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Sorry my furnace is in the closet but the ducts run through the crawlspace to each room. The closet is small and the furnace barely fits in there so it makes sense that it would need fresh air to work properly I just wish that air didn't come from my crawlspace. House was built in 1947, looks like a fireplace was removed at some point and I am guessing it had an oil furnace before since that is common here.
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Oct 25, 2022 22:55
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Bird in a Blender posted:I would assume foam insulation is not plenum rated, which means you can't use the attic as a plenum without lining the foam. Even if you decide to do that, does this mean you're covering any vents in your attic? The return air will pull air from any opening, so your attic would need to be sealed up. I'd have to look up smoke rating of whatever your using to be sure, but the danger is that if there is a fire in your attic, you will then pull all that smoke and fumes and blow it through your whole house, which is a very bad thing to happen. There is as I assumed plenum-rated foam, but not shockingly it's super expensive, so yeah, just ducting new returns is infinitely cheaper, thanks for the sanity check.
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Oct 25, 2022 23:04
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Bit of a long shot, but I figured I'd ask for suggestions in this thread (let me know if there's a better one for this kind of thing). I live in a rented apartment that is basically the back quarter of a formerly single family home. My landlady and her family are on the other side and I'm their only tenant. Long story short, my heat hasn't been working lately and she's been unable to find someone who can fix it. Apparently it's a system that not everyone is familiar with. I asked her what type of system it is and she said "Veissmann [presumably a typo for Viessmann] Convey." She said she contacted the company for a list of people in New England who work with their products and the only ones who have answered her calls are too far away and aren't willing to travel. I don't really know anything about this stuff, but anyone have suggestions for how they might find someone?
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Oct 28, 2022 23:48
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EasilyConfused posted:I live in a rented apartment Stop right there. This is not your problem. If your landlord "can't find" (is too cheap to pay for) someone to fix it she is legally bound to replace it. Document communications, research your rights as a tenant. You are absolutely owed a working heating system. Do not get involved past demanding that your heat works. No it doesn't matter if you like her/are just trying to help/are friends. You are paying to not deal with this poo poo.
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Oct 28, 2022 23:56
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EasilyConfused posted:Bit of a long shot, but I figured I'd ask for suggestions in this thread (let me know if there's a better one for this kind of thing). Motronic basically summed up what I was typing. The landlord not being able to get their equipment serviced doesn't make it your responsibility. It sounds like she's exhausted all options to get it repaired so your next response should be "So when is the new unit being installed?" and the answer should be ASAP.
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Oct 28, 2022 23:58
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Motronic posted:Stop right there. SpartanIvy posted:Motronic basically summed up what I was typing. The landlord not being able to get their equipment serviced doesn't make it your responsibility. It sounds like she's exhausted all options to get it repaired so your next response should be "So when is the new unit being installed?" and the answer should be ASAP. Yeah, you're both right. I'll push her on this (not my strong suit).
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Oct 29, 2022 00:07
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Make sure to remind her that even if she does eventually find someone willing to service it, it's probably going to cost a small fortune, and it's not going to be the last time it's going to need to be serviced either. A new and more common style unit is going to be cheaper in the long run to have serviced and repaired.
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Oct 29, 2022 00:16
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EasilyConfused posted:Yeah, you're both right. I'll push her on this (not my strong suit). They’re both completely right. I did the same as you when I rented (for 15 years in different states…military member) and I was always “trying to help them out”. Now that I own and it’s 100% on me…gently caress that. I wish I would have saved all my time I invested in researching companies and getting quotes and all that other poo poo. I paid a premium on my rent so they could pay their mortgage.
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Oct 29, 2022 01:48
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EasilyConfused posted:She said she contacted the company for a list of people in New England who work with their products She probably only takes her car to the dealership too.
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Oct 29, 2022 01:56
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Motronic posted:Stop right there. You know that's not how it works in practice at all right? You don't have rights unless you can drop 5-6 figures on attorneys, and good luck renting from anyone else after doing that. The landlord holds all the cards.
