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H110Hawk posted:Awesome! Enjoy it coming out of the seams of your house for years to come. (At least, any time I opened up something a poof of it would come out.) Future me can simply refer to past me’s energy bills if he gets salty about the poo poo going everywhere doing work in the walls. Now I just gotta do the rim joists and (in spring) the attic.
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Dec 11, 2023 19:14
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the yeti posted:Future me can simply refer to past me’s energy bills if he gets salty about the poo poo going everywhere doing work in the walls. Yeah it's fine just remember that any time you open an outlet cover or whatever you want to have a dust buster handy.
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Dec 11, 2023 19:17
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Well, the technician came out yesterday afternoon and confirmed that the inducer motor was overheating on high. Everything else with the system is operating perfectly. He was unable to see any inventory for the part because apparently carrier has discontinued the inducer part and substituted in another. They won't say what the substitute part number is; you have to call. He called but got placed on hold for a while and then automatically sent to voicemail the instant the clock ticked to 4:30 PM (when the local Carrier parts warehouse closes). This morning he was able to get through and they said that they had the bare motor in stock but the housing assembly that went with it was backordered. He went by to see the motor in person to compare to photos he took of the current one to figure it would be possible to install just the motor, but when he got there to pick it up it was not the right motor at all. So now we have to wait for the entire inducer assembly to be backordered and shipped to the local warehouse. The estimated turnaround is over a month.
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Dec 12, 2023 17:52
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And this is why I don't buy high efficiently equipment for my own use. There are certainly arguments to be made, but when it gets down to the actual numbers - realistic ones, not optimistic ones from lab testing - the payout periods are long if they even exist and crap like this makes it not worthwhile. You're better off spending the extra money on insulation or better windows or whatever. Then you can mostly use common repair parts and "universal" style boards and motors.
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Dec 12, 2023 18:01
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I think we're just in the appliance equivalent of the automotive Malaise Era. Companies are trying to rig discrete electronics and on/off sensors to implement increasingly complex control schemes using components that are essentially old technology with some minor tweaks to allow integration (but which also wreck cross compatibility). Except the appliance companies don't have the same excuse that the car companies had because integrated systems capable of reliably implementing control schemes much more complex than any home appliance would ever need are extremely well proven technology. Appliance manufacturers are trying to make an unholy complex abomination of a carburetor work when there's a direct fuel injection system right loving there they just need to bite the bullet and learn to use it.
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Dec 12, 2023 19:28
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Got another quote for our heat pump TXV replacement, $3k instead of $4k. They also seemed the most competent out of the three companies we had come out. So I guess I'll be happy about it?
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Dec 12, 2023 20:21
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20 minutes sustained second-stage operation without a hitch when it would shut down after 12 before. New inducer motor gets warm but it seems to be coming from being adjacent to 400°F exhaust. It settles into a steady state while running.  I'm going to hold onto the old motor until the installing company calls saying they got the warranty replacement, then swap it back in so they can install their replacement. I'll keep the assembly I got as a backup and eat the $600 labor charge as the cost of keeping the (two year old!) system under warranty for a bit longer in case something stupid expensive breaks. Edit: the thermostat is also now wired to properly control furnace staging. Shifty Pony fucked around with this message at 12:00 on Dec 22, 2023 |
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Dec 22, 2023 11:24
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Actually I'm reconsidering now, might just cancel the replacement and say gently caress it to the warranty since the company that bought the installing company is known as being very expensive and any expensive part beyond my ability to swap in is going to come with such a stupidly high labor charge to replace that I'd almost certainly be better off going with a different HVAC company.
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Dec 22, 2023 18:58
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Unless they can tie your repair to a future warranty issue they can't deny you legally. In effect that's an uphill battle but small claims court is cheap and easy! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson%E2%80%93Moss_Warranty_Act Plus you can complain to the state about them.
