HVAC thread: No returns, supplies are limited.

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Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Aquila posted:

So I am looking into buying an AC unit for my Grandma and am trying to figure out roughly how much this will cost before I bring out someone for an estimate. She lives in Socal and removed the unit the house had when she moved in 25 years ago, according to her the coil is still there and drained of the refrigerant. I suspect after 25 years that stuff will not be reusable, but hopefully the install won't be to hard since the infrastructure is still there. The house is 1750sqft 3bdrm two story. I am hoping to spend less than $4000 (probably split with other family members) and am wondering if any knows roughly how much this stuff costs. Also I am considering using the Costco/Lennox deal, with various promos it will be zero interest and ~14% cash back.

Different markets and all that, but when I was looking, the Costco Lennox bid was more expensive than using the local Lennox sub they contract with directly, and both those numbers were almost 30-40% more than bids from highly reviewed carrier/bryant and ruud/rheem dealers.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2016 16:00

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:21

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

literally a fish posted:

If switching the thermostat back didn't fix it then chances are it's not the thermostat's fault, pressure switches notwithstanding

I'd wager that black wire needs to be hooked up to the C terminal on the Nest.

E is usually Emergency Heat, which the nest seems to have detected properly.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2016 05:47

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Teketeketeketeke posted:

Hello HVAC thread!

- I have a single-stage heat & A/C system.
- I'm currently running a basic programmable thermostat hooked up to four wires (R, W, G, Y)
- I'd like to be able to use a fancier thermostat by gaining a "C" wire to run MOAR POWER.

My Options:

1. I suppose I could buy one of the Venstar Add-a-wire sort of deals, to free up a wire for C
(a la https://www.amazon.com/Venstar-ACC0410-Wire-Accessory-Thermostats/dp/B01IF3QXMC)

2. I read that you can also do this:
- At the furnace, remove the wire from G terminal, connect the wire to C
- At the furnace, use a jumper to bridge Y to G
- At the thermostat, remove the wire from the G terminal, and connect it to C
*** This would, of course, remove the "FAN ON" option, but retain the ""AUTO FAN" option. I would never force-on the fan anyway, so I don't care.

Two questions:
First, is option 2 valid? Or could this somehow gently caress up my furnace board or something?
Second, if option 2 is legit, how would I go about wiring this? Here's a pic of my setup

Would I simply jumper Y terminal to G terminal (leading to a weird threesome situation @Y), then connect the originally-G wire to C?

Second option is theoretically legit if you don't care about fan-- thermostats just bridge the right wires to R to trigger a relay on the furnace board.

Normally on a "Fan" call, the thermostat will bridge R - G to trigger the fan
on a "Cool" call , R - G is bridged to turn on the fan and R - Y is bridged to turn on the compressor. By bridging Y - G at the furnace, once the thermostat bridges R - Y, R - G is also bridged.

Most furnaces automatically run the fan on a "Heat" call R - W, so you don't need the separate fan trigger.

Although if it was me, I'd just use the add-a-wire since $30 is cheap compared to a new board or service call if the jumper does something weird.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2016 19:08

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

PerniciousKnid posted:

I have a two story house with a non-programmable thermostat I'm going to upgrade. Because of the floor temp differential, I open/close registers seasonally, and sometimes run the fan just to exchange air up and down if the ac/heat isn't running very frequently. I've discovered that there are some thermostats that can use remote sensors to some effect, are there any that will sense a floor temperature differential and run the fan without heat/ac just to even things out? Or is my best bet to just use a remote sensor, set the tstat to use average temp, and let the ac run more frequently?

Depending on the furnace/air handler you have you might be able to just add another dumb thermostat upstairs and connect the y/r closures to the fan terminal of your indoor unit. So a cool call from upstairs will just turn on the fan, and once the downstairs gets warm that thermostat will turn on the AC as normal.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2016 17:55

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

glynnenstein posted:

I hadn't bought R-22 in a while and was a little alarmed by the price from my contractor who just swapped out two Bitzer screws for me at work, but apparently I was getting quite a deal! Is $770 for 30 pounds retail the real world we're living in or do I need to shop around? I just have one small building so I don't need it often enough to buy bulk, but all our equipment is 22. I guess it's time for me to do my homework on drop-in replacements, huh?

just use propane :devil:

# ¿ Jan 10, 2017 18:47

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

devicenull posted:

I'm curious why you would only be able to run both if the coil is upstream?

