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DaveSauce posted:So question on UV lamps: As far as UV light stuff goes, it makes an incredible difference. We use them in a couple 20 ton units that had some bad issues, and within a month they were totally clean. They really don't use much power either, and the bulbs last for quite c some time, you really only have to replace them once a year. As far as plastic goes, there's not really a lot of plastic parts inside the coil area, so that's not much of an issue.
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Apr 6, 2017 01:41
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Alereon posted:Don't those UV sterilizers produce toxic levels of ozone? No? I'm pretty sure you'd have a lot more trouble buying them if everyone who used one was dropping dead. Now, if you go sticking any UV bulb in there, like ones used for pools or what have you, you will have Ozone generation, but that's why you use UV-C lights.
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Apr 6, 2017 02:24
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Those aerosol cleaners are pure garbage and do nothing. You need to buy a concentrate cleaner and a pump sprayer and wash it out with that. Granted, if you're having actual mold growth this is only a temporary fix. While you should periodically clean your coils, a UV light I'd the best option.
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Apr 7, 2017 15:09
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It's fairly normal. You just get a lot of dirt, and dust and everything else that gets sucked into the unit all kinda congealing in that one spot, so it's not a big shocker to see it there. It's not like it's gonna be a toxic mold farm in there, but you'll probably see some flecks on the sides and stuff.
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Apr 7, 2017 21:10
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Ferremit posted:So how essential IS it to clean the evaporator unit on a reverse cycle AC? Our unit is 2yrs old now and has the standard intake filter, but im wondering if i need to climb into the ceiling cavity, pull the cover off the unit and clean out the evaporator unit. We've got cats, the intake is in the living room area with a wood fire and the open plan kitchen, so im sure its inhaled a fair bit of cooking fumes and wood smoke/ash over the last two years. Even with a proper filter there's still going to be a lot of crap that makes it past it and gets caught in the evap. If you have pets it can get really bad. It mostly depends on how often you use it, but checking it out maybe like once a year or so isn't a bad idea. But if you've got a 2yo unit that you've regularly been changing filters on it shouldn't be bad at all
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Apr 9, 2017 17:00
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JEEVES420 posted:My house blower has stopped working, Lennox g40uh. I hear a click when I turn it on but no air is moving. I can hear a slight noise coming out of the unit and am afraid the motor has burned out. Is there anything else it could be? Capacitor, wheel, just dirty? Anything that could help before I open it up tomorrow. Well that good news is, if you're hearing it click, it means the relay is pulling in. I'm not really familiar with that unit, but Googling the wiring diagram, it looks like it has a capacitor for the blower motor. I'd check that out first, but if it's not that, then yeah, it's most likely the motor.
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Apr 10, 2017 03:14
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There's a couple things it could be 1. Is you fan set to auto? If it's on the ON setting it'll run 24/7. Auto only makes it run when the system is calling. 2. Could be the relay is stuck closed. 3. Tstat could be bad, and constantly calling for it. Or it could just be wired wrong. Somebody might have wired it straight in.
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Apr 14, 2017 18:15
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Without knowing a few more factors, this is gonna be a pretty general diagnosis, but, let's start with what we have. First of all, at 1900sqft, a 3 ton sounds like it might be somewhat undersized. But, I'd need some more info on the layout and whatnot to know for sure. Also, one unit, for a three-story house definitely can cause some problems. The whole concept of A/C is that it basically sucks the heat out of a room, and that is mostly achieved by exchanging a certain amount of air out of each room, which is why duct sizing is important, for proper CFMs. So if you're trying to force air all the way from the first floor or basement all the way up, and there's no change in duct size, that can certainly cause issues. Some of this can be mitigated if they installed dampers or booster fans in the system. Dampers are supposed to be standard for each supply register run, but they don't always adjust them properly. As far as the return openings go, if I'm understanding you correctly they cut into the 3rd floor return....for no reason? It's sounds like something they accidentally did I assuming you're also checked for the other basics? Like the filter is clogged or the evap coil isn't all plugged up with drywall dust or something from construction? BusinessWallet posted:Another thing I realized is that the return trunks are running up the entire side of the house, and since they take up two entire stud bays, there is no insulation. The exterior wall is clad in metal siding, and it is a southern facing wall, so I'm assuming these trunks are taking on a decent amount of heat from the siding and bringing it into the system, reducing efficiency. BusinessWallet posted:Lastly I noticed they ran Romex through the return trunks, can see that in the first link. Is that kosher? Absolutely not. You're not supposed to have anything in the ducts except for air.
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May 20, 2017 03:37
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Yeah I have no idea what he's talking about there. Geothermal is just a regular Forced air AC unit, just instead of exchaging the heat of the refrigerant with the air or water, it's gylcol, which is in turn exchanging heat with the ground. Running chilled water all around a room sounds hilariously inefficient.
