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Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Motronic posted:

Uhhh...you shouldn't have opened the furnace to begin with.

You rent. You don't get to do poo poo like this. Your choices for renting are to choose a place where this isn't a problem or to complain.

Well then I'm loving complaining! And I'm not sorry for opening the furnace. Not even a little bit. That's how I learned how hosed this is. They can fix it or I can move out.

I mean...prolly not. This place was actually one of the better options in the area.

MRC48B posted:

What you should do is make your landlord unfuck this. But we're clearly past that point. Refer to the following, it is a mirror image of what you need to accomplish:



Alright, then I can't do it and it was hosed from the beginning. They are going to have to fix this themselves, this is a goddamn nightmare.

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SpartanIvy
May 18, 2007
Hair Elf
I think the filter should go inline further up the air intake, probably wherever it sucks in air from the home. There's definitely nowhere for it to go in the side of it there.

I think your issue isn't a filter but that your system seems to be negative pressure. It can't get enough air from the intakes and so it's sucking in air from the crawlspace/basement and THAT'S where all that dirt is coming from.

e: and for the love of god, flip the breaker off before sticking your hands inside there or anything.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


SpartanIvy posted:

I think the filter should go inline further up the air intake, probably wherever it sucks in air from the home. There's definitely nowhere for it to go in the side of it there.

That metal box where you see a pipe hole leading further down is further up the air intake, where it sucks in air from the home. That’s where all the return vents converge.

The way to fix this is to redo that section where the return vents meet the furnace, i.e. swap the metal box out for something sane. And where the filter can be replaced.

quote:


I think your issue isn't a filter but that your system seems to be negative pressure. It can't get enough air from the intakes and so it's sucking in air from the crawlspace/basement and THAT'S where all that dirt is coming from.

That seems like a reasonable guess. That’d explain where all the gross dust is coming from - the loving dirt floor basement! You said not enough air from the intakes, would that be due to blockage or something?

Either way, the question is whether my landlord’s maintenance people understand this, not me :sigh:

quote:


e: and for the love of god, flip the breaker off before sticking your hands inside there or anything.

Don’t worry, I’m not that stupid.

Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Feb 14, 2020

SpartanIvy
May 18, 2007
Hair Elf
More than likely if that's the issue it's from not a big enough intake, or a too small of diameter pipe. It could also be that there is a filter hidden somewhere and it's so solidly caked with dust from never being replaced that it's the blockage.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Also, just to get a sense of what-the-gently caress: is this, like, dangerous? I get that it's unsanitary and is probably what's aggravating my allergies and asthma, but the question is whether

Boston Renter's Law Website posted:

the problem is a hazard to your health or safety.

If it isn't, then the landlords are probably going to just blow it off. But if it can like, start a loving fire or something, then it's dangerous and legal action-worthy.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
I'm no pro but that pile of poo poo really looks kinda like the idiot who cut that hole in the furnace blower box for the return (standard practice on one like that I think, you cut the size hole you need) just left the pile of fiberboard debris in there after cutting the hole. Also it looks like they completely forgot to install what's called a filter rack in between the return box and the furnace. A filter rack is basically a special section of duct that's got a slot or a door in one side that you put the filter in through. A standard size one - measure that duct cross section where it joins the furnace, but I'm guessing 16x25 like 90% of the ones on the internet - is like a 45 minute project for any skilled sheetmetal worker. Due to my weird Chinesium HVAC unit, crazy space constraints, and perfectionism, it took me an entire day to custom fab a filter rack for my setup, but it was also literally the first sheetmetal work I ever did. It cost a lot of blood too and you'll need like 50-100 bucks in tools just warning you so you probably don't want to do this yourself.

corgski
Feb 6, 2007

Silly goose, you're here forever.

Motronic posted:

Uhhh...you shouldn't have opened the furnace to begin with.

You rent. You don't get to do poo poo like this. Your choices for renting are to choose a place where this isn't a problem or to complain.