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Oct 29, 2022 18:41
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slurm posted:You know that's not how it works in practice at all right? You don't have rights unless you can drop 5-6 figures on attorneys, and good luck renting from anyone else after doing that. The landlord holds all the cards. Might as well give up then and just do their job for them. Oh wait, I specifically said, and you quoted: Motronic posted:Document communications, research your rights as a tenant.
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Oct 29, 2022 18:50
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slurm posted:You know that's not how it works in practice at all right? You don't have rights unless you can drop 5-6 figures on attorneys, and good luck renting from anyone else after doing that. The landlord holds all the cards. Yes, the landlord might not do anything. But they might. And the fear of some shadowy cabal of landlords forever making you homeless because you dared to complain about not having heat is absurd. Yeah, yeah, if it makes it court it gets publically recorded, but outside of weird fringe situations where you have absolutely no other options, if you push, and they absolutely refuse to budge, you move, you don't go to court. Saying landlords have all the power is silly and defeatist. Does his landlord want to lose a tenant, and then have to find a new tenant who is ok with starting a lease on a place without heat during a New England winter? Or would they rather suck it up and replace the unit, since they'll have to do that to attract a new tenant anyways?
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Oct 30, 2022 12:08
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MRC48B posted:Air to water heat pumps exist, but their performance is kinda crap. The carrier units i'm seeing have max water temps of 140. Hmm, the problem I have with air-air split systems is the upstairs where we have 3 modest rooms plus a small bathroom and it seems crazy to put a wall air handler or ceiling cassette in each room. A ducted air handler in the attic could work, but... ??? I could live without A/C altogether but the last few wildfire smoke seasons were not fun. Maybe find an air-water for heat, add a few rads if needed, and just stick one minisplit in the upstairs hall for cool and suppelemental heat...
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Oct 30, 2022 22:20
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On my second floor none of the rooms have a cold air return, that is big an in the ceiling of the hallway connecting all the rooms. Is there a code requirement for return pass-thru's to be installed above the doors? The doors are flush to the carpet and now the heat doesn't work in those rooms if you leave the door closed.
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Oct 31, 2022 20:35
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knowonecanknow posted:On my second floor none of the rooms have a cold air return, that is big an in the ceiling of the hallway connecting all the rooms. Is there a code requirement for return pass-thru's to be installed above the doors? The doors are flush to the carpet and now the heat doesn't work in those rooms if you leave the door closed. If it's "code" I've never once seen it implemented anywhere I've lived. Of course, everywhere I've lived has had enough return airflow around the edges of a closed door (especially under) to at least get some heating/cooling with the door closed. Every place I've lived before has had only a single return per heat pump, my current place is the only one I've ever seen two returns on one heat pump and that's because I had the second return installed when we had the system replaced last year.
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Oct 31, 2022 22:37
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I dunno if it's code but I put a return the same size as the supply into every room when I did my system and added balancing dampers on every supply for seasonal and room to room size variation. It was much easier than trying to do a full manual-J on a 140 year old as-built with wildly different stud spacing, thickness, and width and at least 3 varieties of sheathing used. The only things I'd change today is I'd put the whole system in the basement instead of saving 20ft of trunk ducts by putting it on the kitchen ceiling, I'd make my filter rack use standard 16x25 filters and design for much thicker filters than 1", and I'd make it a 3.5 or 4 ton, 3 struggles a little on some of the colder and hotter days. Adding over door returns is easy. Make sure there isn't a stud in the way, get a pair of return grilles and a bit of tin, cut tin to length+1/2", bend it into a rectangle, cut corners 1/2" on one end, bend out to form a flange. Cut hole that matches tin on both walls, sheetrock screw pieces of stud blocking in at each end of hole for the grilles to screw to. Foil tape tin in place without going past where the grilles will cover it. Add grilles. Done. You can also slice like half or 3/4 of an inch off the bottom of each door. This is all assuming you own the place, of course.