Because if the coil is downstream, the air entering the coil will already be in the mid 100s after being heated by the strips, and the pressure in the coil will be too high.

If it's upstream, you can heatpump preheat the air and then the strips don't care.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2017 00:27

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Alereon posted:

Are variable capacity heat pumps a thing for residential forced air systems? It would seem nice to be able to pump a lot of heat on cold days without aux heat but not be oversized for the summer.

yes. I've got a carrier greenspeed, but all the major brands have a heatpump version in addition to straight cool. It's fabulous.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2017 04:32

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Jerk McJerkface posted:

Just got some quotes for a ductless split system. I live in a Cape Cod with a steam boiler, so it's really the only option, and I'm fine with that.

Guy quoted me:

FUJITSU CONDENSER AOU36RLXFZ
4 head units for downstairs (there's four rooms)

and a smaller condenser and one unit for upstairs since it's one largish finished room:

FUJITSU CONDENSER M# AOU18RLXFW

Any comments about these units? He said he also can quote Daikon unit for the same price, but since the Fujitsu distributor is like ten miles away it's faster to get service and parts.

The whole deal is 12k, it's inline with all the other quotes I've gotten (I've gotten several and they are all +/- 1k).

Fujitsu's minisplits are great, I'd take them over daikin, even though daikin I think might be a bigger brand now.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2017 16:00

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

I had a 5000BTU unit for a ~120sq foot bedroom apartment, with similar shading, also used at night in a place with only a swamp cooler. It was able to drop the room from close to 90 into the 70s over 2 hours then maintain it so I think you'll probably be fine. 7,500BTU units also just run on 115V, and only draw 8-9A so you could upsize a little to add some headroom.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2017 00:15

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

It also happens more in warmer climates where you don't get enough gas cycles in the winter that effectively sterilize the coil with heat for several months.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2017 22:30

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

angryrobots posted:

So recently found out that my electric co-op is offering a $500 credit for installing a "dual-fuel" electric and gas hvac unit. The ones that are basically an electric heat pump, but instead of heat strips they have gas for backup heat/2nd stage. I dunno how new these are, but I've been out of the loop or uninformed about them until recently.

I was planning to install a gas pack anyhow, because my heat pump is pretty ineffective when we have an actual cold snap for an extended period (SC, so mild winter with swings to cold) My house is only 1980's level insulated, and two vaulted ceilings to lose heat in. I figured the higher vent temps would help the comfort level. Then when I have a propane tank, I'll also install a gas backup generator.

Anyhow, this dual fuel sounds ideal for me. Cheap electric heat pump to handle 90% of our mild winter, and gas for the other 10%. Do they work as well as I'm imagining?

Dual fuel is pretty much standard in Arizona, there's no real downside. Heat pumps are only slightly more expensive than straight cool, and you get the benefit of choosing your fuel.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2017 04:53

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

ExplodingSims posted:

Use the pool heater as the condenser for the A/C

The cooling the house season and heating the pool season would have very little overlap in tx I'd think

# ¿ Jun 2, 2017 15:44

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:

So I have a 3rd gen Nest that's been acting... odd... with a/c.

For background: 4 wire setup, but everything except the wires and ducts has been replaced, behavior has continued. I took the Nest out for awhile and used a new Honeywell digital (the very basic version), and I'm back to using that again.

Occasionally, while the ac is running, I'll hear it (very quickly) cycle off and on several times in 1-2 seconds. I can hear the relay chattering in the air handler when this happens, along with the fan in the air handler turning off/on. This also causes the outside unit to shut down (condenser fan keeps running, compressor says "NOPE"), until I turn off the thermostat for at least 5 minutes (cycling it off and on at the thermostat doesn't work; that puts in a 3 minute delay, which apparently isn't enough for the compressor to cycle back on).