What kind of bougie-rear end landlord doesn’t expect tenants to be responsible for their own furnace filters? (and pilot lights if the furnace is old enough)

Opening the furnace to do basic maintenance is no big deal unless you’re in, like, some student housing where they micromanage every aspect of your life.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Death to landlords, IMO.

kastein posted:

I'm no pro but that pile of poo poo really looks kinda like the idiot who cut that hole in the furnace blower box for the return (standard practice on one like that I think, you cut the size hole you need) just left the pile of fiberboard debris in there after cutting the hole.

:wtc: Fiberboard crumbles into a pile of fibrous dust when you cut it? I call bullshit, a square of fiberboard doesn’t just melt away like that.

quote:

Also it looks like they completely forgot to install what's called a filter rack in between the return box and the furnace. A filter rack is basically a special section of duct that's got a slot or a door in one side that you put the filter in through. A standard size one - measure that duct cross section where it joins the furnace, but I'm guessing 16x25 like 90% of the ones on the internet - is like a 45 minute project for any skilled sheetmetal worker. Due to my weird Chinesium HVAC unit, crazy space constraints, and perfectionism, it took me an entire day to custom fab a filter rack for my setup, but it was also literally the first sheetmetal work I ever did. It cost a lot of blood too and you'll need like 50-100 bucks in tools just warning you so you probably don't want to do this yourself.

I’m going to insist on two things:

1. They ensure that no basement dust is getting into the furnace
2. There is a well constructed spot to easily change out the filter on the furnace as needed

If they can’t do this, then their maintenance people are a loving scam and they’re being taken for a ride. Or they’re just evil.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
I mean it is a really big pile, so I may be wrong, because you'd basically have to shred the entire cutout to make that pile. It does look like the same material though? Maybe I have my head up my rear end, the ragged edges of the cut hole gave me the idea.

And yeah it's Boston, it's basically guaranteed to be overpriced. A few of my college buddies moved to Boston (well, Cambridge and slummerville, same difference, overpriced and probably falling down...) And I drat near have a heart attack every time they mention housing prices. I really prefer the central and Western Mass prices though pay is lower of course.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

corgski posted:

What kind of bougie-rear end landlord doesn’t expect tenants to be responsible for their own furnace filters? (and pilot lights if the furnace is old enough)

My apartment in Pasadena they came by quarterly and swapped the filters. I never actually found out where they went as we were never home when they did it. They even gave us a weeks notice. It was by no means a bougie apartment complex and there was a lot of otherwise deferred maintenance going on.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


kastein posted:

slummerville

Guess where I live?

The price-to-sqft for this particular apartment is loving killer for the area, so I have a vested interest in making this work because I’m not ready to spend 1.5hrs commuting once each way very day yet. I am saving up for a house or condo in a suburb like Framingham, though. I just hate the commute :sigh:

However, given this loving gross poo poo, it’s possible that there’s other crap I don’t know about that’s even more dangerous. I’m talking like, Boston’s famous lead paint problem. So...definitely calling inspection services no matter what.

I think I’ve finally started to outgrow renting. Do we have threads for newbie home ownership and home maintenance? It’s time to seriously prepare for buying.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

corgski posted:

What kind of bougie-rear end landlord doesn’t expect tenants to be responsible for their own furnace filters? (and pilot lights if the furnace is old enough)

Opening the furnace to do basic maintenance is no big deal unless you’re in, like, some student housing where they micromanage every aspect of your life.

Properly installed systems don't require opening the furnace to change a filter. Also, when it's a shared system it's typically a building maintenance issue, not a tenant issue.

If the units have their own stuff with an accessible filter, sure - that's sometimes on the tenant, but sometimes not.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Alright, I managed to wrangle the landlord into coming by the apartment, and I showed him in person what I found. He seemed confused about the heating/venting situation and wasn't very knowledgable about it, but shared my concern and asked me to forward the pictures I took and what I learned. I sent off this email to him:

quote:

Hello <landlord>,

So, to start off, the problem I've been seeing is that the forced air heating blows a lot of dust and dust clumps into <my apartment>, covering the apartment in a layer of dust that makes it hard to keep clean.

Last night, after becoming curious as to why so much dust was being blown into the apartment, I decided to kill the power to the furnace and open it up, to either find out where the dust was coming from or change the filter if necessary. Here's what I found.