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Oct 31, 2022 23:56
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kastein posted:Adding over door returns is easy. Make sure there isn't a stud in the way, No tinning necessary, and the stud sticking through the middle won't hurt anything. as long as the top plate board isn't full of holes to leak air to/from unconditioned space, you can straddle the cripple studs above a door, and just use the inside of the wall as plenum. capping off floor joists for use as a return (or supply, although this is frowned upon or verboten now), or using wall cavities for verticle runs was very common practice until recent energy initiatives killed the practice, because they leak like crazy after the building settles.
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Nov 1, 2022 00:24
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Well that's good to know, had no idea half those steps could be skipped.
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Nov 1, 2022 00:48
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thats for returns and transfers only. supply air definitely still needs to be tinned and insulated. and it assumes that your drywall / plaster is actually tight to the studs.
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Nov 1, 2022 01:33
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Landlord was finally able to get an HVAC person to come in this afternoon and by the time I got home it was working again.
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Nov 1, 2022 23:27
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Congrats. I'm glad to hear that worked out the way it should have, even if it took a bit longer. Maybe everyone learned something.
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Nov 2, 2022 00:49
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Thanks for the replies about pass throughs. I just discovered tonight that I have an hvac vent under my kitchen sink. The cabinet was super hot so I went to the basement and found the vent pipe right next to the drain for the sink. I went back upstairs and couldn't find a vent. Plenty of hot air was blasting through the gap between the cabinet and the drain pipe though. I guess they meant to install a toe kick vent thing but never did? I guess my cabinet will enjoy being heated for no reason.
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Nov 4, 2022 01:49
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Or if the cabinets got replaced at some point, they never installed a new one.
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Nov 4, 2022 02:15
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Odd question, I've read that Variable Speed heat pumps are more efficiency at lower operating speed. Given that piece of information does oversizing a variable heat pump make sense from an energy savings standpoint (ignoring, for the moment, the increased install price from more expensive equipment).
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Nov 4, 2022 21:40
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no because you won't make your money back before the equipment is end of lifespan. That said most get slightly oversized anyway because the good turndown ratios ensure there is no penalty for doing so, compared to single speed units which can short cycle (which causes temp swings and humidity control issues)
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Nov 5, 2022 00:50
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Got a little question about some work the landlord is doing in our unit (WA State). He added a dryer vent to our basement unit. Instead of adding a new line to the outside, the contractors connected the new line to the dryer exhaust for the upstairs unit. So now we get a backdraft when they run their dryer. The result is a wet, nasty dryer and smelly clothes. I am not an HVAC guy, but I am an electrician so I've seen a lot of work. I have never seen this done before. It can't be legit, can it?
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Nov 5, 2022 16:25
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Rufio posted:Got a little question about some work the landlord is doing in our unit (WA State). He added a dryer vent to our basement unit. Instead of adding a new line to the outside, the contractors connected the new line to the dryer exhaust for the upstairs unit. So now we get a backdraft when they run their dryer. The result is a wet, nasty dryer and smelly clothes. It's absolutely against the manufacturers installation instructions which almost definitely means it violates code. The only legit way I've seen multiple dryers on the same vent stack is when the vent stack is kept at a negative pressure like in apartment buildings. You don't just hook up a bunch of dryers to the same vent and hope for the best.
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Nov 5, 2022 16:44
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No that’s not legit for the reasons you listed. The downstairs dryer is blowing right into your dryer. It is allowed if they added an exhaust fan on the end to pull the air from both dryers, but doesn’t seem like they did that.
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Nov 5, 2022 16:44
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Thanks for the confirmation. It didn't pass my smell test, but it's not my area of expertise. I took some pictures of the work that I'll send along to city code enforcement. The landlord just kinda shrugged when I alerted him to the potential issue during construction and also when I showed a picture of a bunch of water in our dryer. His only response was offering to come cap off our dryer line.
