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Motronic posted:Sounds like the gas valve. Give it some light percussive maintenance and see if that clears it up. If it does, it's time to order a replacement to have on hand. MRC48B posted:use the mechanics stethescope trick and narrow it down to find the exact source of the buzzing noise. You guys are gonna loving love this: https://i.imgur.com/2FMo0Za.mp4 I swear on my life standing right there it sounds like it’s coming from the furnace until you’re standing between the bike and the furnace  I twigged to it going down to tap the gas valve as suggested and the pitch changed when I bumped the bike.
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Jan 25, 2024 14:51
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lol it's that dead battery in a smoke detector chirp kind of frequency where it's basically impossible to figure out which direction its coming from.
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Jan 25, 2024 15:17
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I do not love that. I once was dispatched at the end of the day to drive an hour each way for that exact "problem". "Customer reports unit is making beeping noise" "Uh, my units do not have audible alarms" It was a co alarm someone had thrown in the garbage without removing the battery. Other garbage pressed down on the "test" button triggering the beeper :facepalm:
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Jan 25, 2024 17:02
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In Michigan so I am well into the heating season here. Had our annual inspection on our gas fired hot water boiler. Same company for the past 4 years. Not sure why they pushed the inspection in January since we usually have it in October. They are saying the boiler needs to be replaced because the heat exchanger is bad. The guy shut down the boiler and gave me the "wink wink nudge nudge" here's how you turn this back on. He said he did not detect any co2 anywhere. They are sending a sales guy out tomorrow morning to quote a whole new system. Trying to figure out if this is safe to run or not. His concern were the missing fins. I am googling and getting lots of info on furnaces but I'm having a hard time finding info on boilers. Is this safe to run? Should I get a second opinion? (Almost certainly will) 
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Jan 31, 2024 17:46
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If no CO is detectred (not CO2) then it is still safe to run. But if pieces of the heat exchanger are falling apart it's only a matter of time before it fails in a way where it will let combustion gases into places they shouldn't be, so yes.....it's likely trime to replace it.
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Jan 31, 2024 18:11
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Motronic posted:If no CO is detectred (not CO2) then it is still safe to run. But if pieces of the heat exchanger are falling apart it's only a matter of time before it fails in a way where it will let combustion gases into places they shouldn't be, so yes.....it's likely trime to replace it. Thanks! I've got a CO (not CO2) detector on the ceiling right above the unit. I also have them throughout the house.
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Jan 31, 2024 19:41
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This is air handling related so I figured I'd ask here first: Old house, ground floor is hardwood directly on joists, no subfloor, basement is mortared sandstone. Between these two things the basement and everything in it accumulates fine dust pretty quickly and I'm wondering if I have any good options to remedy that (besides 'redo the floors and finish the basement walls') I could run a furnace filter/ box fan cube 24/7 but I feel like I'd run though a shitload of money in filters. I suppose I could titrate down to the coarsest/cheapest type of filter that mitigates this particular selection of dust but I'm wondering if there's a better option. Motivation here is largely to keep everything from getting filthy quite as fast, with allergies as a secondary concern.
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Feb 7, 2024 15:51
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Is the dust whatever is seiving through the ground floor? You could drape some plastic between the joists (maintaining air flow) to test this theory. I imagine your options are to add a subfloor or a ceiling. Remember whenever you access the ceiling cavity it's going to be full of that dust. Otherwise air filters are pretty unlikely to put a huge dent in it unless the dust is carrying in the air. If it is you're breathing that all the time. Austin air makes a nice unit with a 5 year pro-rated filter warranty.
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Feb 7, 2024 18:06
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the yeti posted:This is air handling related so I figured I'd ask here first: Spray foam the bottom of the floor would help with the dust in the house, but I'm not sure what you can do about the basement.
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Feb 9, 2024 15:51
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devicenull posted:Spray foam the bottom of the floor would help with the dust in the house, but I'm not sure what you can do about the basement. Not much when you've got raw concrete and sandstone walls. Cover or coat are the only realistic options for the surfaces that are producing 99.9% of the dust while being rough enogh to make it basically impossible to clean.