First, there was a large buildup of dust and dirt inside the furnace itself:





This dust and dirt seems to be mostly from the basement floor, which is mostly unfinished ground. This suggests that there's some sort of leak in the furnace, since it's only supposed to pull from the apartment itself. I removed this large clump of stuff for now, but it's likely still building up over time anyway.

This is definitely not normal - from what I know of HVAC, this implies that the furnace can't pull enough air from the apartment via return vents, and is trying to pull air from the basement instead. The air it's pumping into the apartment would therefore bypass any filtering, so the filter couldn't help here. I don't know what that dust and dirt is, but it's pretty unsanitary and I definitely don't want to breathe it.

Second, I could not find any filter for the furnace. Filters usually go between the furnace and the return vent box, to filter the air coming into the furnace. That doesn't seem to be the case with this heating system.

This is the return vent box to the furnace, from the outside:



Note that there's no visible filter or filter grill to allow a filter to be changed. I then inspected the connection between the furnace and the return box, from the inside of the furnace, and there's no filter there either:



In the foreground is the inside of the furnace, in the background is the back of the return vent box where air from the apartment comes in. Those raggedy edges are a hole cut out of the side of the furnace meant to accommodate a filter grill (to hold the filter, I believe). However, there's no filter grill installed, and therefore no filter. Even if the filter grill or a filter was installed, there's no way to change it without opening up the furnace itself.

Question now is, if the filter isn't between the furnace and the return vent box, where is the filter? I'd love to get guidance from <heating maintenance guy> as to where the filter is. If there isn't one, then that's a problem, as the air supplied to the furnace is meant to be filtered and not filtering it could damage the furnace over time and keep blowing dust into the apartment.

So that's what I found. Basically:

1. the furnace is pulling dust and dirt from the basement into the inside of the furnace itself, bypassing the filters, and
2. I couldn't find any filter installed for the apartment's heating system, and the spot where the filter is usually installed is both difficult to access (you have to open the furnace) and does not have a place to install a filter anyway.

We need to figure out how to stop dust from getting into the furnace, and figure out how to properly install and regularly replace the filter, if there isn't one already.

I do want to impress how important it is to me to fix this, because the dust and dirt makes the apartment difficult to keep clean, and is also unsanitary enough that it's aggravating my allergies and asthma. I'm willing to do whatever is necessary to speed this fix along, as I am very invested in its resolution.

Definitely keep me up to date on the repairs for this problem! Thank you,

<Pollyanna>

He said that no other apartment was reporting these problems, but their setups are identical to mine (same furnaces, same return boxes, probably no filters), so I suspect they're also having problems. He also said that the maintenance guy said that you "can't add a filter to this system, because the furnace is too weak and it would stress it out". That sounds like complete bullshit to me, and I don't buy it.

We'll see if they do something about this. At this point, it's in their hands to fix, and in my hands to probably start thinking about changing my living situation because ew.

Boston sucks.

Motronic posted:

Properly installed systems don't require opening the furnace to change a filter. Also, when it's a shared system it's typically a building maintenance issue, not a tenant issue.

If the units have their own stuff with an accessible filter, sure - that's sometimes on the tenant, but sometimes not.

This is my own individual, per-apartment system. Still no accessible filter, and in fact, not even the landlord knows where the filter is, if there is one.

EDIT: You know, the more I look at this picture, the more I wonder if this is connection here is something that can be replaced outright.



Unscrew that box, cut the vents, consolidate them further up where they're closer together, replace with one of these boxy looking fellows that takes a filter grill installation between it and the furnace:



That can't possibly be prohibitively difficult. Right? There's no way this isn't possible.

Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Feb 14, 2020

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
It's possible, but that doesn't look like the 16x25 standard one I mentioned and I don't know what size it actually is. Nor what it would cost to replace professionally. At this point I could probably diy a rack for it in under an hour but again, stitches and blood loss are a rite of passage in the sheetmetal industry, and it requires licensing if you're not working on your own property.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Yeah I’m not loving doing it, someone else would.

