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Possibly Dumb HVAC question. Just moved into a new house. Large 2 story, 3400 sq feet. 2 HVAC units, one for each floor. (2.5 ton and 2 ton) We like it cold in the house, so downstairs is set to 70 right now, and upstairs to 72. Downstairs just isn't comfortable. The thermostat says it's 70, but humidity is staying in the mid 60's (65 currently). (It feels warmer than 70 tbh) Upstairs is much nicer even set at 72, though sometimes the thermostat shows 71. Humidity upstairs is in the low 50's usually. We kept our old house at 72 and it was just fine, I really want to bump it up a couple degrees but it's just not as pleasant as we want it to be. I must be doing something wrong with the settings. Should I bump upstairs higher and downstairs lower? Look into a dehumidifier for downstairs? I'm going to call the company that installed it, but since this is new construction not sure how far I'll get with them.
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Aug 6, 2018 17:59
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Nevets posted:Monday afternoon I discovered my AC unit was leaking water. Not an HVAC guy, but I'd guess there's a leak inside the coil housing somewhere. Either the pan to tubing attachment, or possibly the pan itself has rusted out or cracked. Can your remove an access panel around that area and see whats up inside?
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Aug 8, 2018 19:52
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Not an hvac tech but in my personal experience those thicker filters can cause problems in systems not designed for them My last house and prior apartment I had to use those cheap fiberglass filters to keep the airflow where it was supposed to be. I just changed them every 30 days. My new place uses these big aprilaire 210 filters that are good for 6-12 months or so but cost a small fortune to replace
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Nov 27, 2018 08:11
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Not an hvac guy so I could be really wrong, but i would guess low refrigerant is causing the coil to freeze up into a solid block of ice that doesn’t let air pass through.
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Mar 29, 2019 08:07
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I can't seem to get the humidity level down inside my new construction house for some reason. (appx 1 year old) I've had the company out twice now to check out the systems, and they're working properly and has zero issues cooling the house to the desired temps. I just can't get the humidity down below 65% for some reason. I'm curious if anyone can offer any advice. Info San Antonio TX area 3400 sq ft 2 story house 2.5 ton Carrier A/C downstairs 2 ton Carrier A/C upstairs downstairs temp set to 70 upstairs temp set to 72 downstairs unit connected to an Aprilaire 8126x fresh air system, but it's programmed not to open if the humidity is above 60% or temp is below 32 or above 100 outside. The last tech confirmed its working properly. I've never had this problem in previous homes...if anything it would get too dry during the summer. Current outdoor humidity is 56%, and it's going to be hot today so the units should run quite a bit today. Indoor humidity is 64% downstairs and 59% upstairs according to my ecobees, and the tech tested with his equipment they're accurate. What's weird is my neighbors report their houses don't have this issue, so I'm just at a loss. It's newer energy efficient construction and the house is sealed up pretty well. I make sure to run the exhaust vents during cooking and showers to try to get the humid air vented outside. Any ideas? I'm at the point where I might just go buy a dehumidifier to see if it helps. edit: I check the runtime stats I can get out of the ecobee website. The system seems sized properly. It runs pretty much 100% between the hours of 4pm and 9pm which is expected in my area. My living areas get a lot of western sun, plus thats when we're all generating the most heat. It cycles on and off during the day, but it doesn't seem to be oversized and excessively short cycling. skipdogg fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Jun 19, 2019 |
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Jun 19, 2019 17:59
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angryrobots posted:How much does the unit cycle outside of 4-9pm? What's your "away" settings? Have you tried adjusting your "away" temp to run the unit a little more and see if the humidity drops? Have any of the techs checked that the air handler units are leveled properly and draining condensate the way they're supposed to? I've attached the data from the downstairs unit from the Ecobee website. It cycles a fair bit overnight keeping it cold, but otherwise looks ok? I'm not using any away settings. I'm home all day, and I've found it's best to just leave it at a set temp and let it keep it that way. Late afternoons get hot, and my last house didn't have the capability to bringing the temp down until the sun went down. I'm not sure about the air handlers being level. I did have an idea about checking the condensate line that runs to a bathroom sink. I could disconnect it and put it in a bucket and see if it's draining properly. Jaded Burnout posted:I'm not super used to US construction styles but new building construction introduces a lot of water and are more tightly sealed up for eco reasons. It took me several weeks of running a dehumidifier and watching the local humidity info to know when to leave the windows open to get things down and stable.. The house is almost a year old. I expected higher humidity levels while the house "dried out" last summer, but I would have though it wouldn't be as bad this summer. It's just really getting hot here now, so I didn't chase this when the A/C wasn't running as much. 65% isn't bad, but it's abnormal in my experience of living here the last decade or so. My last house was generally low 40% to mid 30's in the summer. We had to get rid of a microfiber couch that did nothing but generate static electricity during the summer months. Maybe this house will be different, but want to make sure I'm not missing something. That system was arguably undersized for the house though. It ran non stop most summer days.