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Dec 22, 2023 19:09
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I've got a bit of an ongoing mystery that I'm hoping you'll have some answers to. Fair warning: it's half based on guesses about what's happening, since no one has actually been able to identify the cause. About two years ago, I got a Rheem heat pump (RH1T2417STANJA) installed in the attic, replacing an older heat pump that had died and couldn't be repaired. After only a couple of months, it would randomly stop working and make this... bizarre, very low rumbling noise. It sounds kind of like a truck going by two streets away. When that happens, no air flows; the fan doesn't spin, even though the outside unit is fine. It needs to be power cycled to fix it. The HVAC installer came back out and diagnosed the problem as the air intake not being large enough. They opened up a larger hole in the wall, and then sent me back on my way. It was fine for about six months, and then it started happening again. This time, the HVAC people weren't able to figure out what was causing it. They thought it might be a bad control board, so they ordered a replacement one of them. Didn't seem to fix anything. It was maddening, because when they showed up to fix it, half the time it'd have randomly started working again. About a year ago, after coincidentally watching Technology Connections' video on why old fans have their power switch positioned "off, high, medium, low", I realized that the problem could be the fan stalling. The plumbers agreed with me, and we tested it by putting the thermostat to "Fan On" mode, instead of auto -- which fixed it, or at least, it coincidentally stopped happening around that time. That bandaid brings us to now. Over the last few days, it's started happening again -- usually in the late evening or the night. The thermostat is still set to "Fan On", but that's no longer helping. As always, a simple power cycle seems to fix it -- but not only is that getting very tiresome, I'm also worried it's doing long-term damage to the heat pump for it to be sitting and having the fan stalled out for a couple of hours before I notice and fix it. If the stall is even what's happening! I'm no longer confident that my diagnosis was ever correct. From what I read online, this can happen if the motor capacitor is faulty. Except... the model heat pump I have uses an electrically commutated motor (aka a brushless DC motor), which to my knowledge, isn't supposed to /have/ this kind of problem. There's a motor control board, but if the problem was that... wouldn't it just never work? Like, if the sequencing of the electrical impulses is wrong, wouldn't the fan just never move, no matter if it's going to high or low? The control board in the HVAC could be bad, but... the motor control is on a daughter board, and to my knowledge, all the control board is doing is giving it power and telling it "yo high plz". What about the motor itself? It certainly could be broken somehow, but how would it break in such a way that it only seemingly has problems when starting, sometimes, but yet is fine most of the time? I'm at my wit's end here. I don't want to call the HVAC people out again without knowing exactly what I'm going to ask them to do, since they've shown themselves unable to actually fix the problem. The manufacturer doesn't deign to speak to Help me, R-410A, you're my only hope!
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Dec 23, 2023 07:09
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Tell them to come out and make it work. "Fan On" is at best running up your electric bill. After a few tries of them not being able to figure it out ask when you get a whole new unit. That would be this call out by my counting. You paid good money for a brand name unit that works reliably. They have yet to deliver that. "I'm getting really tired of needing to call you guys out over and over for this brand new unit. When do we talk about it being just DOA and needing to be replaced wholesale?"
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Dec 23, 2023 07:21
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GoonyMcGoonface posted:I can't imagine Rheem would be OK with the HVAC techs putting in a warranty request to replace the entire control unit, ECU, and motor all at the same time That’s between the techs, their boss, and Rheem tbh. It’s new and you shouldn’t have to do their dx work for them.
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Dec 23, 2023 17:08
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I'm always surprised by the dichotomy of new vs used appliance service. New and under warranty: We have to parts cannon the whole thing one piece at a time over 6 months and a dozen visits Used and out of warranty: Touching this one piece will cost $4,000, or you can pay us $4,500 to replace the whole thing
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Dec 23, 2023 17:38
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I had three companies come check out my bad TXV, one got me a quote in 3 days, one in 6 days, and one, whom I paid $350 to come look at my heat pump, has yet to give me a quote after 18 days, which will likely turn into 30+ because of the holiday. Not going to lie, charge to diagnose but never offer repair seems like a pretty good scam.