Any ideas beyond a defective thermostat? This doesn't happen with the basic digital Honeywell thermostat that it replaced. It also seems to be a bit off in its temp readings compared to the Honeywell - both via display (Honeywell with batteries installed sitting next to it, but not hooked up) and how the room feels.

My HVAC runs often enough that it shouldn't be needing to cycle any relays to charge up (and I thought Nest tended to go for the heater relays while the system wasn't running, correct?). It's annoying waking up to an 80 degree apartment when I keep the thermostat set at 70, and I doubt it's doing the compressor any favors.

Doesn't happen on heat, but since I'm in a top floor apartment, and I'm in TX, I'm still having to run the ac during the day.

If the basic honeywell is working fine, then the nest is broken (or won't work with your system). Nests are actually pretty awful at the actual business of turning on and off equipment properly, so it's not unbelievable that it might not be fully compatible with your furnace board. Ecobee at least gets that part right.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2017 15:07

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

here's the non-branded version of your trane thermostat

https://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-YRTH8500D1008-7-Day-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B000VLG1ZQ/

It's battery powered, so you won't need a C wire-- it should just work fine.

here's the manual/video https://yourhome.honeywell.com/en/products/thermostat/7-day-programmable-thermostat-rth8500d

# ¿ Dec 21, 2017 16:11

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

fyallm posted:

I have a Heat pump and central air in my house that was built in the 40s (2k square feet & 2 story) and my electric bills in the winter are insane. Last month was $320 and this month it will be more and it's due to the furnace being run nonstop even showing it is running in aux mode sometimes. Now I also have baseboard heaters all throughout the house that I never use. The thermostat is located on the first floor and is set around 67-69 degrees. Would it be more efficient to lower that even more and turn on the baseboard heaters in the rooms we are currently in?

baseboard heat is going to be as (in)efficient as your Aux strips so in order to use them to your advantage you could drop your central heat when it's cold enough for aux to come on and only heat the room you're in.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2017 23:12

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

as far as I know, none of the 3rd party thermostats can talk rs-485 to variable air handlers, so you'll have whatever built in logic is in the furnace for "Fan" calls and "Cool/Heat" calls, multi-stage fan only with R/W/Y/G/B wiring seems unlikely.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2018 17:46

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

potatoducks posted:

Yeah I don't need multistage with fan only. But as long as the furnace can go:

"Fan only -> low"
"Cool/heat -> increase speed as needed"

then we're good.

That's likely on almost any furnace/air handler with a variable blower, it'll have one speed for fan and one for (each stage) of heat/cool (if it'll emulate 2-stage) with the standard wires. Should be called out int he manual for whatever you're considering.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2018 00:49

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Naffer posted:

Woah is 13-14K reasonable for an AC and furnace? That seems like a ton of money.

depends on the market, make/model, and if it's a replacement or retrofit. When I replaced my system I needed some ductwork modifications and ended up in that range.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2018 04:49

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Jerk McJerkface posted:

I figure with that, I can cool the rooms pretty nicely, and each setup is only about $80. What is the goon think consensus of my plan?

It's not the worst plan-- going up to down means the cold air also wants to follow that path so you're likely to get some benefit. If the return air path is back through the house though, now you're going to be cooling the whole place (poorly), rather than looping the room air through the ductless unit. If you're going to try it, I'd have a powered supply and return duct rather than just the one to have a better shot at encouraging the air to stay looped locally.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2018 02:08

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

STR posted:

So how much napalm would you bring if you got called out to work on this mess? Particular the middle back?

Spotted at a crappy apartment complex. I'm used to seeing mismatched units at apartments, but uh... one wasn't even on the pad, it was on a couple of bricks. I'm guessing they poured a pad that was barely big enough for the ~early 1980s units that were originally there?

<insert Saul Goodman joke here.. maybe even 4 of them>

the lack of foresight needed to get to that point is amazing.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2018 04:46

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

MRC48B posted:

unfortunately not. commonplace.