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Jun 1, 2017 01:52
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Use the pool heater as the condenser for the A/C 
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Jun 2, 2017 01:11
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There's a few things you can check. First of all see if the drainpan in the unit in full of slime, or if the drainline is plugged up either. Usually the P-trap will get snotted up. Just flush it out with water. It sounds like you have it draining into a condensate pump? If that's the case I'd also check to make sure that's pumping, and that the intake hasn't gotten slimed up or anything.
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Jun 3, 2017 06:25
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See if there's any dampers on the main trunk going upstairs, or make sure it's not ripped open or otherwise restricted. Also make sure you have good airflow for the return from upstairs.
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Jun 12, 2017 15:49
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Well, when you had the refrigerant checked, what where the pressures? Because, yes, not being able to vent the hot discharge is very much going to effect how the system runs. If it's just conastly suckling in its own hot air it's never really going to be able to run effeciently.
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Jul 10, 2017 20:59
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Take those screws off, then it should give you access to the backing plate, where the colored wires coming from the AHU should be. Verify the color coding, and wire them up to the new tstat.
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Jul 12, 2017 18:10
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When the contactor is engaged does the compressor start up at all? Or does it just hum? Because it sounds like, from what you're saying, it's a bad cap. Just because it's shiny doesn't mean it's still good. Depending on the brand I've seen them fail in less than a year. However, if it is in fact a bad motor, they aren't too hard to replace. The biggest hassle is trying to get the blade off the shaft. Otherwise you just need to make sure you match up the Horsepower, rotation, voltage, and make sure you pay attention to the UF rating on the new motor.It might be higher or lower than the existing cap. And you should always replace the cap when you replace a motor.
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Jul 22, 2017 15:33
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I mean, it would be handy to have a spare on hand. A better investment would be to buy a decent multimeter that can read microfarads though.
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Jul 22, 2017 20:44
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I mean, it's pretty much like shopping around for any other contractor, make sure you research them and try and find as many reviews as possible. As far as equipment goes, the thing to be asking about would be the SEER rating. This basically tells you how efficient the unit is at turning electricity into cold air. Of course, as the rating goes up, so does price. Other things to ask about would be if you're changing over to 410a from R22, if they're going to do a chemical flush or just replace the lineset as well.
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Jul 30, 2017 02:14
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Anywhere you're going to have a lot of dust or grease around too. We've been having a lot of issues lately with the blower wheels on those things getting absolutely caked in poo poo until the can barley move any air
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Aug 14, 2017 19:00
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It's worse on minisplits though, because the blower wheel is inside the evap, it's much more humid in there, so dirt and dust clumps on a lot faster than a traditional split. That and the fact that trying to pull said wheel out is a pain in the rear end.
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Aug 14, 2017 21:30
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ExcessBLarg! posted:Our 12 year old (builder install) AC iced up over the weekend and the local HVAC company confirmed it's low on refrigerant. I'm not really interested in paying $400 to recharge it when it's relatively old and probably has a leak, so looking to replace it. They're going to come in tomorrow to evaluate our house and provide replacement recommendations, but I figure I'd solicit opinions here too. You should pretty much always replace the air handler when you replace the rest of the system. In this case they already have to rip out the ductwork, so you mind as well get it done while they're there. A two stage system, (I'm assuming you're referring to two compressors) won't really help with the heat load on the far side of the house, as you'll still be moving the same-ish amount of air. A multi-stage system is really more for modular loads and such. If the far side of the house is struggling, the best thing to do will be to have them go through the ductwork, and check for dampers, kinks, etc, and thing that might be restricting airflow there. Ideally, you should have dampers that can be adjusted to increase/decrease airflow for each drop, so they should be able to play with them to increase airflow. As far as the bedroom issue goes., check for the same thing. You could also try switching to a different register, maybe something that evenly distributes the air a bit more?
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Aug 30, 2017 00:46
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:Asking more so I can figure out how hosed a friend is... she's in a rental, but she's responsible for all maintenance and repairs (hosed up situation on that, she's moving as soon as she can). Sounds like it might be low on charge. Suction line should be cold to the touch, liquid line should be warm. If they're both feeling kinda lukewarm, I'd wager it's low on charge. If the coils were impacted enough to restrict airflow, you'd know it, liquid line would be super hot if the condenser is plugged. Likewise, the suction line would be icing up if the evap coil is plugged up.
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Nov 5, 2017 05:01
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Sounds pretty likely that it's low on charge then. Most low end systems don't bother sticking pressure controls in. Or if they do, it's usually just a high pressure switch.