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Feb 9, 2024 15:53
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I'm looking at getting a notifications Mitsubishi hyper heat 2 ton central ashp installed and I'm trying to decide if I should get backup resistance coil. Design temp is (iirc) 14 degrees and the equipment should be good to -4 and provide enough heat output. I'm not concerned from an operating temp standpoint, but more a "what is the heat pump breaks or has issues in the winter, at least we can switch over to the resistance". Any experience with resistance back up? I was quoted ~$3000 for the backup, so pricey but not too bad for my area (Boston HVAC company pricing is wild).
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Feb 14, 2024 05:44
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Most of my air source heat pump experience is on the air-to-water side of things, where resistive backup is cheap and easy. Since you already have a system for moving hot water around and turning it into a hot house, the resistive element itself is small, cheap and simple thing sitting somewhere central, almost an afterthough, factory installed inside the hp on every unit I've ever worked with. Most people here who run air-to-air heat pumps have mini split style pumps, and their backup is usually resistive heat distributed throughout their space. I've never seen a central ashp, but forced air heat distribution isn't really a thing where I live. I assume the heat coil is just a simple box containing something similar to any other resistive air heater (only bigger), sitting inline in the ductwork somewhere close to the heat pump itself? 3k sounds like a lot for such a device but things cost money, and with install with electrical and whatnot maybe it's totally fair. My impression is that in the mini split market at least, Mitsubishi is a brand associated with high quality and long service life FWIW.
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Feb 14, 2024 06:30
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The electric heat is just resistive coils after the heat pump coil yes. And the 3k cost is usually mostly the cost of getting a sparky to pull a 20a 240v circuit to the closet the heat pump is located in. Go for it if it gives you peace of mind.
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Feb 14, 2024 14:57
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hey HVAC thread. our place has two trane heat pumps that are basically EOL. it also has two corresponding air handlers and two corresponding thermostats, one for each floor. anyway, one of the heat pumps died so that floor is running on integrated electric furnace backup heat. some techs came out, nobody could source the right part (some internal control board) for a fix. old unit. we're getting quotes from multiple contractors for complete replacement of both systems. the upper floor air handler was not well-maintained by the previous owner and has its own issues and it makes sense to replace both units in sync, we think, due to age, improved efficiency, and for simplicity of future maintenance. what's a reasonable ballpark you'd all expect for these quotes (full replacement of 2 systems on 2 floors) in an average COL area? apparently (like most things related to licensed trades) this poo poo was WAY cheaper 5-10 years ago. like 3x cheaper at least. quote would cover replacement of both heat pumps, both air handlers, thermostats, and related misc accessories (basically everything but ductwork and refrigerant pipes). depending on brand and feature of heat pump (2 stage vs single stage, variable speed, trane vs york vs daikin vs goodman), total price is anywhere from $21,000 --> $28,000 (after discounts/rebates). seems... high? what wide range of #s are people getting quoted these days?
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Feb 25, 2024 22:52
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All I can tell you for reference is bro's replacement of his geothermal heat pump. He got a 16kW output variable speed unit with an internal hot water reservoir. Pretty much a straight swap labor-wise, but with a few pipe mods including deleting the old external hot water tank and a junction installed on the brine lines going to and from the thermal well meant for the AC system we built a few years back - I think he paid something like €12k total. Everything has gotten more expensive on this side of the Atlantic too so I don't doubt it would cost more now than it did four years ago.
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Feb 26, 2024 11:08
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The only thing you can compare prices to is other contractors bidding on the same job with similar equipment. Every job is different, every area is different. If you think its too high get more bids. Your two heat pumps may be a colossal pain in the rear end to swap, or they may be offering you premium equipment, we can't tell that via forums post. Get more bids
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Feb 26, 2024 16:51
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pmchem posted:hey HVAC thread. our place has two trane heat pumps that are basically EOL. it also has two corresponding air handlers and two corresponding thermostats, one for each floor. Doesn't seem high to me. A standard rip/replace in my area from a lower cost outfit is about 6500 give or take 500. I have 2 units, and know it will cost 15K or more so when it comes time to replace them. A normal priced outfit would probably be in the 18 to 25K range depending on equipment. Goodman will be the least expensive of course. (I'm in San Antonio, so there's lots of HVAC competition and a normal cost of living area for the most part). but yeah, get more quotes and ask friends/neighbors/nextdoor/facebook groups for recommendations. The best HVAC company I've used didn't need to advertise, lived only on word of mouth.