Heating guy’s here. Apparently adding a filter will still cause dust to enter the furnace, since it’s a dirt basement and there’s not enough of a seal formed by the filter insert to keep it out. Seems suspect, but they want to do a minimal amount of work, so :/. Due to the fact that the dust is all from the basement and not for my apartment, he said the only other option is to prevent dust from getting into the furnace at all. Looks like the main approach here is to:

1. Seal up any seams in the return box, return vents, and furnace where dust could get in (accomplished using a torchlight, foil tape, and a caulk gun)
2. Install filters in the return vents that are more accessible and easier to replace. The kinds you cut to fit. (I’m considering changing those vent grills to something else that isn’t old as poo poo since they’re not even screwed down)

I am unconvinced that the problem is 100% fixed, but we’ll see how it goes. I still think there’s gross dirt and crap in the ducts, no real commitment regarding vac-ing those or anything.

Eh, at least they tried. Still gonna think about where I’ll rent next.

corgski
Feb 6, 2007

Silly goose, you're here forever.

Motronic posted:

Properly installed systems don't require opening the furnace to change a filter. Also, when it's a shared system it's typically a building maintenance issue, not a tenant issue.

Eh, one of the shitholes I rented definitely had a furnace where the filter was installed in the bottom half by the blower and held in against the intake with little bits of spring steel. It may not have been factory but it definitely looked like it was.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


gently caress it, honestly. The best I can do right now is add filters to the return vents. :sigh:

In that case, I need to buy two 8x10 floor registers and one 6x10 floor register, cause my current ones are old and extremely wide. Do they make floor registers that make it easy to add filters for?

EDIT: Like, this isn't the right size I need, but it has some sort of bottom where the filter could go. Are these okay to use for air return ducts? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2DgUwlghGY

Also, is it just me, or does this supply register's damper not work at all? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh0hc89Efb8 This is in my bathroom and it is the hottest room in my apartment and there is literally no reason for that to be the case and yet I can't shut it off

(It's an angled baseboard(?) register that points up, in case you can't tell)

And I know I shouldn't be trying to do all this myself. Consider it optimistic practice for future home ownership. :shrug:

Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Feb 14, 2020

The Slack Lagoon
Jun 17, 2008



Just moved to a new place last week. My HVAC system was pretty quiet. I replaced the filter (it was absolutely filthy and I have no idea when it was changed last). Now when the blower is running the vents are pretty loud with the wooshing sound of air, and the return vents are pretty audible as well.

Is it possible/would it be appropriste to lower the blower fan speed?

Bird in a Blender
Nov 17, 2005

It's amazing what they can do with computers these days.

It's most likely not possible to change the fan speed, most residential units are single speed, but you would need to post the make and model of your unit for anyone to have a clue if that's possible or not. Even if it was possible, changing the fan speed is going to affect the performance of your unit, and could potentially cause your coil to freeze up when it's in cooling due to lack of air flow.

brugroffil
Nov 30, 2015


You could try a more restrictive/higher rated filter. We have to go to the cheapest fiberglass ones in the winter otherwise our furnace overheats itself, and it's noticeably louder than the thicker ones we run in the summer.

The Slack Lagoon
Jun 17, 2008



brugroffil posted:

You could try a more restrictive/higher rated filter. We have to go to the cheapest fiberglass ones in the winter otherwise our furnace overheats itself, and it's noticeably louder than the thicker ones we run in the summer.

I ordered some better filters from Amazon - the Ace a block away only had a lovely 30 day filter.

MRC48B
Apr 2, 2012

brugroffil posted:

You could try a more restrictive/higher rated filter. We have to go to the cheapest fiberglass ones in the winter otherwise our furnace overheats itself, and it's noticeably louder than the thicker ones we run in the summer.

Yo you may want to check things like fan speed settings, blower wheel clean, ac coil is clean, and if the gas pressure is correct if you have this problem.

Fiberglass filters are bad and terrible and you shouldn't use them. Landlords love them because they are technically "A Filter" that they only have to change yearly because they don't catch poo poo.

corgski
Feb 6, 2007

Silly goose, you're here forever.

To understand just how much of a project I’d be getting myself into with a house I might be buying - What would my options be for replumbing an old hot water radiator heating system? Currently it’s two pipe and plumbed mostly with extremely corroded cast iron but also some amount of copper.

