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If you really want that pump on a gfci for safety reasons add another electrical box and put the gfci in that, with the furnace on the upstream side of the gfci
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May 22, 2020 23:10
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Sterling_Archer posted:I'm trying to add an outlet for a condensate pump. Why not GFCI? There is a water heater next to it and a condensate drain next to it so I figured it'd be safer to have than not. My crusty old condensate pump works fine on a GFCI receptacle. No float shutoff switch hooked up, but it is in a non-finished basement that I visit frequently, so a small puddle won't ruin my day. My kitchen fridge circuit and garage freezer circuits I ran recently are both not GFCI/AFCI protected. Come at me code-bro; I'm not chancing hundreds of dollars of food on 75 cents worth of electrical components made in China.
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May 23, 2020 00:26
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MRC48B posted:If you really want that pump on a gfci for safety reasons add another electrical box and put the gfci in that, with the furnace on the upstream side of the gfci That doesn't stop the furnace from working with a properly set up condensate pump.
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May 23, 2020 02:33
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B-Nasty posted:My kitchen fridge circuit and garage freezer circuits I ran recently are both not GFCI/AFCI protected. Come at me code-bro; I'm not chancing hundreds of dollars of food on 75 cents worth of electrical components made in China. I’m not going to tell you what to do but nuisance trips on modern AFCIs are really overstated these days, mostly by people who are afraid of change. (And by people who insist on using ancient X10 home automation kits.) Your fridge isn’t going to trip an AFCI without an underlying wiring problem.
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May 26, 2020 09:16
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Yeah, literally the only thing I have that nuisance trips my 2015-2020 AFCI breakers is my ragged old shopvac with bearings and brushes so shot I'm constantly surprised that it runs at all. And it's going in a dumpster soon. Seriously, it sounds like it has gravel for bearings and the motor comes to an abrupt halt when shut off instead of decelerating smoothly. I'm sure the brushes are just arcing enough to legitimately set it off.
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May 26, 2020 11:48
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corgski posted:I’m not going to tell you what to do but nuisance trips on modern AFCIs are really overstated these days, mostly by people who are afraid of change. I agree, but for a fridge/freezer circuit, it's more of a cost/benefit analysis. The fridge and freezer circuits are dedicated runs of 2019 vintage, 12g NM direct from the receptacle to the panel, and the chassis of both appliances are connected to a proper EGC. Granted it's not a breaker, but I've had multiple GFCI receptacles fail due to ??? (age, maybe.) The last one was actually upstream of the fridge before it had it's own run. Sounded like a machine gun firing (relay clicking), and then it failed open. If I wasn't there to investigate/repair it, I would've been filling a trash bag with the contents of my fridge the next morning.
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May 26, 2020 14:06
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DkHelmet posted:
I'm in a tough situation where I have to sell my mother's house in the D/FW area soon and it needs a new A/C system. My sister got a quote from a quality, well-known installer to replace the 5 ton, 16 Seer system as well as the 20-year-old furnace that was north of $10K. But this is going to be a low-end house sale, guessing around $150K-$180K given that we aren't planning on doing a ton of work to get it ready for market. I'm wondering -- does it make a huge difference if I install a cheap unit like a Goodman? Will an inspector note that in a home inspection report?
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May 28, 2020 00:51
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Admiralty Flag posted:I'm in a tough situation where I have to sell my mother's house in the D/FW area soon and it needs a new A/C system. My sister got a quote from a quality, well-known installer to replace the 5 ton, 16 Seer system as well as the 20-year-old furnace that was north of $10K. But this is going to be a low-end house sale, guessing around $150K-$180K given that we aren't planning on doing a ton of work to get it ready for market. I'm wondering -- does it make a huge difference if I install a cheap unit like a Goodman? Will an inspector note that in a home inspection report? If it runs when you sell it doesn't matter. So if it runs right now don't replace it. I would put in whatever the local rapid construction housing projects are putting in and not think twice about it. You only need it to run for the inspector. Period.
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May 28, 2020 00:55
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I need some window AC advice. If I want to cool the 600 sqft 2nd floor of the 100 year old house I live in, which is split up into three bedrooms (one of which I'm using as an office) do I need window AC units in each small bedroom I want to cool, or is it possible to put an AC unit in the foyer between all of them, above the stairs and like I dunno use a fan to move cool air around? Also, if this window is at the top of the stairs, will the cool air stay on the second floor or is it gonna dump down the stairs? I don't know anything about AC and have never needed to, since I live in relatively mild Vancouver, Canada, but it looks like I'm going to be working from home all summer long and in this old house's second floor office it's already getting a bit uncomfortably hot and it's only like 20 degrees celsius over here. If the foyer is a bad location I might just put one in the bedroom and suffer in the office or work elsewhere. Another factor is that the bedroom window would face East while the Foyer window faces South, so putting an AC unit in that South window might make it have to work harder I guess?