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Nov 7, 2017 02:59
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Red and white go outside to the contactor on you condensing unit. And go ahead and hook up the C wire for your tstat. No reason not to.It gets hooked up on the B/C terminal there.
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Dec 11, 2017 17:24
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nine16thsdago posted:I have a trane XL16c at home, which I think I understand is a 2-stage heat pump with 2-stage natural gas aux heat ("dual fuel"). The honeywell (american standard branded, came with the unit) thermostat looks like it's wired as a "multistage two-step scroll heat pump with two-stage variable speed gas furnace" (according to the thermostat manual). Wiring is: R,O,Y,G,B,W1,X2,Y2 (there's also a pair of sensor leads...) If you have a wire on O then that's gonna be the same as the O/B terminal. You'll just have to change to change the power setting in the Tstat. O and B are pretty much the same, except for how the power the reversing valve. O = energized in cooling B = energized in heat (Which is only really a thing on Rheem units) When you set up the stat it should give those options, and you'll want it to be on energized in cooling. So it sounds like you'll just need to wire it up as a heat pump with aux. heat.
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Dec 15, 2017 20:30
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This is the stuff we use at work: https://www.johnstonesupply.com/storefront/product-view.ep?pID=R94-707 Not sure if you can get outside of Johnstone though. They might let you buy it depending on how professional you look that day though  Although be prepared to do one of the work kinds of AC jobs there is. Working with this poo poo is never pleasant, no matter which brand you use.
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Dec 16, 2017 20:36
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Jose Cuervo posted:I have two separate heat pumps in my house. One of the heat pumps (Trane) is controlled by a Trane 7-Day programmable thermostat like this one. The other heat pump (a very Old York unit) is controlled by a much simpler digital non-programmable thermostat like this one. All you need is just a regular programmable stat. Not much else to it. Just be sure to verify the wires. And if you don't have a C wire it's not a big deal but if you have a spare while you can hook up for it you should pretty much always hook up C if you can. The stat linked above is a pretty alright though can, be a bit confusing for setup. Personally I think te next model up is the best: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B012...Pj6L&ref=plSrch Very easy setup, nice display, and it has the option to add Wireless indoor and outdoor sensors. Which is very nice, if you care about things like humidity levels and what not
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Dec 21, 2017 16:36
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Has the bill always been high in the winter? Possible equipment issues aside, if your house was built 70-odd years ago and hasn't been updated I'm sure the insulation is pretty lacking. There's a couple different things it could be related to the equipment, but if you're leaking air like crazy that doesn't help either.
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Dec 31, 2017 00:42
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Ok. So there's a few things to check here. I'm assuming you have a multimeter with an ohm setting? So let's start from the begining. In the air handler, find the terminal strip with the tstat wires connected to it. With everything running, verify you're calling for what you need. Go from G to C, or ground if there is no C. If you don't have 24V, you have a bad tstat. Next check the fan relay. (Assuming it has one.) Take the wires off the coil and check for resistance. If I'd OL then you have a bad relay. Next step would be the fan. If it has a cap, try giving it a spin, or just replacing the cap. If doesn't have a cap and I'd an ECM then you're out of luck.
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Dec 31, 2017 19:28
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Yup. ECM. Those are pretty expensive when they fail. The good news is is that a aftermarket rescue Motors are pretty much the same now. Worst case scenario he should also be able to install a single speed motor if need be to at least get you up and running
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Dec 31, 2017 20:14
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Sometimes it's nice to have the simple things that just work. That's the thing about some of these super advanced units, the work great when they're working, but when something fails it's much more expensive now.
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Dec 31, 2017 23:15
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:I would like to know more about these "ECM" units. Brushless DC or something? Sure thing! So, your standard motor you have on an air handler is what's called a PSC motor, Permanent Split Capacitor. These are your standard fractional horsepower motors that usually have 3 speed settings on them, which is accomplished by wiring them in a certain place in the motor windings. As the name implies, it also needs a capacitor to run properly. An ECM, Electronically Commutated Motor, is a DC motor, that has an inverter either built into it, or as a separate module from the motor. These are generally much more quiet, and also allow for a pretty much infinite amount of speed setting, which is ideal for things like dehumidification and ventilation. They're also generally more low maintenance, as the ability to spin up instead of starting at full speed is easier on the motor.  The downside is, when they break, they tend to be pretty expensive to replace. Although usually it's the module that craps out, no the motor, so that can be replaced separately. I think Rescue also makes a generic ECM replacement now too, which is cheaper than OEM. I don't really deal with these too often though, since the commercial side of things all the big motors are VFD controlled if they need something like this.
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Jan 1, 2018 18:53
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We use the Flanders Pre-pleat filters at work and they're pretty good. They certainly catch a lot of crap.