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Dec 23, 2023 22:56
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Sudden Loud Noise posted:I had three companies come check out my bad TXV, one got me a quote in 3 days, one in 6 days, and one, whom I paid $350 to come look at my heat pump, has yet to give me a quote after 18 days, which will likely turn into 30+ because of the holiday. It's only a scam if your not doing the actual diagnostics or overcharging for them. This is the constant problem with working for the public with things like this or car repair. People actually think all you do is plug in the code reader and it tells you what to replace - probably because that's what autozone/advance auto uses as a business model these days. It's still annoying. High speed parts swapping is something an apprentice can do. Actual diagnostics takes time and education/understanding and often a bunch of experience helps to triage the diagnosis.
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Dec 23, 2023 23:07
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Motronic posted:It's only a scam if your not doing the actual diagnostics or overcharging for them. Totally, but that doesn’t have anything to do with my situation. It was diagnosed by three different companies, all of which gave their diagnosis in person after around an hour of investigation. All three gave the same diagnosis. All three told me to expect an estimate and scheduling for repairs in 2-7 days, but warned that actual repair timelines would be weeks due to part availability and scheduling. Two actually provided those estimates. One hasn’t. I’m not saying it is an illegal scam. The most likely scenario is not one of malice but of poor business practices and organization.
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Dec 23, 2023 23:23
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Sudden Loud Noise posted:I’m not saying it is an illegal scam. The most likely scenario is not one of malice but of poor business practices and organization. That's a very different conclusion than the post I responded to. I get it...you're frustrated. This is all poor customer service at best. But no, diagnosing things for pay is not "a pretty good scam". It's literally some people's entire job/profession.
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Dec 23, 2023 23:26
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I'm trying to figure out if something is wrong with my baseboard system. I can hear an almost continuous trickle sound through the baseboards when the system is running and none of the baseboards seem particularly hot (I can touch the fins no problem). They're warm and theyve been able to keep the house at 70 degrees when my heat pump kicks off at temps below 25 outside, but it seems like the furnace is running a lot more often than it used to. What's changed is I had to drain everything this summer to reroute some pipes (I had to add 2 additional 90 degree bends to get around a new beam). I've bled all the baseboards with the system on 2-3 times and the water that comes out is hot as poo poo. Do I just need to keep bleeding or is the trickle sound indicating low pressure or something? I never paid attention to the system before so I can't remember how hot the baseboards got. I do remember everything used to make a flushing sound as the system came on but it was never a long trickle.
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Dec 23, 2023 23:34
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Motronic posted:That's a very different conclusion than the post I responded to. I get it...you're frustrated. This is all poor customer service at best. But no, diagnosing things for pay is not "a pretty good scam". It's literally some people's entire job/profession. Yeah, I agree. Apologies for the confusion, wasn't my intention.
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Dec 23, 2023 23:39
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a dingus posted:I'm trying to figure out if something is wrong with my baseboard system. I can hear an almost continuous trickle sound through the baseboards when the system is running and none of the baseboards seem particularly hot (I can touch the fins no problem). They're warm and theyve been able to keep the house at 70 degrees when my heat pump kicks off at temps below 25 outside, but it seems like the furnace is running a lot more often than it used to. What's changed is I had to drain everything this summer to reroute some pipes (I had to add 2 additional 90 degree bends to get around a new beam). I've bled all the baseboards with the system on 2-3 times and the water that comes out is hot as poo poo. You are air locked. Make sure your system pressure is good and keep bleeding.
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Dec 24, 2023 00:03
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Sounds like it. Also make sure any bleeders or air scoops you have in the system are working as well as the water feeding system. In a well designed and properly operating system this should pretty much take care of itself.
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Dec 24, 2023 00:11
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Thanks I'll have to check the air scoop/purge thing and make sure my water feed is on. I know I turned it on to fill the system but I don't know if I turned it off (now I assume it should be on). Hopefully it's just that and the air purge is sticky or something. Guess I'll just keep bleeding it.