Some basic research suggests that pex-al-pex home run from each radiator to a manifold in the basement is the modern way of doing it, and as a bonus that would allow for zoned heat between all 3 floors. I’m already resigned to opening up the ceilings since I also have to repair a not insignificant amount of handyman electrical fuckups, but I fear patching up the current system with new cast iron or copper pipe is just kicking the can down the road.

Am I on the right path or is there anything else I should be aware of when approaching a repair like this?

corgski fucked around with this message at 08:03 on Feb 21, 2020

Bird in a Blender
Nov 17, 2005

It's amazing what they can do with computers these days.

My house has an old bypass humidifier attached to the discharge of the furnace. It's an Aprilaire model 440, and from what I can tell, it's long discontinued. It has never worked for the four years I've owned the home, and since it's so old I'm thinking of just replacing it. It also has a saddle valve tapped into my incoming water service that I'm going to replace with an angle stop because I hate saddle valves.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a replacement? Home Depot sells a couple different Honeywell models that get mixed reviews. Replacing it shouldn't be too hard, I might have to run some new flex from the existing bypass duct to the new humidifier, and I might have to change the hole size in the main duct to accommodate a new humidifier.

Or are these things a waste of my time? My house gets really dry in the winter, like 25-30% RH from the cheap sensor I move around the house. I've done little room humidifiers, and those suck and are mostly a waste of energy.

Gin_Rummy
Aug 4, 2007
So I’ve decided I will replace my own ductwork (as briefly discussed a few pages back). I've got all my duct sizing and lengths accoutned for, for the most part, however, I have two junction boxes in my system that I'm not quite sure how to replace.

The second junction box splits off four ways from a 10" supply, which itself is a split off of a three-way split coming from a 12" supply. So I have a junction box that splits a bunch of ways, including to another junction box that splits a bunch of ways. Do I have to build new junction boxes myself, or is there a pre-made part commonly sold in HVAC stores that I just can't find?

B-Nasty
May 25, 2005

Bird in a Blender posted:

Or are these things a waste of my time? My house gets really dry in the winter, like 25-30% RH from the cheap sensor I move around the house. I've done little room humidifiers, and those suck and are mostly a waste of energy.

Do you have a specific problem the lower humidity is causing? I've just about given up on the evaporative humidifiers, because they are all garbage that break easily, can risk floods, and rust out your furnace quicker. The steam units work much better, but they are very expensive to run.

In my case, considering I'm not storing priceless art or wooden musical instruments, I just deal with the low humidity.

Bird in a Blender
Nov 17, 2005

It's amazing what they can do with computers these days.

B-Nasty posted:

Do you have a specific problem the lower humidity is causing? I've just about given up on the evaporative humidifiers, because they are all garbage that break easily, can risk floods, and rust out your furnace quicker. The steam units work much better, but they are very expensive to run.

In my case, considering I'm not storing priceless art or wooden musical instruments, I just deal with the low humidity.

Part of it is that my wife complains all the time about how dry the house is. She thinks it aggravates her allergies. So it's mostly a comfort thing. I do have some furniture, like my dining room table that visibly shrinks in the winter, but that's a pretty minor issue.

MRC48B
Apr 2, 2012

Bird in a Blender posted:


Or are these things a waste of my time? My house gets really dry in the winter, like 25-30% RH from the cheap sensor I move around the house. I've done little room humidifiers, and those suck and are mostly a waste of energy.

not a waste of time, but just know that whatever you buy is going to be a cheaply made pile of crap, because there are no good options in that market segment.

Bird in a Blender
Nov 17, 2005

It's amazing what they can do with computers these days.

Good to know. I’ll probably still put one in to at least give it a whirl. If it breaks in a few years then at least I can tell my wife I’m not going to keep replacing it.

Deceptive Thinker
Oct 5, 2005

I'll rip out your optics!
I've got a few questions after scouring the thread a bit, primarily to verify if my instincts are correct.

We moved into a new (22 year old) home in August, and the upstairs AC condenser is on its last legs. We had a tech come out and charge it with R22 to survive the rest of the summer, but he basically told us the same thing the home inspectors and energy company did; it needed to be replaced. The downstairs unit isn't in the best condition but works well, and our boiler is in solid working order. Our heat uses a hydronic air system that utilizes the same air handlers as the AC.