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Jan 3, 2018 18:21
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I would just have them install the furnace and the A/C part at the same time, if you can swing it. It will save a lot of work down the road of having to cut the duct back out to fit the coils in place. It's much easier to do it all at once, and could actually save you some money. Since you're talking about the basement, I assume you're going to have floor vents put in? The cost really depends on how much work they have to do, with removing the old pipes, radiators, etc, and cutting holes for vents, duct support, etc. As for vent placement, I know code for new construction is to have some form of return in each room. Most places deal with this by just having a little jumper duct that goes over the doorways, and then having a central return, usually with a filterback grille. Though if you're doing this under the floor, it may be easier just to run return ducting to each room, all combining into a singular return. Then having a filter in the unit. Supply placement varies, but you generally want to have them in the center of a room, facing an exterior wall. The ideal form is for the air to sort of make a loop around the room. Starting from the supply, on the interior wall, going to the exterior wall, then back to the return. There's a good bit of measuring and math you have to do for sizing the ducts properly, generally involving the square footage of the room, what kind of heat load it will have, etc. This is probably the most important part, making sure you size everything correctly for even distribution. You'll also want to install dampers where the supply lines break off the main trunk. I have to consult some of my old notes to figure that out though, I don't really do much duct stuff. But you can find programs online to help. Also buy a ductulator off eBay or somewhere, that'll will also be necessary.
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Jan 26, 2018 21:47
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Ok, well if your house is basically just a rectangle it shouldn't be too hard to run ducting at all. Just run a central trunk down the middle, with drops in each room. And your idea for the return will work. Just one in the hallway, with jumpers on the rooms with the doors. You don't need to put a return jumper in the bathroom though. As for register placement, you want to have the supply facing an exterior wall, and have the return nearby. Typically you just put the return over the door though, so that will be fine. You basically want the air to make a big loop around the room. Like so: Blue = Supply Red = Return  But since the hallway appears to be so small, you may be better off just having the two bedroom returns joining into the main return line.
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Jan 26, 2018 22:43
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Yeah, if you wanted to terminate the trunk before the stairs, and run drops near the end, that would work. Just make sure you don't connect them at the very end, or else you'll run into pressure issues/ As far as the two vent thing goes, I don't have a great answer for that. I'm mostly used to dealing with cooling, so the vents are near the top of the wall. As far as the direction of the air goes, the grills have louvers on them to help direct the air. So, if you're mounting a wall register, you'd want to have it so the louvers are pointing to the exterior wall. Cost is variable, depending on the brand of equipment, and whatnot, but I'd budget for at least $15K. If you're doing the hard stuff yourself, such as tearing out the old stuff, walls, etc, that will certainly cut down on costs.
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Jan 27, 2018 00:07
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There's really only a handful of brands, all with a dozen different rebrands of varying Quality. Off the top of my head: International Comfort Products: -ICP -Carrier -Payne -Bryant -Tempstar Johnson Controls -Johnson controls -York -Coleman -Luxaire Ingersoll Rand -Trane -American Standard -Ameristar Rheem/Ruud Lennox -Armstrong. Goodman -Amana -Daikan ExplodingSims fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Feb 5, 2018 |
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Feb 4, 2018 23:53
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A quality install is really what you need to be looking for, as that will affect the lifespan and general condition of the equipment in general. That being said, my personal recemmondations for brands is Lennox or Trane. They seem to make some of the best equipment, and service is a breeze on those. Goodman is pretty middle of the road. They can be good, but since they'll sell to anyone you tend to get a lot of lovely installs. 13 SEER is the minimum allowed by law, but you can go up to like 21 or so, but that gets pretty pricey. Most places seems to offer decent prices on 14-16 SEER stuff. As far as pricing goes, I'd be shopping around for quotes. Get like 3-4. Probably going to be at least $6-8k or so.
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Jun 1, 2018 02:07
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I'd recommend Lennox over Carrier. I find that Lennox has better build quality and parts are generally pretty easy to get. Plus Lennox seems to be designed around being serviced, so you'll spend less in labor.
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Jun 23, 2018 19:45
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Sounds like something is definitely icing up there, but it's kinda hard to say what the cause would be exactly. When you fire it up, you can feel airflow coming out right? If you feel that and it's not instantly icing up you can pretty much rule out the fan motor. Is there any way you can see up into the return vent into the coil compartment? It might be impacted with dust and dirt, which based on the picture you sent of the "install" there, it sounds like it's probably never been cleaned or anything. And, uh, it doesn't really look like there's any way to really access the coil or anything there. Gotta love lovely installs.
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Jul 2, 2018 05:24
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 04:27 |
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Based on the age, extremely poor install quality, and inaccessability for repairs, I probably would be budgeting for a system replacement there.
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Jul 2, 2018 16:06
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