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May 28, 2020 04:23
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Femtosecond posted:... is it gonna dump down the stairs? Yup, in fact what you will probably find is that you want to run an A/C in each room with the doors closed. If the first floor is already comfortable you don't want to waste electricity making it even colder.
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May 29, 2020 12:49
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The challenge here that I forgot to mention is that the only two windows which can house a window air conditioner are in one bedroom and this central foyer at the top of the stairs. In the other two bedrooms there's 60s era sliding windows which are too narrow. If I were to cool those individually I'd need a portable AC unit. That's why I was thinking about using the foyer spot as some sort of compromise.
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May 29, 2020 17:51
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So, quick question. I've got a wall-mounted AC unit in my apartment bedroom that hasn't worked since last summer. When I turn it on, it makes a rough humming noise and doesn't blow any air. Aside from the broken knobs that I have to turn with pliers, and making the optimistic assumption that someone can diagnose solely by the noise: https://i.imgur.com/LTuDTef.mp4 Is this something that I can fix myself with a basic set of tools and little experience? It's okay if the answer is no, but I'd rather not call the landlord if I don't have to, pandemic and all that.
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May 30, 2020 02:16
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I would start with the fan motor isn't working. usually window units have just one fan motor in the middle that moves air over the indoor and outdoor bits. if you can get it out of the window safely and get the cover off, you need to trouble shoot that motor with a multimeter. that said, make your landlord fix it. thats his job.
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May 30, 2020 02:34
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MRC48B posted:make your landlord fix it. thats his job. Not only is it his job, you shouldn't be messing with that poo poo because it can only cause you problems. We all know owning a house sucks, but at least it gives you agency to bash something like that with a hammer. If you rent you really shouldn't do that.
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May 30, 2020 02:42
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Fair enough- that's what I expected to hear, but figured it was worth asking just in case it was an easy fix. Thanks.
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May 30, 2020 02:43
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 Welp, the AC unit isn't cooling. Inside forced air is on, the fan on the outside unit is on, but the loud sound of the R-22 compressor is not. Here's hoping it's a capacitor.Morning after edit: Narrator: It was the capacitor. $206 for service call + part. H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 18:55 on Jun 3, 2020 |
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Jun 3, 2020 01:40
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I need some help understanding a humidistat and a whole-house humidifier. I just moved into a rental in northern Virginia with one and the landlord says he just leaves the setting at 30% all year and it seems to work fine. But going by the directions on the humidifier, that doesn’t seem correct. It gets very humid here in the summer and my old townhouse without a humidifier would get very dry in the winter. As I see it, I don’t need the thing on in the summer, right? What effect would that have on the AC unit though?   Last, there’s an electronic air cleaner:  I’m used to just putting an air filter in every 3 months. Is this different at all? What changes with it being electronic?
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Jun 4, 2020 11:10
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Seeking some in-wall AC advice. We live in an apartment and have historically used window units to chill things out in the summer. However, those are starting to give up the ghost and we have a pre-cut AC wall slots, so we're thinking about popping a ~10000 BTU AC in there. We're wondering about noise. Are in-wall units generally louder? Are there models that might be quieter than others? The wall slot is right next to the couch in our living room, so that would be pretty abrasive to have a loud unit right next to us while trying to watch TV, movies or play video games.
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Jun 6, 2020 20:01
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Through wall units are the same as window units, just larger. They make some noise, they have the same sort of issues.nwin posted:I need some help understanding a humidistat and a whole-house humidifier. It depends how sensitive you are to low humidity, and if you care about windows sweating when the outside temp drop. the landlord thinks it "works fine" because he doesn't live there. Electronic air cleaners have to be cleaned, instead of replacing the filter. read the manual for specifics
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Jun 6, 2020 20:14
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MRC48B posted:Through wall units are the same as window units, just larger. They make some noise, they have the same sort of issues. I hate low humidity of 30% is low. I prefer 40% -45%. This air cleaner uses a paper air filter. From what I’ve seen it just electronically charges the dust so less comes back into the environment.
