, 2019 00:37
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Close up:
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Jul 5, 2019 00:38
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I believe pipe insulation is polyethylene foam, and PE starts to melt around 240F. Your furnace's supply temp should be around 160F max. Obviously, exhaust flues can get way hotter than that, so make sure it isn't touching one of those.
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Jul 5, 2019 01:19
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Inspector saw a ~2mm gap between the dryer access panel and the inside, and the flame is visible through the gap when closed. Is this an actual issue or is it typical inspector bullshit? UPDATE: Yep, it's nothing. Typical inspector bullshit 
esquilax fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Jul 9, 2019 |
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Jul 9, 2019 03:10
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I would be a little concerned about that. Open up the dryer and make sure the flame is where it's supposed to be. Since your house hasn't burned down already it's probably okay and typical inspector bullshit.
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Jul 9, 2019 03:37
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My AC is once again not cooling very well. I definitely have a refrigerant leak somewhere on the system. Anyone know where the most common places to check for leaks is, or how much it would cost for a pro to track it down and repair it?
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Jul 11, 2019 00:36
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Probably the evap coil, I had to replace one in my last house due to formicary corrosion. A decent tech with the right tool can track it down pretty quick. Brace yourself. AC repair in summer is gonna cost you. My coil replacement was around 1500 bucks
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Jul 11, 2019 00:44
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SpartanIvy posted:My AC is once again not cooling very well. I definitely have a refrigerant leak somewhere on the system. Anyone know where the most common places to check for leaks is, or how much it would cost for a pro to track it down and repair it? I had a guy find a leak, seal it, and add 2 lbs of R22 for just over $500. During a heat wave.
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Jul 11, 2019 01:10
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My last unit leaked out of the schrader valves, easy fix if you're lucky enough for that to be it.
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Jul 12, 2019 15:53
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Keep in mind if you have an R22 system that refrigerant keeps going up in price like crazy. A couple pounds might cost a few hundred dollars these days, depending on where you are.
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Jul 12, 2019 16:19
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Can anyone recommend a low end/budget air particle counter/air quality counter that's reasonably accurate? I just need to independently test air quality of a few air filter units [Sharp and IQ Air] in a few rooms to confirm a few things. I'm not running a clean room or a lab so I don't need a Extech/Fluke model with data logging [and the few thousand dollars for those]. What is considered ok in the sub $200 range? I've seen a few models of Temtop and Dylos being mentioned, anyone have any suggestions? I'm basically looking for 1 and 10 micron particle check and if there is any other bonus readings like VOC's , CO2 and Humidity that's cool also. I can go above $200 if it makes a huge difference ...
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Jul 13, 2019 13:01
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Big K of Justice posted:I've seen a few models of Temtop and Dylos being mentioned, anyone have any suggestions? I don't own one, but Mattias Wandel did a few videos using a Dylos to measure how effective his homemade sawdust collectors & filters were if you want to see it in action. More info on his website too.
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Jul 13, 2019 14:22
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I have trouble keeping my upstairs, particularly my daughter's room in the SW corner of the house (so full sun most of the day), cool without the a/c running constantly. We have an ecobee with the remote sensor in her room. It's been upper 80's or low 90's here for a couple of weeks. With the air running heavily, it'll be 79-81 in her room and 68-70 downstairs. This is a ~2400sq ft house built in the 80's with a single furnace/blower and a/c unit. We have the opposite problem in the winter, with her room being much colder than the rest of the house. The other upstairs bedrooms are usually a couple of degrees better (cooler in summer, warmer in winter) than her room. Vents are open throughout the house, the air blowing into her room feels nice and cold. Is this just something we're stuck with thanks to not having a separate system for upstairs, or is there anything I could do or check to help regulate the temp better?
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Jul 13, 2019 18:15
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brugroffil posted:Vents are open throughout the house, the air blowing into her room feels nice and cold. Have you tried closing (some or entirely) vents on the first floor/other bedrooms to attempt to balance the airflow better? Depending on your duct layout there are also booster fans that can be put in to get more air upstairs. But yes, without zoning and/or a separate upstairs system this is likely to always be at least somewhat of a problem. I'm going to guess with 80s construction you have insufficient and/or one centrally located return downstairs.
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Jul 13, 2019 18:56
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