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Dec 24, 2023 00:45
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a dingus posted:Thanks I'll have to check the air scoop/purge thing and make sure my water feed is on. I know I turned it on to fill the system but I don't know if I turned it off (now I assume it should be on). Hopefully it's just that and the air purge is sticky or something. Guess I'll just keep bleeding it. I'm not someone who leaves the auto feed on. But I think most people probably should and even I would be leaving it on for a period of time after draining and refilling a system. It's required to make your purge system(s) work if they happen to work at all. You should also just go ahead and check your expansion tank to see if it has any air in it/a broken bladder before you go through all this bleeding.
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Dec 24, 2023 01:30
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Heyo, so looking for tips on my steam boiler again. March 2023, I had a new steam boiler installed when my old one started leaking. First is pressure, the installer left the pressure at ~5 cut out, with ~3 cut in, which I think is too high, so I adjusted it down 2psi cut out, .5 cut in. I have a small house, ~900 sqft. There's five radiators, and the main run goes the length of the house (35ft run). The main vent is pictured here:  Since the new boiler was installed, I've noticed that the vent occassional spurts some water. It happens when the system comes on from cold, and when the first steam is moving down the pipe. It hits the vent, spurts some water and then closes. At first I thought the vent was bad, so I replaced it with my spare, which also did it. I thought maybe the spare (which sat in a box for a year) was bad, so put the old one back on and bought a new one. That also spurted, so I know it's not the vent. They are all Gorton No 1s. I did some research on main vents, and I think that I have a bigger issue. The new boiler is smaller and more efficient, so it gets steam in the pipe way faster. I think the problem is that the main vent isn't sufficient for the load, and also:  from here: https://www.peerlessboilers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/OnePipeSteam.pdf I think that the vent needs a riser, and maybe a manifold to gang them. The fitting is 3/4, can I just get some black pipe from HD and make my own manifold?  Any thoughts? It's not an urgent thing, the house gets warm, and it's not spraying more than an half ounce a day, but I don't want to leave it too long.
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Dec 28, 2023 01:11
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Super-NintendoUser posted:First is pressure, the installer left the pressure at ~5 cut out, with ~3 cut in, which I think is too high, so I adjusted it down 2psi cut out, .5 cut in. Why. Whatever the previous boiler was set to is the correct pressure the system piping is sized for.
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Dec 28, 2023 04:04
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MRC48B posted:Why.  Every single recommendation I've seen for a boiler (including the old one I had before) had the recommendation for ~2psi.
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Dec 28, 2023 13:45
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Before Christmas I noticed my heat was dropping a few degrees below set temp, but eventually would get back up. I have an outdoor gas/electric package unit and when this was happening, I'd notice that it sounded like it was firing outside, for a long time, but the blower wouldn't cut on. I had a guy out to look at it, but the unit was working fine while he was here. He said the heat exchanger looked fine and he cleaned the flame sensor and pressure switch, but it seemed like the inducer motor was over amping so I should consider replacing that, and it would be like $1100. I didn't end up doing that at the time because it didn't seem to be happening very frequently, but it's been pretty bad the last couple of days. However, I'm not sure the inducer motor thing makes sense. Just based on my idiot googling it seems like if the inducer motor was crapping out, the furnace wouldn't ignite or stay ignited. However, mine sounds like it's staying lit (and is exhausting through the flue) for a long time or maybe indefinitely. Maybe the dude mixed up the blower and inducer motors on the invoice? edit: Fan is set to "auto", when it comes on it will only run a couple minutes and then stop, while it sounds like the furnace is still ignited. Fan will run when set to "on" though. Thufir fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Dec 28, 2023 |
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Dec 28, 2023 18:25
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It needs to be diagnosed again. Check cap(s) on the blower motor, check amps on the blower motor and inducer for good measure. It should be going off on high limit after firing for a while if the blower doesn't start. The sensor for the blower could also be bad. On its own or in addition to the blower motor itself being bad. $1100 for a blower motor in a package unit sounds like an FU price. E: your update indicates the blower motor temp sensor if that's what your unit has.