I started getting quotes to replace it, and I'm learning that it requires more work than I initially anticipated.
Both quotes I've gotten so far involve replacing the air handler and condenser because of the switch from R-22 to R-410a. Removing the old air handler out of the attic, disconnecting and reconnecting the pipes for the heat zone in addition to the refrigerant lines. Both also told me that the refrigerant lines going from the condenser to the air handler can be flushed and re-used as long as there are no leaks, otherwise they'll need to run new lines outside.

The two quotes I've gotten have different SEER numbers for the outside unit, and they both use different brands for the air handler - should I ask the contractors for additional quotes or adjustments with different SEER rated units, or will that matter little overall?
Is there anything else that I should consider or be concerned with for this? I'm getting one additional quote later this week.


On a related note, when we moved in, the house was wired with Nest thermostats which I hate and I'm planning on using this opportunity to replace them with Ecobees. The upstairs thermostat what I can only describe as a very strange wiring setup. There are 5 wires (red, yellow, white, blue, green) - it appears as if there is a C wire (blue), but the system only actually works if that wire is connected to Rc, not C, and I know I need a C for Ecobee. There's another (red) wire that is connected to Rh. Downstairs we have 6 wires (+black) and the black wire in this case is C.
Is this something that they'll be able to correct fairly easily when they install the new air handler? Why would my system need a separate Rh and Rc or is it just wired incorrectly?

Meaty Ore
Dec 17, 2011

My God, it's full of cat pictures!

My wife and I are looking to replace our current, obsolete furnace after a key component died on us. The HVAC company that looked at it gave us estimates of about $1000 to repair the current unit or $1900 to replace with a newer unit of the same efficiency. Obviously we're replacing the unit, but I was wondering if I should get an estimate on a more efficient furnace--the above quote was for an 80% efficiency unit, and I understand modern furnaces can do better than that. Our house is about 1300 square feet, single level and no basement. Complicating factors is that I'm currently out of work (finishing my Bachelor's) and will already be spending a few thousand on a field school course required for a job in my degree area. We have enough in savings to cover a furnace that costs about twice as much, but it's going to hurt either way. Is financing worth considering, given that I'm expecting to be back at work in a few months?

MRC48B
Apr 2, 2012

Deceptive Thinker posted:


On a related note, when we moved in, the house was wired with Nest thermostats which I hate and I'm planning on using this opportunity to replace them with Ecobees. The upstairs thermostat what I can only describe as a very strange wiring setup. There are 5 wires (red, yellow, white, blue, green) - it appears as if there is a C wire (blue), but the system only actually works if that wire is connected to Rc, not C, and I know I need a C for Ecobee. There's another (red) wire that is connected to Rh. Downstairs we have 6 wires (+black) and the black wire in this case is C.
Is this something that they'll be able to correct fairly easily when they install the new air handler? Why would my system need a separate Rh and Rc or is it just wired incorrectly?

Your system is a bit different from your "standard" household setup because you're using hot water heat and cooling.

The c in "Rc" stands for cooling. so that should be the R wire from the cooling section. same with the h in Rh.

so when you want cooling the stat connects Rc to Y and G, which starts the blower and condenser outside. when you want heat, it connects Rh to W (and maybe G, depending), which calls for the hot water circ pump and boiler.

If you don't have another wire in the cable to act as a C for upstairs, then you are probably going to want to run a cable with more wires in it. did you pull the baseplate off the wall and check if they folded an extra wire back into the wall?


Meaty Ore posted:

My wife and I are looking to replace our current, obsolete furnace after a key component died on us. The HVAC company that looked at it gave us estimates of about $1000 to repair the current unit or $1900 to replace with a newer unit of the same efficiency. Obviously we're replacing the unit, but I was wondering if I should get an estimate on a more efficient furnace--the above quote was for an 80% efficiency unit, and I understand modern furnaces can do better than that.

this is entirely a financial question, not a heating one. how long are you keeping the house, do new hvac systems add to the home value in your area.
find your heating bills then calculate the difference of 80% vs 90 or higher. then remember they get those efficiency numbers on a test stand with a perfect unit and a perfect installation, so it's not money in the bank.

borkencode
Nov 10, 2004
My upstairs furnace has been acting a bit wonky for a while now, it seems like it's doing two different things.
1. Cutting off early when heat is still being called for.
2. Not starting at all when heat is called. (Turning it off for a while, then back on gets it to kick back on, then runs until temp set).

