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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).
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Feb 28, 2017 21:40
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I've been digging more into ductless A/Cs. I have a a couple rooms upstairs in a cape cod loft, and they get really hot, so I want to install a ductless mini-split system up there. One room is 12X12, and the other is 12X17. The ceiling is slanted in, and the wall on the end doesn't have enough room above the window to install a wall mount unit, so I need a floor mount like this: The only issue is that I can only find them in 9000 BTU, (Daikin and Fujitsu). The smallest outdoor unit i can find is 18000 BTU as well. I'm concerned that if I use 9000BTU in a 144 sqft space it'll be too much. It gets really hot up there, being a second floor loft, so I figure it can handle a little more than the standard math of 5-6k, but 9k seems way over kill. I have a friend that can get me Fujistu and Daikin at cost, which is great, but I'd like to see if someone makes something more correctly sized, like a 7k indoor floor mount and then a 14k. Any advice? Also if someone knows an HVAC guy in NJ/NYS that would do the work if I provide the materials and pay him in cash, please recommend. I'd like a guy that is actually licensed if possible to do the install.
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Jul 31, 2017 21:19
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So now that it's winter again, it's time to start doing battle with my steam boiler and radiators. When I bought the house, the previous occupant told me to drain the boiler once a week. But my friend that is a plumber told me that's not right. The boiler has three drains: 1) skimmer drain up top 2) middle drain that taps the bottom of the basin itself 3) lower drain right by the floor that probably drains the return lines Doing some googling tells me that you don't want a bunch of sludge and rust building up, but googling also tells me that draining water and adding fresh water a lot is bad since it keeps reintroducing all the bad stuff in your water and oxygen that is bad for the boiler. I really don't know what to do. Last winter I religiously drained it almost completely out once a week and refilled, but not I'm not so sure. I do know that since I haven't been doing that, the sight glass is getting a lot dirtier. I hate this boiler, it's completely robbed me of peace. The problem is that it works well, and it has no problems but it's always nagging me that I'm going to do something wrong and it's going to blow up.
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Nov 29, 2017 17:32
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Bird in a Blender posted:Do you have a picture? I know commercial steam boilers better than residential ones, but you do want to blow down some water out of your boiler on a regular basis. You want to keep scale and dirt out of your boiler and draining will help that. You don't drain the entire boiler though, I would say run the drain for a minute, as long as you stay on it consistently. Should I run it until the water comes out pretty clean or just the most sludgy first bits?
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Nov 29, 2017 21:34
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So I had a weird situation with my boiler just now. I was out for a while, so the heat dipped in the house to 60. I turned it on before I started home, and the boiler ran contentiously for about 90 minutes. I get home and notice the pressure gauge says 2.5 PSI. (Just note that the previous gauge was broken so I had it replaced by the gas company, for free, since I have that Worry Free contract). I also notice the water was a little high, since I had put water in it that evening, so I connect my hose to skimmer and I turn it on to tap off the top. Suddenly, boiling hot high pressure steam starts shooting out of the hose, like I've never seen before for. I've drained it numerous times while running, but I've never see that. So I turned off the boiler, and reopened the valve and let it all blow off. I have a couple problems: 1) shouldn't the pressure cut off kick in well before that? 2) the tech that came out last year to replace the gauge used one that goes from 0-30, which seems like way too much, the boiler max is 15 and since it operates at normally max .5 PSI shouldn't the gauge be maybe 0-10? The pressure cut out has kicked in before, a couple weeks ago, when it ran for almost 2-3 full hours to heat from 50 to 69, but I don't remember the gauge reading, The pressure cut out looks to be set at 2, maybe that's too high? Everything was super hot in the house well before hand, so if it cut out at 1 PSI it'd still be plenty of heating power and duty cycling time. I'm going to call them to come out and look at it. The first available appt is 1/19. I can call a local company, but it won't be free. Not sure if I should do something or just not worry about it. I went ahead and booked the 1/19 appt, just to have it. Here's some pics: 1) here's Bertha, my lady love:  2) close up of her sweet knobs.  3) gauges for days: 
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Jan 2, 2018 02:57
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I've been doing some thinking, and since the boiler is a little old, and i'd like to get on top of replacing it before it dies, maybe I could actually replace it with an actual furnace and regular ducting. Since i have the ductless upstairs, I don't need go through the hassle of ducting in a closet or something. Wondering what the average cost of installing a furnace, heating five rooms (kitchen, living room, bathroom, two bedrooms) in the downstairs of a cape. It's an open basement, just the old piping for the radiators, but with that out, ducting could go in pretty easy. I'm curious, though, how they place the vents and the cold air return. Does each room need a return? Is it best to place the vents on the outer walls? I've ran ducting before, so I'm not afraid of that, but I don't know how to lay the system out. I figure I can have the furnace installed, and leave it available to install a central A/C later, to save some cost. What is a good ballpark, maybe 10k for the furnace/ducting, and then 5k for the A/C? I figure it's hard to ask, but I'd like to know if I should save prepare for the 10-20k range or signficantly higher.