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Dec 28, 2023 18:32
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Yeah I think I'll find someone else to call. Also, when I set the fan to "on", it doesn't seem like the air that blows is as warm as I would expect, is it possible the furnace is lit but burning improperly and not reaching a temp high enough to get the fan limit switch to cut on?
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Dec 28, 2023 19:09
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Thufir posted:Yeah I think I'll find someone else to call. Also, when I set the fan to "on", it doesn't seem like the air that blows is as warm as I would expect, is it possible the furnace is lit but burning improperly and not reaching a temp high enough to get the fan limit switch to cut on? Anything is possible at this point. Some things are just more likely than others. Speculating without eyes and tools on it isn't really useful. If I were in your position I would also find a different place to come out.
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Dec 28, 2023 19:16
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Super-NintendoUser posted:Heyo, so looking for tips on my steam boiler again. March 2023, I had a new steam boiler installed when my old one started leaking. Call your installer, this was warranty work. Put it back how you found it.
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Dec 28, 2023 19:41
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In an effort to make some additional space in my bathroom, hopefully expanding usable shower area and in time, the ability to remove half of the current air return ducting currently in my den, I'd like to direct my return to the downstairs hallway: The current returns are placed in the center of my upstairs area. One, directly above the unit and another 10 feet down the run. The outlets are run down the joists to each room, several line the downstairs area as well. Aside from my goal of terminating the current return, my thought is that this would circulate more air in the house? I can't imagine having a tech run a 12" run of return to the nearest wall would be expensive but please school me. I have been re-framing, re-plumbing and rewiring this whole dumb house, so if it is possible for a homeowner to do, I'm interested in that as well. While the unit itself is quite old, after replacing the sequencers it seems to be running reliably. I'd like to pause on replacing or moving the unit itself (but the wall pictured is a firetaped garage wall, so it shouldn't be an issue in the future.
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Dec 29, 2023 00:49
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Super-NintendoUser posted:
Sorry, that previous post was short and crabby. Lots of school district projects this week. If your previous boiler was set for that range then you are right and the installer is wrong. The "Rule of thumb" doesn't matter though. MOST steam systems are indeed sized for 2psi, but not all. The Sears/willis tower famously ran on 1/2 psi steam, while most industrial plants run much, much higher. Pressure needed is determined by the design enginerd when they size the pipes and radiators. You can use regular black iron npt fittings just fine, but H110Hawk is correct. This is a warranty issue. Make them fix it, but forget you touched it at all since you noticed the leak.
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Dec 29, 2023 03:42
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I recently moved into a house with an oil furnace, my first time dealing with oil heat. The furnace is a Thermo Pride OH2-56D with notes on it saying it was last serviced in 2020 for a "tune-up and fan control". It was also inspected within the last month and is apparently in "good condition". I have an Aranet4 CO2 monitor I was gifted sitting in my office. I recently went to turn on the heat for the first time, and while it was extremely effective at raising the temperature, not long after I turned on the furnace, the monitor spiked up to thousands of PPM of CO2 until I turned off the heat and opened some windows/doors. I moved the monitor throughout the house and found the same results everywhere before airing it out. I talked to the tech from the recent inspection about the high CO2, but he was only concerned with CO, which apparently the furnace puts out minimal amounts of. I haven't had any reason to doubt the readings from the Aranet before, but I understand why the tech might not particularly care about the readings on a consumer sensor. However: 1) high levels of CO2 aren't great, so if the furnace is putting out a lot of CO2, that's a problem, right? 2) is there a reason the tech wouldn't/couldn't test for CO2 in addition to CO? Every time I mentioned CO2 he responded talking about only CO. 3) is it likely that the Aranet is just wrong and the furnace isn't putting out a lot of CO2, just something that triggers the sensor? I've turned the furnace on briefly two or three times and on all occasions the reported CO2 started spiking immediately after, so it's at least consistent
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Dec 29, 2023 17:59
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So you have an old house with new windows/air sealing/insulation, right? And an old furnace that pulls it's combustion air from inside the house. I can't count the number of false CO alarms and CO2 calls the fire department responds to over this and people running their wood fireplaces. What you have is no makeup air. Basically every time this happens the air is at perfectly safe levels but dumb devices can't figure out that the air makeup has changed (very small decrease in O2) and freak out, or they're just uncalibrated toys.