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Nov 5, 2022 16:51
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That's loving janky and I'd raise hell. The only possible way that would be ok is with a one way flapper valve on each dryers outlet, and I'm not sure that's a good idea for safety reasons, dryer ducts get full of lint and cause fires bad enough when they're normal and neglected, nevermind full of flapper valves and neglected.
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Nov 6, 2022 05:20
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If it is a gas dryer there's a nontrivial chance it is also filling your apartment with carbon monoxide.
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Nov 8, 2022 04:04
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Wanderless posted:If it is a gas dryer there's a nontrivial chance it is also filling your apartment with carbon monoxide. Yup. Call the city inspector and tell them you're worried about dryer exhaust being forced into your unit.
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Nov 8, 2022 23:24
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Motronic posted:It's absolutely against the manufacturers installation instructions which almost definitely means it violates code. Even with the negative pressure vent stack there's a lot of considerations, and given the huge number of fires that start from dryers you can't really wing it. kastein posted:That's loving janky and I'd raise hell. Also causes the two dryers to fight each other if they are both running.
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Nov 9, 2022 07:28
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slurm posted:Even with the negative pressure vent stack there's a lot of considerations, and given the huge number of fires that start from dryers you can't really wing it. Yes, it's an engineered solution. Not "put a fan on the end of the pipe".
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Nov 9, 2022 14:50
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My thermostat has started power cycling at the end of the heat stage. It just kinda turns off, or at least resets when it hits the set temperature and the relays click. I've never been downstairs to watch it so I can't tell exactly how the process starts. It's a 2.5 year old Lennox M30 attached to a Lennox AC and almost as new furnace. It's two weeks for the HVAC company that installed it (and the AC) to come out to check on it. Is there anything to be especially worried about or super easy to fix / check? Assume decent home repair skills and equipment, and new construction. Also, what's the current recommendation for aftermarket thermostats. I hate the M30, it constantly cycles on and off trying to maintain temperature with no way to make it overshoot. I'm looking for something more controllable, doesn't need to be smart or internet connected, and it's just controlling single stage / zone ac and forced air heat.
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Nov 9, 2022 21:05
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Aquila posted:My thermostat has started power cycling at the end of the heat stage. It just kinda turns off, or at least resets when it hits the set temperature and the relays click. I've never been downstairs to watch it so I can't tell exactly how the process starts. It's a 2.5 year old Lennox M30 attached to a Lennox AC and almost as new furnace. It's two weeks for the HVAC company that installed it (and the AC) to come out to check on it. Is there anything to be especially worried about or super easy to fix / check? Assume decent home repair skills and equipment, and new construction. I like my Ecobee3 Lite thermostats. They seem to over and undershoot pretty well so its not constantly cycling. They even have this "comfort" setting (I have my disabled) that just "meh its close enough" to you set temps. Plus they're only 130 USD on amazon right now. Probably can get a deal around black Friday too.
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Nov 9, 2022 22:23
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Maybe this isn't the right thread if it ain't please point me where I should be but I have a question about using my dryer duct to exhaust a painting/3d printing enclosure. I was thinking about putting a Y into the duct with backflow prevention flaps and hooking the vent fan from my painting enclosure up to it. The backflow flaps would stop my paint poo poo from blowing into my dryer and my dryer poo poo from blowing into my painting enclosure. Is this a good or bad idea? If bad, can it be made good? I own the place so I mean I could cut a hole in the wall for a second exhaust but I'm about as handy as a slug with dementia so that idea terrifies me.
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Nov 11, 2022 01:07
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It's a bad idea, 100% against code and likely to cause weird and dangerous problems in the future. It's a sure way to have your homeowners insurance give you a hard time if and when it does cause damage. Do not do this. You're seriously talking about exhausting flammable or explosive vapors in the same ductwork as a heat producing device. Think about that.
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Nov 11, 2022 01:15
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Is your dryer built to overcome the resistance of having to push open a flap damper? check installation manual, but the answer is probably no.
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Nov 11, 2022 01:16
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Motronic posted:Do not do this.
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Nov 11, 2022 06:59
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