I see how you get there at a condo building when people hire their own cheap installer who doesn't think about other units but if you're handling maintenance for all of them :psyduck:

# ¿ Nov 6, 2018 15:20

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

does it run hot with the filter removed?

lots of the 1" filters are too restrictive with undersized ductwork, you may just need to use a cheap barely-a-filter fiberglass one.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2018 04:26

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

wolrah posted:

Also as a random aside, I found out that Belden actually makes an 18ga ethernet cable for industrial applications. Cat5e certified and enormous.

only $27/meter!

# ¿ Jan 2, 2019 19:52

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

if you're handy with a soldering iron, just replace the relay for 4 bucks

https://www.onlinecomponents.com/te-connectivity-p-b-brand/t91s2d2224-12114899.html

# ¿ Jan 16, 2019 04:26

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Suck and Blow: The HVAC Thread

# ¿ Feb 3, 2019 19:56

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Qwijib0 posted:

Suck and Blow: The HVAC Thread

# ¿ May 30, 2019 14:21

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

The reason portable AC units "suck" is for the exact reason you're attempting to recreate, but worse. It'll be nearly impossible to create something as "good" as a portable AC because window units use all three sides of the rear for air movement, and expect to be able to drip condensate out the bottom.

If you're in a situation where a window unit won't work, sell it and buy a two-hose portable unit.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2019 04:22

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

SourKraut posted:

What's everyone's general view on Bryant?

More important than the equipment brand is the install, and if it's a packaged unit there's not much that can go wrong with that so it's probably fine.

In the brand-scale, bryant is "tier 2" to carrier, and american standard is "tier 2" to trane, so they're in comparable model lines for price comparison and are more or less functionally identical to their carrier and trane counterparts.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2019 18:54

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Smackdillion posted:

When you buy the ultra high-efficiency (anything more than a 2 stage compressor) residential split-systems you have decided the following:

1) I am willing to pay 20% more than the equipment is worth because of reported energy-savings realized in a laboratory setting.

2) I understand that literally no one is going to locally stock or carry the parts required to fix this machine back to 100% (meaning when it goes down at the height of the summer or the dead of winter and you NEED it, it's going to get rigged. Bye Bye variable speed!). I am A-OK with downtimes in excess of a week up to a month while the repairman waits on parts.

3) I am fine with having an approximately 5% chance that the person servicing this machine is the guy who went to the class on how to fix the machine and not just the closest tech to me when the service call is placed. It's totally cool that he jumps out my ambient sensor with a piece of 16 wire and my outdoor unit thinks it's -20 degrees at all times loving up all its calculations and making the unit run worse than a basic on-off system.

4) I am fine with the fact that for every dollar I've saved in electricity over the course of however many years between service calls, I've paid back $1.25 to the serviceman for parts and repairs.

Residential split-system equipment is just not there yet. I've got one of these whiz-bang fuckers in my house. It makes sense and works great for me, but only because I can repair it when it goes down and know how to maintain it. Unless you are OK with the above, just get a 14 SEER banger and run it until it drops. You're playing with your rear end putting a more efficient HVAC system in the same drafty house anyhow.

Now, variable refrigerant flow like is common to most mini-splits (ductless) and Mitsubishi City-Multi units is the future. Variable expansion devices with variable compressors and variable speed outdoor motors. You service it with a laptop. Leave the gauges in the truck. That's how it's done properly. But bring your checkbook.

1) Did not want the energy savings over a 16 or 18 dual stage, I wanted the thing to run silently most of the time and not hear it turn on or off

2) Variables are not bespoke, artisanal devices at this point

3) Depends on the contractor I guess-- Mine sent the whole team to training when I chose it, and most of them participated in the install based on the number of guys I saw that week. The person that comes twice a year as part of the service agreement always seems to know what he's doing.

4) No issues so far in the past 6 years beyond a control board recall which I was proactively contacted about by them.

tl;dr as always, choosing the right contractor is critical.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2019 20:02

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

zenintrude posted:

Alright an issue I�ve been stressing about for months and months just occurred to me there might be a SA thread for it...