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Dec 29, 2023 18:39
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Put the device outside and see if it's closer to the same number. What are the absolute numbers on the device before/after/outside? One is just make up air like Motronic said, another, much much higher number, is an exhaust leak.
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Dec 29, 2023 18:49
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H110Hawk posted:Put the device outside and see if it's closer to the same number. What are the absolute numbers on the device before/after/outside? One is just make up air like Motronic said, another, much much higher number, is an exhaust leak. If it was exhaust every CO alarm would be going off. It's not exhaust.
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Dec 29, 2023 18:51
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Motronic posted:If it was exhaust every CO alarm would be going off. It's not exhaust. Maybe it burns super clean and completely! (I'll wait for you to stop laughing.) Comedy option: CO detectors are 40 years old with 38 year old batteries in them.
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Dec 29, 2023 19:25
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Motronic posted:So you have an old house with new windows/air sealing/insulation, right? And an old furnace that pulls it's combustion air from inside the house. Yeah, that's about right about the house/window/furnace situation. H110Hawk posted:Put the device outside and see if it's closer to the same number. What are the absolute numbers on the device before/after/outside? One is just make up air like Motronic said, another, much much higher number, is an exhaust leak. Before 671 10 min 773 20 min 1287 30 min 1990 outside @ 30 min 1363 outside @ 31 min 537 I went outside and took a reading immediately and it was lower, but not back to baseline until it was outside for a bit longer. H110Hawk posted:Maybe it burns super clean and completely! (I'll wait for you to stop laughing.) I think I can do you one funnier - when they replaced the ancient smoke detectors it doesn't look like they did it with combos like I'm pretty sure I was told they did, and I don't see standalone co detectors, so... But on the other hand, when the furnace tech was out recently, he ran a CO meter under the vents while it was running and the numbers were very low, like single digit ppm. pro con fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Dec 29, 2023 |
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Dec 29, 2023 19:27
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pro con posted:I think I can do you one funnier - when they replaced the ancient smoke detectors it doesn't look like they did it with combos like I'm pretty sure I was told they did, and I don't see standalone co detectors, so... Well, definitely get that CO detector situation sorted. At least one per flor and put one in the room/area with the furnace as well (to catch an actual leaking smoke pipe/combustion chamber). Under like 300 ppm of CO is totally within guidelines for fossil forced air heat at the supplies. You're not even anywhere close to a heat exchanger issue (which is how exhaust would come out of the vents). You likely have detected "high CO2" because there is no ventilation in your house. It "spiked" when you turned on your forced air heat because you stirred up all the air in the house - not every room has this issue because of reason like: there is a door to the outside in that room, or people are walking from the areas with better air into the areas with staler air and stirring it by doing so. "Bad" areas are like.....bedrooms when there have been no windows open and no heat or air on to stir air in a room where perhaps 2 people just spent the last 8 hours. Then you turn the heat/ac on and mix all of this air in the house together. If you want to improve this situation in any meaningful way (I'm not saying it needs to be - that would require a lot more information and real equipment/testing over time in multiple rooms simultaneously) you're probably looking at something like an HRV: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_recovery_ventilation If it's really just spot issues you can consider running the air handler periodically to stir the air in the house. Lots of programmable and/or "smat" thermostats can do this on a schedule. This is my problem with these devices like airthings.....they are mostly toys, suspect on calibration and accuracy, put into the hands of rank amateurs with no training or understanding with software/alerts written by software developers with no subject matter expertise or context. It's a recipe for people to be alarmed and jump to irrational conclusions. Motronic fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Dec 29, 2023 |
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Dec 29, 2023 19:40
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