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Jun 6, 2020 21:36
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nwin posted:I need some help understanding a humidistat and a whole-house humidifier. Turn the humidifier off in the summer. Most of the heat in air is carried by the humidity. If you go look at your AC while it's running, you'll see it dripping water. That water was humidity in the air. The less humidity you have in the air, the cooler it will be. Fun fact: air conditioners were first invented as humidity control devices. Printers in the late 1800s needed a way to keep all their paper from getting wrinkled while in storage. The fact that this device made the air cooler was secondary. So yeah, don't add to the humidity in your house during the summer. Turn it off.
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Jun 8, 2020 20:02
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Having it set to 30% in the summer may be effectively off, depending on where you live.
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Jun 8, 2020 20:34
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Guy Axlerod posted:Having it set to 30% in the summer may be effectively off, depending on where you live. Virginia so I think you’re right.
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Jun 8, 2020 20:53
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Replaced both the caps in my outdoor units and now the lights are much happier when they come on. I’m sure the compressors and motors are too. They were out of spec low by about 8-10%. Micro Farads, macro difference.
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Jun 14, 2020 15:13
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New apartment. Air handler won't come on without flicking the fan switch off and on rapidly several times. Otherwise it just hums while the outside unit runs, and eventually freezes up. I've taken to just leaving the fan switch in "on" instead of auto, but the fan motor still sounds unhappy (loud humming while running with the occasional "something electrical is way too hot" smell). It's your typical apartment in-ceiling unit. Capacitor? I've put in 2 work orders so far, they both got closed without anyone showing up.  Somehow the original 1.5T Carrier is still chugging along. It's an adorable tiny little thing that I could carry under my arm, thankfully on its own pad. Some other apartments have 6 clustered together, and the pads were very obviously poured for the original Carriers with no thought given to "oh poo poo, AC units might get an inch larger!" - the replacements are more than twice the size and crammed together like sardines.gently caress Greystar, BTW... fridge hasn't worked right since moving in either.. it gets down to about 50 and runs 24/7, though the freezer gets plenty cold... original fridge from the mid 1990s.. using my ~12 year old dorm fridge for anything refrigerated for now randomidiot fucked around with this message at 10:33 on Jun 21, 2020 |
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Jun 21, 2020 10:24
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Probably capacitor, but as you said, the management should be fixing it.
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Jun 21, 2020 13:39
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I need a thermostat. I live in a ground floor, one bedroom poverty spec condo that has fan coils to supply me with heat in the winter and coldness in the summer. Because it is the poverty spec condo, it probably has the cheapest possible digital thermostat that money could buy at the time. A Honeywell T8570. They've been discontinued as far as I can tell. It pretty much looks like this pic I found on the net.  I don't want or need a wifi smart thermostat or whatever, since I don't even have internet at my place. For (hopefully) ease of installation, I'd like to get whatever is the replacement model for the one thats on there now. What are my options for this voodoo?
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Jun 21, 2020 16:32
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Honeywell lists the replacement model for those as the TB8575A Its super important that you have an 8570 not a 6570. they run at different voltages and you don't want to mix them up.
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Jun 21, 2020 16:44
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Thanks, I'm quite certain its the 8570. *because it looks like the one in the picture*. But I'll check to confirm. I assume if I take it off the base plate there will be a model number somewhere correct?
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Jun 21, 2020 16:57
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wesleywillis posted:Thanks, I'm quite certain its the 8570. *because it looks like the one in the picture*. That's not something that should make you certain. It's merely an indication. They use the same plastics for all kinds of t-stats. Yes, the model should be somewhere in there. And if not, the layout will indicate whether it's line or low voltage.
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Jun 21, 2020 17:14
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Not HVAC, but a close cousin. Would getting a stand-alone dehumidifier be overkill to bring indoor humidity down to around 50% or so? I mean it would sure as hell do the drat thing but I typically see folks using these to keep basements from getting damp. We have no such problem but it would be nice to have things a bit more comfortable as NC does get sticky around this time of year.
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Jun 23, 2020 04:29
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I was lying in bed realizing how lame it is that my house ac is on a simple bang-bang thermostatic control. It made me think about replacing the motor controller on the compressor section of my AC with a vfd drive, and use a plc to run a lid loop to control it. How bad of an idea is this?