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Jan 26, 2018 21:13
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Thanks for this, I'd prefer to wait, the boiler at the moment is fine, but I want to get it replaced before it fails so I can take my time and do it right. I was thinking in three years have it done. I figure I can pull out the radiators and piping myself, I don't mind doing that, and then I could open/close the walls myself to get it all ready for them to install the top/bottom vents. My house is not large at all.  Kitchen: 10x13 Bedroom 9x10 Living Room 11x17 Master Bedroom 11x12 The entire downstairs is something like only 800sqft. The upstairs is taken care of with ductless splits. I don't need a really powerful system. I'm also planning on having blow-in insulation since the house isn't insulated very well. It's all plaster, which is fun, but I can deal with replacing one stud width per room. Only the bedrooms have doors downstairs, the kitchen, central hall and living room don't have doors, just openings. Figure I could put one cold air return in the hallway, one in each bedroom, and a jumper between the bathroom and hallway door. The registers would be on the interior walls facing towards the exterior and then with the returns on the opposite? It wasn't clear from your notes.
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Jan 26, 2018 22:24
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Thanks! The boiler is the green box, in the basement, and I can put the A/C unit likely right outside (I'd have to deal with setback, I think it has to be five feet from the properly line, I think it's only 7ft to the neighbors fence, but I can deal with that).  There's a stair case to the basement, I revised a little to make that more clear so the trunk would have deal with that, probably split it before it. The basement has the pipe for the boilers now, so with that clear there'd be plenty of headspace to run it, and since it's go right up into the walls it'd be really easy. The best method is to have two vents in each riser if possible, top and bottom for heat/cool, right? I don't have a problem doing that since I can open the walls and repair whatever, I'd rather put the time into that and have better heating/cooling. I can do that myself no problem. EDIT: also how do you force the air to loop the room? Direction of the registers? EDIT2: any idea of cost? atleast a range, 10-20k? 20-30k?
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Jan 26, 2018 23:47
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I have an interesting question. Last year, I had some ductless split units installed in the rooms on the second floor of my cape cod. They work great, but interestingly, due to the available space to mount the unit I had to use larger units than the space requires. (I had to use the floor mount ones, which start at 9000 BTU instead of the wall mount that go down to 5000. The rooms stay nice and cool, but I was curious if I could use some of that cooling downstairs. There's a couple small rooms right below the upstairs rooms, and the knee walls of the attic make a perfect spot for me to put a vent on the wall, and duct it to the ceiling of the room below. Maybe install an small inline booster fan as well. it'd just be a two foot duct, with one elbow. This would let me pull some of the cold air downstairs. The house is mostly open, so it's not like there's several doors between the downstairs room and upstairs room, just one actual wall/door, so I'd just put a transom vent in the wall so I'm not sucking/blowing from and to completely enclosed rooms. The room with the 9k unit in it is about 10x12, (the unit is enough for 450 sqft) and the room I'd pull it into is 12x12 so I wouldn't be over the square footage anyways. I found a few silent inline fans, and I can wire up an outlet in the knee wall and a switch on the wall so I can turn off/on the vent fan. 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?
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Aug 8, 2018 18:58
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So my battle with Bertha the Boiler continues. I believe I have a problem. I replaced the pressure gauge with a working one. The previous went from 0-300 so it never registered. The new one is from 0-15, and it actually show pressure. However, I think the pressure cut out switch doesn't work. The other day the boiler ran continuously, and it got up to over 5 PSI. I took a picture at 3PSI:  However the pressure cut out switch is set to I believe 2 PSI:  I'm a little concerned. The side of the boiler says max PSI is 15, but I want to make sure it's safe. The pressure cut out is set to 2 for a reason, but if it's not cutting out, it must be bad. I had a guy come out and look at it in the fall to prepare for winder and he said it's fine, but the coiled tube had some sediment in it, and he flushed it out, but I believe the cut out isn't working. I think I should schedule another service call and get it replaced.