Here�s the situation:

- 1000 sqft South Florida house built in the late 50s
- Year old 2.5 ton 16 seer Trane, handler installed in attic (only place to have it installed in such a small place I guess)
- Dark colored asphalt (not gabled, not flat) roof with full ridge vent
- Brand new blown in insulation
- Brand new low-E impact glass windows and doors
- Recently ripped out the old, painted over and debris clogged soffit vents... what remains is a 1.5~ inch wide hole that runs around 3/4 of the house and a series of smallish (2.5 inch) vent holes on 1/4 of the house

Especially now that I�m home all the time I�m really noticing how much the AC is running during the day simply trying to get down to a normal temperature (73 - 74) when it�s not that ridiculously hot outside (84 - 86 at peak recently). For example, here�s yesterday:

Everything I read seems to indicate that an AC should be able to cool 15 - 20 degrees below the outside temps and I�m not really seeing that here and it�s kinda driving me nuts.

That said what should I be looking into? Spray foam insulation? Radiant barriers? Bigger soffit vents? At this point I�ll try anything as I�m fearing what this is going to look like once we start hitting hotter temps.

Looking at the EPA charts for 1% cooling, there is no Florida city with that temp over 94, so it running 75% or so of the time at 86 isn't unexpected, if properly sized it'll be running 100% or close to it at the 1% temp.

The 15-20 degree number is not outside/inside but rather supply vs return air in the house, so the air coming out of the vents should be 15-20 degrees cooler than the ambient temp.

It's possible the unit is undersized but man, that would be a rarity.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2020 00:51

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Herm is short for hermetically sealed compressor, so yeah, if the compressor is the problem and you've got a wiring diagram that shows it should be connected elsewhere that's probably the issue.

The only thing I can think of why it would be that way is for some reason both the fan and compressor motors need the same value capacitor and all the service guy had is a dual but that would be.... odd

# ¿ Apr 3, 2020 15:00

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Square footage math is usually bad. Do an actual load calculation. Oversizing is problematic for a number of reasons, not just humidity.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2020 05:16

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

kastein posted:

Honestly what's really needed is a standard for communications between thermostats, other sensor devices, indoor units, outdoor units, in duct blowers, surge heaters, dampers, etc. Something like CAN would be a great physical layer for it, then stack standardized packet formats on top of it for each control type and allow full configuration so each indoor unit/booster/damper knows which thermostats tell them to do what, different brands of equipment could be used together more effectively, etc. Unfortunately I'm sure there would be a lot of resistance to such an idea in the industry because everyone's already got their own proprietary ecosystem they want to sell you, and they like that it doesn't work with anyone else's stuff, and love 24vac dumb controls even if a single point of failure can burn up a piece of equipment like motronic described, because it means not having to learn any new tech and being able to sell the replacement unit. Even though that system was designed to work with non modulating 60% efficient oil furnaces in 1955 or whatever and has been poorly extended and added to since then, while still not really adapting well to modern modulating furnaces and chillers, or horror of horrors, both in one system and the user wanting the system to just do what's needed to maintain temp without having to flip a heat/cool switch.

E: or if such a thing already exists, maybe people should use it, but that will never happen

I've been waiting for someone, anyone, to do something with carrier's "ABCD" rs-485 protocol because the stock infinity thermostat is not nearly as smart as it could be attached to a modulating furnace, variable compressor, and access to outside air temp and a forecast. it's been reverse engineered, but I'm still just not quiiite ready to roll my own control logic.

https://github.com/nebulous/infinitude

# ¿ Dec 25, 2020 23:46

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

SpartanIvy posted:

Speaking of water heaters, I just installed a new one for my girlfriend.

Her old one had some kind of weird, home-made heat pump integrated to it that was supposed to siphon off heat from the HVAC system to the water heater before going outside to the condenser. It was a pretty clever idea but incredibly poorly implemented, and even when it was working I doubt it gave much, if any benefit.