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Jun 23, 2020 04:33
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Your standard residential ac compressor is single phase, permanent split capacitor motor. It is designed to run at 60hz. Newer units with variable speed use electronically commutated dc motors, with an electronics package built to spec. Running a resi compressor at lower frequency will bring you issues with oil return, the lube oil for the motor bearings sits in the bottom of the compressor housing like a car engine sump, and gets fed to the bearings and circulates around the refrigerant circuit. Refrigerant flow, The compressor must make a high enough head pressure to phase change the refrigerant to a liquid. The reed valves assume a specific flow rate and pressure differential to seat properly. And also cooling the windings. The design assumes a certain volume of return vapor at a low enough temperature to keep the motor bits from burning up. So not a great idea if you're looking for energy savings or sound reduction. Large industrial commercial units do have vfds, but they are typically 3 phase and designed that way. But hey if you want a project, please be safe, refrigerants are high pressure and low temperature. Reefer freeze burns suck
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Jun 23, 2020 04:54
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MRC48B posted:Your standard residential ac compressor is single phase, permanent split capacitor motor. It is designed to run at 60hz. This post is awesome. Thanks for all the knowledge! I knew there had to be some good reasons why.
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Jun 23, 2020 05:59
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Looking at replacing my HVAC system before its R-22 system decides to gently caress off into the ozone while it's 110F outside. There are 2 local contractors everyone uses and 1 of them I don't like. I pushed the Costco "give me a bid" button and a Lennox dealer showed up on my doorstep which is the same brand as the local contractor I don't like, win-win. 1250sqft well insulated house with double pane windows. No one did "manual J" or anything and all seemed to think my existing stuff was perfectly sized for the house and my ducts are new and in good shape. Both have clean contractor license histories and yelp reviews, insurance is active and valid, no hard sells, no one able to install it "today" or any pressure, they all have jobs backed up for weeks. My goal is to also get a monster filter installed to reduce asthma issues and hopefully lower my interior noise from the forced air unit/furnace. No pets, no smoking, no vaping. The outside unit isn't an issue for sound for me, sorry neighbors. Cannot require wifi/internet access/app to work. Both dealers include all permitting, HERS cert, lineset, etc etc for incidental stuff. They exclude electrical but mine is modern and up to code. 1a. Trane Single Speed 3 Ton 16 SEER w/ 80% efficiency furnace, 5" MERV 11 "Honeywell Media Air Purifier". Nest thermostat (will ask them to delete this). SX8 Furnace w/ Multispeed ECM Fan Motor "L8X1B060V3XSAA" + Evap "G35636D175" + Compressor "4TTR6036J1000A". $8000. 1b. Trane Variable Speed 3 Ton XLV system: TTV0036B1000E + XC80 TUD2B080ACV32B + G80636D175B2022AP. Trane 1050 Large Full Color Touchscreen thermostat $14,000. 2a. Lennox 14 SEER Single Speed Outside Variable Inside - SL280UH060NV36A 80k BTU 80% efficiency furnace w/ variable speed blower, ML14XC1-030 2.5 ton w/ "matching 3 ton evap" (doesn't list evap model I realize now, thanks thread), 5" MERV16 filter, $12,000. Won't the outside unit running at single speed cause the inside one to blow at full or reasonably high speed all the time? 2b. Lennox Variable Everything, SL280UH060NV36A furance (same), XC20-036 3 ton variable speed compressor, matched evap same as above. Lennox wifi thermostat thing. 5" MERV 16 filter $13,750 I like the higher MERV on the Lennox filter system, the Trane stuff seems to jump to ozone generators and UV from there, and Trane is really shifty on their Ozone levels from their website. Lennox has similar systems. I don't want either. I could really use someone telling me I'm a moron to spend $6,000 on a reduction in "whoosh" noise in the house that makes it hard to hear dialog on the TV because I have awful hearing. Thanks. H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Jun 25, 2020 |
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Jun 25, 2020 17:17
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Does your current system have canvas flex joints from the ducting to the indoor unit? I am not a pro so I'm not sure if they're required, but I used them and they allegedly help limit noise transmission from the indoor unit blower to the ducting, so all you'll hear is the air itself and air vs blower instead of giving the blowers vibration an entire house* worth of duct sheetmetal to shake. Neoprene coated canvas flex joints are way cheaper to add than a new unit if you don't currently have them, though it may not improve things as much as a whole new system. I paid 120 bucks for 25ft of the stuff, labor will obviously add some cost too. Another concern (especially if what you're mostly hearing is rushing air) is what size trunk and supply register duct did the installers on the current system use, and how many CFM is it moving? If they undersized the ducting for cost or space availability reasons, it can push the air speed up enough to cause objectionable levels of noise. * I mean, it's only gonna shake the parts closest to the unit, but it still adds to the noise I'm sure. kastein fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Jun 26, 2020 |
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Jun 26, 2020 01:35
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H110Hawk posted:Looking at replacing my HVAC system before its R-22 system decides to gently caress off into the ozone while it's 110F outside. There are 2 local contractors everyone uses and 1 of them I don't like. I pushed the Costco "give me a bid" button and a Lennox dealer showed up on my doorstep which is the same brand as the local contractor I don't like, win-win. 1250sqft well insulated house with double pane windows. No one did "manual J" or anything and all seemed to think my existing stuff was perfectly sized for the house and my ducts are new and in good shape. Both have clean contractor license histories and yelp reviews, insurance is active and valid, no hard sells, no one able to install it "today" or any pressure, they all have jobs backed up for weeks. I'm somewhat surprised you're only getting a 80% furnace on these. I don't think the variable speed ones are going to do much for you (and from what I know, they're massively more complicated when they break). You might consider getting a whole-house dehumidifier installed. Dust mites love higher humidity, and reducing it may help your allergies. Alternatively, some AC has a "dehumidify" mode where it runs the fan slower to help lower humidity. This is something you might have to ask them for explicitly though, when my AC got installed they didn't bother with the one extra wire it would have taken.