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Feb 26, 2024 18:43
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Howdy HVAC thread - our thermostat appears to have eaten poo poo over the past couple of days and I'm looking at trying to fix it myself. The old unit was at least 10 years old (probably closer to 20) and just went blank on the screen. I'm seeing what appears to be a disconnect between the old unit and the new unit, though I tried to buy as close to the old unit as possible just to make it easier on myself. Old unit: Honeywell TH9421C1004 New unit: Honeywell RTH7600D The old unit was wired with Red, Blue, and Green wires going, respectively, into slots labeled 1, 2, 3:  This appears to feed into the control unit in the same way (see the top-left of this image):  The old thermostat controlled both our furnace and our air conditioning, and was also wired to not need any batteries. Based on some documents I've read, I'm a little confused about how this unit was able to do all of that with Red/Blue/Green wires - I would have expected white and yellow for heating and cooling, but the white and yellow wires in each of the pictures aren't connected anywhere. Perfectly willing to find an HVAC pro, but most of what I've read so far seems to indicate that this should be a straightforward installation, I'm just unable to translate between the two systems.
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Mar 5, 2024 02:38
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Copy down exactly which color wire goes to which terminal on the control board. Include any jumpers and what they are jumpering. Now look at the instructions for your new thermostat and make the codes match. Color does not matter unless you want to make changes on the control side. If you post the mapping here plus hvac make/model and thermostat make/model we can help you out easily. This is super easy to install. And remember, you gotta replace that wall plate no matter what unless you have literally an identical model.
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Mar 5, 2024 02:44
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H110Hawk posted:Copy down exactly which color wire goes to which terminal on the control board. Include any jumpers and what they are jumpering. Nah he's got a weirdo nonstandard thermostat - https://www.doityourself.com/forum/thermostatic-controls/550703-how-upgrade-honeywell-th921c1004-wifi-thermostat.html I think you'd want to bypass that entire second control board you posted (I see standard wiring designations on the left (C, R, probably Y1/Y2?) under the 1/2/3 Your old thermostat talks to that board via some sort of serial protocol - which is why it doesn't match anything else you're seeing. It might not even be the thermostat that's dead, it might be that control module you pictured. Can you easily access the wire between the thermostat and furnace? It might be easier to pull an entirely new wire in there and bypass all the existing crap.
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Mar 5, 2024 02:52
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Appreciate the responses from you both. I think devicenull's makes more sense for my specific situation.devicenull posted:Nah he's got a weirdo nonstandard thermostat - https://www.doityourself.com/forum/thermostatic-controls/550703-how-upgrade-honeywell-th921c1004-wifi-thermostat.html I'm a complete novice here so my takeaway is almost certain that I'll be hiring an HVAC pro for this. Are you essentially saying that the control board is taking inputs from every other wire aside from the R/B/G ones, then converting that input into something that feeds to the thermostat through those R/B/G outputs? If that's the case, then it'll def be professional time, as I can't access the wire between the thermostat and furnace. The wires feeding into that control panel are accessible (and I assume coming from both the furnace and AC, separately), so hopefully a good pro will be able to convert that using the existing wire. If not, well, we're already gonna have to open up some walls for unrelated projects, might as well just open this one up too.
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Mar 5, 2024 03:14
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That control board is basically handling all the standard switching and signaling to the furnace, the cable to the thermostat is a special proprietary communication link. The good news is you have white and yellow as well running to where the thermostat is, so you won't need to run new cable. You will need to bypass and remove that control board, possibly running new wires from your furnace/AC controller board to the green/red/blue/white/yellow cable (and on to the new thermostat). This isn't hard but if you are uncomfortable reading technical diagrams a professional might be a good idea.