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Feb 22, 2019 17:00
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Explosionface posted:Guessing at what I could find at Honeywell (page 4). It looks like you need to check your model number and pop open that switch to find the full story. From what I see, you have an additive differential, so it's looking at cutting out at 2 + what the internal dial is set at. It looks like it's set to 1, so it should cut out at 3PSI and then cut back in at 1 PSI:   Although I'm not sure what marking to look for on the dial, but there is a "|DIFF" on the side of the switch, so likely that it's it. I'm going to go ahead and schedule a service call (I have a service contract) since I'm certain it was way over 3PSI and didn't cut out.
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Feb 22, 2019 20:10
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SpartanIvy posted:It's either 1.... Or 6 Curious why possibly six? Wouldn't it cut out at the main setting (2) plus the dial (1)=3psi? Are you thinking the number on the white dial is six? Super-NintendoUser fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Feb 22, 2019 |
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Feb 22, 2019 20:57
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angryrobots posted:I think he's saying that someone could have wound it past 5, since it doesn't look like it has a stop. I just checked and it doesn't spin all the way around. It has a stop.
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Feb 22, 2019 21:31
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Explosionface posted:It should cut out at 3 and cut in at 2, but yeah, it's definitely not cutting out for whatever reason. Yeah, you line the line next to DIFF up with a position on the dial for the setting. The only thing I wonder about is alluded to by someone else: what is the dead man's land between 1 and 5? Is it over 5 or under 1? If you wanted to try again, you could set it just halfway between 1 and 2 to make sure you're set in the neighborhood you expect to be in. Otherwise, sounds like a good time to hand it over to your service tech. The stop is right at 1. I can't spin it back towards 5 at all. I spun it up to between 1 and 2 and put the cover back on for now. I scheduled someone to come out next Wednesday, the first available slot that I'll be home for. I told them to bring a replacement switch and send the model details, I'm sure they won't, but at least I tried. It's a little more expensive than I expected, over $120, but I have coverage and it's included, so whatever.
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Feb 22, 2019 22:05
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Jerk McJerkface posted:So my battle with Bertha the Boiler continues. I believe I have a problem. Just an update on this, the guy came today and replaced the switch. I cranked the heat, an hour later, the boiler was at 3PSI and the switch cut out. So I'm happy that my house isn't going to blow up.
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Feb 27, 2019 19:26
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So since it's getting colder I'm now doing battle again with Bertha (my steam boiler). For now she's been pretty good, but one issue started that I can't figure out. One of the radiators make a really loud whistling and rushing noise when the boiler turns off and it cools off. It's pretty normal when it is burning and heating up, but after it the heat turns off and the system cools off it makes this wicked noise when I suppose it's pulling cold air in as the steam/water is vacating and making a vacuum. I replaced the valve with a Vari-valve (one of these guys:  ) this year since it used to have a super old nasty valve that was covered in years of rust and paint. Maybe i need to open or close it more? I also need to go around and adjust the level on all the radiators, but I'd like to get to the bottom of the rushing sound too.
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Oct 27, 2019 14:09
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So the other day my boiler was a little low, I topped it off (I don't have an automatic filler) a small amount and it was all good. For a few days, the water level keeps going up, like to the top of sight glass. I drained it a couple times, but it's pretty clear that the feed valve is leaking and needs to be replaced. I turned off the boiler, let it cool and I ran the valve again at wide open for a couple seconds, to see if I could flush it out, maybe something was in the valve, but if that does work I'll have to get it switched out. Anyone know a good plumber/boiler guy in the Northern NJ area?
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Nov 23, 2019 22:08
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Anyone have any experience with Fujitsu Mini-splits? I have a couple indoor units: AGU9RLF. When I turn one on, it comes on for a few seconds, the fan starts, the operation light comes on. After about 60 seconds, the operation light starts blinking and the fan turns off. When I power cycle it it happens again. I haven't left it on to see if it clears. I have the service manual for it, but it doesn't mention that specific scenario. EDIT: the other LEDs are not on at all, unlike most other error scenarios. Super-NintendoUser fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Oct 7, 2020 |
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Oct 7, 2020 16:31
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sharkytm posted:Count the blinks. They tell you the specific error code. I've got a 3-zone Fuji system, and have spent some time working on it. It's just the operation light slow blinking continuously. There's no pattern like the other errors. The other LEDs don't light at all.
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Oct 7, 2020 23:49
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sharkytm posted:Are you mixing modes? You can't have heat on one unit and fan/AC on another, they've got to be all on heat or off. AC and fan can coexist. I think that was it. My son put his to heat and I didn't realize it. I turned his off and the other one worked fine. Thanks!
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Oct 8, 2020 14:49
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Woke this morning to a cold house. My boiler won't light up. The pilot is on and the thermostat has power and is calling for heat. When it does so the power damper opens but it doesn't ignite. I cut the breaker to remove power from it and I'm trying to get someone out here. Fortunately it's only going to be in 45-50 for the next couple days.