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Jun 26, 2020 17:29
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devicenull posted:I'm somewhat surprised you're only getting a 80% furnace on these. I don't think the variable speed ones are going to do much for you (and from what I know, they're massively more complicated when they break). I'm not really worried too much about the % efficiency on the furnace, we don't need much to keep the house at 73F in the winter here in Los Angeles County. We're in the hot part as well, not those fancy pants folks in Pasadena or Santa Monica. None of this is for cost savings. Are you concerned/surprised that the full-variable quote isn't using one of those magic 90-something-%-use-a-plastic-flue furnaces? Our house is dry enough sadly. We also have a high pollen load I am wanting to filter. I am allergic to nature. In the winter the air outside is dry, and in the summer we run the AC enough to dry the air out regardless. Ambient outside right now is 51% and the AC runs probably 25-50% duty cycle right now depending on the outside temperature. kastein posted:Does your current system have canvas flex joints from the ducting to the indoor unit? I doubt it has the canvas flex. I don't think the system is "vibrating" all that much, and before I was a  The bedroom registers right off the main trunk blow far too much air. I know a decent portion of the noise is the 1" filter in the hallway, which I can tell needs changing because it gets even louder. Removing it while it's running makes it much quieter in the hallway. Both installers have balancing as a line item and they both said they could help with that part. Part of this will be moving the filter cartridge into the attic which should help with that as well.Any thoughts on Trane vs Lennox? Oh and warranty: They both come with 10 yr parts, and 1yr (trane) or 3 yr (Lennox) labor warranties. I don't expect any problems in that timeframe that wouldn't be "good will" fixed anyways. Both offer a 10 year labor warranty for about the cost of having them come out twice to fix something larger than a capacitor. Right now I'm leaning Trane single stage everything despite my dreams of overspending on a fully variable system. (I've been enjoying my 1 ton Fujitsu Minisplit for a year now in my office. Fully variable, can barely tell it's on, has the aforementioned dehumidify mode.) Both vendors claim their 5" filters last 1 year. How true is that? H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Jun 26, 2020 |
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Jun 26, 2020 18:51
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I'd probably go with the less expensive Trane. I have Aprilaire 210 filters in my current house and they're 20x25x4 and I change them once a year (every June) without issue. I have 3 cats as well, the filters don't clog up at all. Lennox seems to be highly regarded, but my last house which was built in 2010 had a Lennox system and the evap coil died at the 5 year mark. It's a known issue with formicary corrosion, but I wasn't thrilled with a 1400 dollar repair months after the part warranty expires. ( I didn't register for the 10 year part warranty). I still drive by my old house though and the current owner is still using the same system, so it's 10.5 years old now and still running I guess. I'm in San Antonio where the AC runs constantly during the summer. I keep my house at 71 so the AC runs year round.
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Jun 26, 2020 23:07
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I'm pretty vocal here about my dislike for Trane because of how they lock down their parts supply, but if you're not DIY'ing repairs (and in an area with a local Trane parts warehouse for your company to access) they make a fine unit. And as ever, the cost/benefit return is weighted heavily to making the structure more efficient vs a high SEER system. A super efficient, variable speed unit will have limited benefit on a building that leaks heat in and out like a sieve.
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Jun 27, 2020 01:21
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