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Mar 5, 2024 04:25
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Shifty Pony posted:That control board is basically handling all the standard switching and signaling to the furnace, the cable to the thermostat is a special proprietary communication link. The good news is you have white and yellow as well running to where the thermostat is, so you won't need to run new cable. Whoever installed the control board originally literally screwed it into a ventilation pipe, so we'll likely just have the HVAC pro bypass it entirely while leaving the old box up. Glad to know that they at least somewhat future-proofed it with those additional cables. I'm in fintech, not actual real tech, so I'm going the pro route. Thanks for the help all, I'll follow up when we get it fixed. It was neat to learn some of the backend workings of the machine.
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Mar 5, 2024 15:36
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HVAC guy was also mystified by our old weird format at first, but he got it all set for us. Definitely not something I would have been able to handle on my own. Thanks everybody for the advice!
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Mar 6, 2024 18:10
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Communicating stats like that are not common and not standardized, though they probably should be (that means you modbus)
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Mar 6, 2024 23:42
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Anyone got experience with custom comfort heat pumps? Looking at a quote to change the house from oil to heatpumps but I can't really seem to find anything on the company.
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Mar 7, 2024 00:27
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The Slack Lagoon posted:I'm looking at getting a notifications Mitsubishi hyper heat 2 ton central ashp installed and I'm trying to decide if I should get backup resistance coil. Design temp is (iirc) 14 degrees and the equipment should be good to -4 and provide enough heat output. I'm not concerned from an operating temp standpoint, but more a "what is the heat pump breaks or has issues in the winter, at least we can switch over to the resistance". Any experience with resistance back up? I was quoted ~$3000 for the backup, so pricey but not too bad for my area (Boston HVAC company pricing is wild). I would get the backup in the Boston area. We had that -10F night last year.
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Mar 7, 2024 00:31
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Shifty Pony posted:That control board is basically handling all the standard switching and signaling to the furnace, the cable to the thermostat is a special proprietary communication link. The good news is you have white and yellow as well running to where the thermostat is, so you won't need to run new cable. It's hard for me to tell if he's got enough wires there for it to work (or what they're even connected to)... I count at least 8 coming into the board from the furnace. Poque posted:Appreciate the responses from you both. I think devicenull's makes more sense for my specific situation. Yep, that's exactly the case. This is unlikely to be a very long job for a pro unless new wires need to be run.
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Mar 7, 2024 02:41
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bootmanj posted:Anyone got experience with custom comfort heat pumps? Looking at a quote to change the house from oil to heatpumps but I can't really seem to find anything on the company. I don't know about that either, but I think this video I posted in the home thread is better suited here and probably very relevant to your interests if you are going to be dealing with HVAC companies trying to sell you heating solutions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTsQjiPlksA
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Mar 7, 2024 14:24
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devicenull posted:It's hard for me to tell if he's got enough wires there for it to work (or what they're even connected to)... I count at least 8 coming into the board from the furnace. Looks like this is the interface board: https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.supplyhouse.com/product_files/THM5421C1008-Install.pdf and seems like Poque has a powered ventilator of some sort. That shouldn't be hard for a professional to loop into a traditional thermostat system.
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Mar 7, 2024 15:57
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Whatever the fix was, it works now! We left town til Monday but I can take After pics if anybody cares. Fortunately did not require any new wires to be run through walls.
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Mar 7, 2024 17:40
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His Divine Shadow posted:I don't know about that either, but I think this video I posted in the home thread is better suited here and probably very relevant to your interests if you are going to be dealing with HVAC companies trying to sell you heating solutions. Interesting video, but in my case the state incentive program determines the system capacity. Its based on whats probably not the greatest calculation from sq ft but there is not much I can do about that. I am getting a few quotes though and they are definitely high but so far they are fairly similar.
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Mar 7, 2024 18:05
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I am too busy to watch a tc video or do an effort post about this, but resi companies have no incentive to properly size furnaces, and several incentives to "oversize" them. One is money, larger unit larger margin. Two, design day temps are not the coldest temp an area will see. If a unit cant keep up when its -30f thats a pissed off customer and a callback that cant be easily resolved. Three, short cycling a furnace has less of an impact on comfort than short cycling an ac unit does, it just accelerates wear, which hey if its after warranty is a profitable service call. Tldr late stage capitalism.