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Feb 28, 2021 13:12
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So my ongoing war with Bertha the Boiler continues. I noticed the other day that there was a small puddle of water on the floor right under my backflow valve discharge vent. I'm not home to take a pic, but it looks like this guy: The downward pipe from that valve marked with the green arrow is just open on the bottom and some water dripped from it. I wiped it up, and put a little metal cup under it to make sure that was it, and sure enough this morning there was water in cup, maybe 2 or 4 oz of water. It was 40 last night, so the boiler worked a bit last night. I've never noticed water there before, and I'm not sure if that's normal operation or maybe the value is bad. Any tips before I just take my own life because of this boiler causing constant suffering?
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Apr 20, 2022 14:37
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If one of my mini split indoor units had a couple drops of dark oil under it that indicates a refrigerant leak right? I turned the system off and called the guy but given that it's memorial day I can imagine he'll come right away.
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May 30, 2022 15:30
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If your bringing any cool liquid inside to do the heat exchange, doesn't that mean there's going to be condensation on the inside coils? Where does that water go? I see a tiny drain plug in this diagram: As well as five nebulous connections here:  2, and 3 are electrical connections maybe (power and control) 1 4 and 5 are liquid? refrigerant in/out and then possible a little pump return to bring the condensation water back? Note that window units with this shape already kind of exist  But if course they aren't as engineered, but a common complaint is "I didn't know that they can only run for 30 min before they fill up with water and shut down until I drain it". quote:EDIT: on a very hot and humid day (96*F / 36*C) I started to get FL errors. The condensation tank is full. It averages 4-6 lb water per day. You either put a pot underneath or you empty it out every 1-2 lb when you notice the FL error (I don't know what the capacity of the tank is). On less hot / humid days I didn't notice the tank getting full, but I didn't pay much attention (I'll update the review). quote:After running for few days I’ve noticed that my carpet was soaked with water. Apparently there’s a drainage hole inside the room which was supposed to have a plug but there was no plug . I’ve tried to call manufacturer but no success. I emailed them to send me missing plug also no reply. I’m very disappointed. My hardwood floor discolored. Very disappointed with customer service. Well there’s no customer service. I’m still waiting . Will update my review if anything changes. quote:Love the design concept of this little ac unit. However we did not read all the reviews to find that the condensation builds up in a little reservoir before it begins to over flow all over your floor. The info packet does not spell it out either. Luckily my husband is an engineer and ran a tube/hose outside so we do not have to worry about it. It doesn’t take long for the reservoir to fill for this large of a unit.
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Jun 29, 2022 14:36
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That channel is delightful, thanks for sharing.
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Aug 16, 2022 20:51
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So I have a couple of these indoor Fujitsu units: AGU9RLF And they take these two little filters:  https://www.myfiltercompany.com/products/fujitsu-utr-fc03-2-utr-fc03-3-k9316474017-mini-split-ductless-filter-2-sets What do they do? I had the ductless guy back to do some service, and he was like eh, just through them away they aren't important. I used to have a buddy that worked for a Fujitsu wholesaler and he just gave them to me for cost (like $5) but now that I have to actually buy them, and they'll $100? And only last a couple months?
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Sep 13, 2022 15:28
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H110Hawk posted:Lol oops. Mine don't have those. I just hose off the coarse filter. Me too, but those filters can't really protect from particles, since they don't cover the enter opening?
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Sep 13, 2022 16:32
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So in my on going war with my steam boiler it has decided to start leaking. I noticed that it was using up more than the ordinary amount of water, so I checked all the piping. Turns out when the boiler is on, and at pressure (but before the pressure cut out trips), there's a small leak inside the boiler, dripping on the burners. It only happens in this situation, there's no pool of water below it all the time, and the doesn't happen when it starts burning, only once it's ran for a 10-15 minutes, and it goes away once it cools. I have someone coming to look at it today, I figure they'll say "you need a new boiler" but I figure there must be some kind of plumbing connections inside the unit, maybe something repairable inside? I'm going to ask the guy if he can use that temp repair liquid just to through the season (I'm in NJ) and then start quoting a boiler replacement if necessary.
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Mar 20, 2023 12:00
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So I had a new boiler put in. It works but sometimes the control relay chatters loudly. After installation it didn't do it when the guy was here installing and testing, but after he left it started. I can duplicate sometimes by letting it heat and then turning the thermostat down so it cuts out and starts to chatter, but it's not every time. The electrician is coming back to check it but I wanted to be prepared to discuss the issue. I have a nest first gen thermostat and the internet says I may need an isolation relay. I checked boiler paperwork and the manual and they do sell one, and it has a different contact for the thermostat. Alternatively I can dump the Nest and get a different non-smart one. Any thoughts?