Yeah, those are still a thing for both hot water and pool heating

https://www.hotspotenergy.com/residential-heat-recovery-water-heaters/

# ¿ Jan 2, 2021 20:52

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

I have an inverter driven fully variable 4 ton central A/C, a carrier greenspeed. Paid $12000 almost a decade ago, and it has been fantastic. I am never going to recover the cost difference I paid over the 2-speed (almost $5000 iirc, the contractor so I made price it it for me and so had to send their techs to carrier school for it thought I was nuts), but just having silent trickles of cool or warm air since it mostly operates at 50% capacity is fantastic. My temperature swings are a degree or two at most.

The outside unit is also almost silent most of the time because of this too, which is great so I don't hear it when I'm out in my yard

Qwijib0 fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Jul 1, 2021

# ¿ Jul 1, 2021 16:26

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

hooah posted:

Are HVAC maintenance contracts worthwhile? Or, maybe, are they worthwhile once the equipment is past a certain age? Our unit is 2.5 years old and apparently the builder cheaped out and didn't install a bypass (or really two separate units, which would have been the best), so we're having one installed to prevent the blower from getting burnt out, and the company recommended a maintenance plan as well.

My contract costs about the same as two visits a year, plus they drop of 6 months worth of filters so is basically cost neutral if I was going to have the two PMs a year. And the soft benefit in my mind is if I have an emergency call, I'm a current customer so hopefully that works out to some sort of priority.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2021 16:55

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

that appears to be a 13 seer unit, you'll save about 5% on energy for each seer higher you go, so if you replaced it with a 19 seer unit, you'd spend 30% less on electricity running it. Your break even would depend on how much you're actually spending on cooling annually.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2021 07:32

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

Zorak of Michigan posted:

Is the Connex a decent platform or a half-assed Internet of poo poo offering? Is the modulating design so much more efficient that we can just adjust the main thermostat to be a little cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter to make up for the lack of a sensor in the master bedroom? Are there questions I'm not asking but should be?

Thanks for any wisdom you all care to share.

I've got carrier infinity touch, which is the same thing, the remote sensor can be used without zoning but when connected it is the only source. You could put a toggle switch or something on the wiring so you could turn it "on" and "off" by connecting/disconnecting it.

No opinions on the smart platform itself really, I have changed the temp from my phone and that works fine.

If you are a person so inclined, there is an open source project called infinitude that acts as a MITM proxy from the thermostat to carrier or connects directly to the ABCD carrier/Bryant bus and can talk to other home automation software. Also have never gotten up the motivation to do that either :effort:

# ¿ Oct 2, 2021 03:17

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

I would find the manuals for the "smart thermostat" compatible mode to see if it actually does what you want. My carrier greenspeed variable is also "compatible" but it turns it into a two stage. I have never seen a residential variable condenser/fan unit that has a published protocol spec to let a 3rd party take advantage of it. It might try and ramp up and down speed based on how long the cool call lasts but that's going to be a much different experience than a communicating thermostat

# ¿ Jul 29, 2022 14:28

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:21

Qwijib0: Apr 10, 2007; Who needs on-field skills when you can dance like this?; Fun Shoe

the poi posted:

- 16-18seer ACPro (rebranded Lennox) x series, inverter compressor. This appears to be a variable speed compressor that�s designed to work with a standard 24v thermostat.

Qwijib0 posted:

I would find the manuals for the "smart thermostat" compatible mode to see if it actually does what you want. My carrier greenspeed variable is also "compatible" but it turns it into a two stage. I have never seen a residential variable condenser/fan unit that has a published protocol spec to let a 3rd party take advantage of it. It might try and ramp up and down speed based on how long the cool call lasts but that's going to be a much different experience than a communicating thermostat

the manual was linked at the bottom, and it is a variable speed compressor-- but you set it to a single speed at install. It appears to be designed as a single SKU for easy stocking. The installer will set the tonnage to 2,3,4 or 5, and at that point it's a single-speed unit. it only has an R, Y and C connection to the indoor components, so that's compressor on/off and a common wire only.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2022 17:53

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > HVAC thread: No returns, supplies are limited.

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