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Mar 7, 2024 22:07
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He kind of touches on all of those, but he also blames many of the HVAC companies having dedicated sales staff, and the sales person isn't really incentivized to actually properly size the unit. The sales person doesn't want to scurry around the house estimating the actual thermal load they just want to get something in there as quick as possible, which means running a very basic calculation and then grabbing whatever the next size up that is in stock at their supplier. I do have several complaints about TC in general, the biggest one is that he seems to completely discount the non-monetary cost of things because he enjoys fiddling. There is value in not having to worry about keeping space heaters around as backup for when your main source of heat is unable to maintain temperature in a cold snap. He also glosses right over recovery time, and why that might be important consideration for people. It's like saying people only need a car with 30 hp because that's what it takes to maintain highway speeds. When the inducer motor on my furnace was unable to use the second stage and it was taking two or three hours to recover from our normal 62° overnight set-point temperature, that kind of sucked.
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Mar 7, 2024 23:06
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I live in an apartment in Oregon. I want to get a couple of window AC units. Pretty sure I want a ~5000 BTU unit and a ~10,000 BTU unit. I don't need/want IoT functionality, but being able to set timers (both to run for a set period of time and to start running after a set period of time) is highly desirable; I mention this because browsing around I see there are smaller units that are still fully manual. My main question is if there are particular brands to avoid, whether due to being noisier than average or due to being less reliable than average, or if I'm good to basically just select based on features and price.
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Mar 8, 2024 00:29
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Somehow when my AC was replaced they decided it needed to go up by half a ton, despite them also doing air sealing and insulation at the same time. I really should have pushed back on that more.
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Mar 8, 2024 01:36
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Farmer Crack-rear end posted:I live in an apartment in Oregon. I want to get a couple of window AC units. Pretty sure I want a ~5000 BTU unit and a ~10,000 BTU unit. I don't need/want IoT functionality, but being able to set timers (both to run for a set period of time and to start running after a set period of time) is highly desirable; I mention this because browsing around I see there are smaller units that are still fully manual. features and price, keep the receipt. there are some premium ones like Midea U units, but thats up to you, your wallet, and your window type.
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Mar 8, 2024 03:20
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Shifty Pony posted:There is value in not having to worry about keeping space heaters around as backup for when your main source of heat is unable to maintain temperature in a cold snap. Is that not what the second-stage resistive heat is for, though? I admittedly have no experience with such things, because a properly-sized heat pump that meets the cooling needs in Arizona can output way more heat than needed on our coldest winter days.
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Mar 8, 2024 07:04
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I'm trying to figure out if I can install a radon fan where the pipe is exposed not in the attic, but two floors down. So roof, attic, then a floor, then a floor with the exposed pipe. It goes straight vertical. I know that static pressure is involved, but I have no idea how to calculate it and I can't find any rule of thumb guidelines for install instructions that cover it. I know that suction also plays a factor, but I believe we're good there and that head pressure is my main concern. I'm thinking about just trying to install a Rn 4EC-4, which let's me dial it in a bit, but figured I'd ask here first. [Edit: our radon readings are borderline as it is and I'm just trying to be proactive about it, so I can't imagine it has to be perfect.] Internet Explorer fucked around with this message at 08:01 on Mar 8, 2024 |
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Mar 8, 2024 07:46
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Shifty Pony posted:He kind of touches on all of those, but he also blames many of the HVAC companies having dedicated sales staff, and the sales person isn't really incentivized to actually properly size the unit. The sales person doesn't want to scurry around the house estimating the actual thermal load they just want to get something in there as quick as possible, which means running a very basic calculation and then grabbing whatever the next size up that is in stock at their supplier. His point is oversizing a heat pump based system is bad and is not like oversizing a gas furnace system. You really wanna get a heat pump system that's properly sized for your needs to get the most efficiency out of it. Also cars have too much power nowadays too. And are too large by far.
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Mar 8, 2024 08:37
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