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Apr 8, 2023 05:31
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MRC48B posted:Yes, put in an iso relay. The nest is trying to draw power through the relay without closing it. I have a c wire already to the Nest. Does that change the equation? The guy is here now looking at it btw, hasn't said anything yet.
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Apr 8, 2023 14:22
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Motronic posted:Throw the nest in the trash where it belongs. that's fair, I've had the nest for probably 5 years. The HVAC guy installed a regular boring battery thermostat for now. I can order the relay and put the Nest back in, but if you have suggestion on a wifi thermostat (I have a C wire and can get a relay if needed) .
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Apr 8, 2023 14:36
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Motronic posted:Ecobees never seem to cause the kind of chaos and damage nest thermostats pretty routinely do. If you must have a wifi thermostat, that would be the one I'd pick. One of my friends works for Honeywell (he's the one that got me the boiler at cost), and is going to get me a basic honeywell wifi thermostat.
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Apr 8, 2023 15:10
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So fun update. We installed a boring old cheap thermostat and let the boiler cycle for an hour and no buzz. Then an hour later the buzzing started. I already ordered the relay but I think I'll call the mfg and file a warranty claim for the main transformer and control relay: https://www.partstoyourdoor.com/peerless-50787-transformer-40va-johnson-y65t42-0-earlier-models-only
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Apr 8, 2023 18:35
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I just disassembled and cleaned all the blowers and parts of my ductless units. It was basically growing a forest in there. I noticed there's a lot of products that you put a tablet or something in the condensation tray and it keeps mildew down. Any of them worth it?
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Sep 12, 2023 18:44
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devicenull posted:They keep the slime from growing in the drain lines, they aren't going to address stuff on the blowers/coil. Makes sense, wouldn't I still want that too?
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Sep 13, 2023 02:42
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MRC48B posted:mini splits are notorious for becoming fungus farms. various people make a kit that you hang under them to allow you to blast em with a hose.
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Sep 13, 2023 02:42
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The boiler is dead, long live the boiler: My boiler started leaking and finally had to be replaced. It happened this April, right at the end of heat season. The new one is installed and working great. One question, the new black iron steam pipes sort of smell oily, likely it's the oil from the new pipes. I sent the plumber a message but haven't heard back from him, curious if I can clean them with TSP or something?
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Oct 16, 2023 14:08
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Heyo, so looking for tips on my steam boiler again. March 2023, I had a new steam boiler installed when my old one started leaking. First is pressure, the installer left the pressure at ~5 cut out, with ~3 cut in, which I think is too high, so I adjusted it down 2psi cut out, .5 cut in. I have a small house, ~900 sqft. There's five radiators, and the main run goes the length of the house (35ft run). The main vent is pictured here:  Since the new boiler was installed, I've noticed that the vent occassional spurts some water. It happens when the system comes on from cold, and when the first steam is moving down the pipe. It hits the vent, spurts some water and then closes. At first I thought the vent was bad, so I replaced it with my spare, which also did it. I thought maybe the spare (which sat in a box for a year) was bad, so put the old one back on and bought a new one. That also spurted, so I know it's not the vent. They are all Gorton No 1s. I did some research on main vents, and I think that I have a bigger issue. The new boiler is smaller and more efficient, so it gets steam in the pipe way faster. I think the problem is that the main vent isn't sufficient for the load, and also:  from here: https://www.peerlessboilers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/OnePipeSteam.pdf I think that the vent needs a riser, and maybe a manifold to gang them. The fitting is 3/4, can I just get some black pipe from HD and make my own manifold?  Any thoughts? It's not an urgent thing, the house gets warm, and it's not spraying more than an half ounce a day, but I don't want to leave it too long.
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Dec 28, 2023 01:11
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MRC48B posted:Why.  Every single recommendation I've seen for a boiler (including the old one I had before) had the recommendation for ~2psi.
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Dec 28, 2023 13:45
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MRC48B posted:Sorry, that previous post was short and crabby. Lots of school district projects this week. Just to clarify, that image came from the Peerless' instructions for boiler installations. I called my installer, and he said that it's correct, I should put a riser on it. I'm out of town for a few days, but when I get back I'll sort it out. In the meantime I put a plastic tray where it was dripping so it's not a big mess when I get back. Fortunately it's 50, so I don't need to heat too much.
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Dec 29, 2023 21:39
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