Last night I was able to short the wires in the furnace, and it ran just fine, making me think it was the thermostat. Today I messed with the thermostat, tightening the connections, replacing the battery, and it came on, but turned off early. So I'm not sure which end is the problem.

tater_salad
Sep 15, 2007


I'm no expert but sounds like a bad thermostat... Grab a new one.

MRC48B
Apr 2, 2012

Start with a different known-good stat. you said "upstairs"? swap it with the downstairs and see if the problem moves down there.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
Do you have the thermostat anticipator set right?

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Dust continues to cake my bathroom and kitchen. :sigh: Less than before, but I still come home to a layer of dust on my toilet and bathroom sink. Plus, I'm changing my cat's water filters a lot more than usual.

Made some changes, too. I replaced the grille for this supply vent with an actual register:



Perfect fit. Bit of a pain to change the damping on, but it's better than what was there before.





I also bought these kinda-lovely magnetic covers for these two supply vents that spew dust all the time. I don't need heating in the bathroom or kitchen at all, the bathroom gets heated by hot water in the shower and the kitchen gets a little heat from the oven whenever I use it. I'm hoping to 1. heat up the living room and bedroom more than those two rooms and 2. stop getting dust spewed from those two vents.

Is there a reason I shouldn't do that? I don't remember anything from fluid dynamics, but I assume that this would just redirect the flow of air to the living room and bedroom instead.

EDIT: Doesn't matter, the airflow is too strong for the covers :negative:

Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 02:20 on Mar 8, 2020

borkencode
Nov 10, 2004
Well, I think I fixed my issue. I was trying to bypass the thermostat and just connecting the wires at that end directly, and the fan worked but nothing happened when I connected up the heat. Looked at the furnace again and while poking around I found that one of the connections coming off the transformer was extremely loose. I tightened it up and everything seems to be working correctly again. Explains why it would work occasionally when I would try and diagnose it, if I bumped the connection back together, but then vibrations from it running would eventually make it fail.

GWBBQ
Jan 2, 2005


I have a typical mid century New England house with an oil furnace and one heating zone for upstairs, one for downstairs. The occupants of the three bedrooms all have different preferences for heating based on who likes it warm, who likes it cool, who needs it cranked way up because they have cancer, and some rooms get hotter than others because of size, orientation toward the sun, number of windows, etc. My dad died in 2002 and therefore nobody has the authority to demand that the thermostat not be touched.

Ideally, I would run new plumbing, circulator pumps, thermostats, and create separate zones for each room, but that would be far more expensive and labor intensive than I'm willing to go for. I do have access to everything from a semi-finished basement with drop ceiling in the finished areas. Would it be reasonable, safe, and code compliant to make the offending radiators adjustable by putting in a section of pipe with manually operated valves to create a bypass loop and probably a check valve on the outflow side?

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Gin_Rummy
Aug 4, 2007
Re: my DIY ductwork from a few pages back

Quick recap:
The airflow in my system is currently very satisfactory, however my ductwork (a) is all shot (oldschool Goodman flex duct... falls apart when you touch it) and leaking like a sieve, and (b) all lying on the floor of the attic.


Will I be completely loving up the current feel of my system if I replace what I have with R8 flex in the exact same duct sizes, splits, and runs that I have now, but suspended from the ceiling? It will definitely introduce new bends, longer lengths of line, etc, but will that fundamentally change the airflow to each room? Any quote I've gotten from an HVAC contractor includes a complete redesign, and I both don't feel a need nor want to pay for it since the house cools pretty well as-is, even with the air leaks, so I'm hoping that I can just replace what I have on my own.

Additional side question, assuming this IS okay, would I be alright to further increase my adjustability to the system by adding dampers to each run, or does that run a risk of ruining the current "feel" of things?

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