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Jun 19, 2019 21:23
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I’ll go up and check the handlers again tomorrow morning. Pretty sure my attic is way too hot right now. I don’t think he checked the seal on the fresh air, but we can see the damper easily and it is closed and seems to work properly. Thanks for the help so far, I appreciate it. Edit: somehow the humidity in the house has gone up and for the first time ever the system isn’t holding temp https://imgur.com/a/zHqDMcn skipdogg fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Jun 19, 2019 |
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Jun 19, 2019 23:41
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H110Hawk posted:I don't know what sort of temperature you're fighting outside, but if a 1 year old house can't hold temp on modern construction something is seriously broken. My leaky as hell 1947 house can hold temp on a low-mid grade system now that we blew in insulation against 110F+. Are you sure both units are actually blowing cold air? That none of your walls are suspiciously hot or cold? 4.5 tons seems like a decent amount for a correctly insulated house, but I am a lay person when it comes to HVAC. I'm dumb and forgot I enrolled my Ecobees in the electric companies program where they can adjust your thermostat during peak demand times. It was part of the agreement when I submitted for the 300 dollars in rebates I got for installing them. San Antonio go really hot last night and they remotely adjusted my thermostat for a little while. False alarm.
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Jun 20, 2019 20:04
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My pan has an overflow switch that kills the system if it gets tripped. Not an hvac expert but the trap is necessary so air doesn’t get sucked in through the drain system
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Jun 26, 2019 04:11
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angryrobots posted:For that kind of runtime, imo yeah that's an oddly high indoor humidity level. Finally got up into the attic and took a few pictures. The last 2 are of the downstairs unit drain system. Generally everything looks like it's supposed to. Returns look sealed properly. The only thing i'm not sure of is if the drain lines should be capped. My old house had an upflow type A/C unit in a closet in the living area, so that one was capped so it didn't suck air in via the drain. This one is configured differently, and I can feel cool air being pushed out of the first drain line before the p-trap. The primary drain lines drain to a bathroom on the 2nd floor, and the drain lines for the overflow pan are routed outside. It's been 9 days since the tech was last here, and humidity still has never dipped below 60% inside. https://imgur.com/a/sH66BrV
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Jun 27, 2019 19:50
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Yeah the system was running while I was up there and it was open. He programmed it to 60% humidity. I dropped it to 55 and it closed. I’ve ran the system for a month with it disabled before and it doesn’t make much difference. It does close as it should though.
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Jun 27, 2019 23:54
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When I dropped the humidity settings the damper closed. When I disabled it previously it closed as well I can’t really inspect the seal easily but the damper seems to work.
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Jun 28, 2019 02:32
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Your post got me thinking. Upstairs is usually a little less humid than downstairs, and both returns are on the second floor. The fresh air sensor is in the return duct work, so it's possible it was sensing air with less than 60% humidity, although downstairs it was still more than that. I can tell a slight difference upstairs after I changed it to 55% yesterday afternoon. I cranked the thing down to 45% humidity this morning, and I'll see how things go. Is there a decent tool I can pick up off amazon to doublecheck the ecobees?
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Jun 28, 2019 16:49
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45% is the lowest setting on the Aprilaire 8126x unit according to the manual, short of turning it off. It's been unseasonably rainy for south central texas lately so I'll be patient and see if things improve. I do appreciate everyone's sanity check though on the system.
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Jun 28, 2019 17:27
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When that happened to my old system it was a couple pounds low on charge and the evap coil had a slow leak. It limped along with an early summer recharge a couple years before I had to replace the evap coil. It can’t hurt to have someone come out and check the pressures
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Jul 4, 2019 03:36
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Probably the evap coil, I had to replace one in my last house due to formicary corrosion. A decent tech with the right tool can track it down pretty quick. Brace yourself. AC repair in summer is gonna cost you. My coil replacement was around 1500 bucks
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Jul 11, 2019 00:44
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brugroffil posted:Nope, same double casements as all but the master. But it is a corner, so it has twice as many exterior walls. Plus a 1ft or so overhang along the back of the house. I'd look into putting a small ductless mini split unit into that room. A heatpump based one if they work well in your climate. It'll set you back a fair amount of money, but would be the easiest long term solution I think. You can try to increase the insulation in the walls of that room, or increase the airflow, but overcoming the heat gain/loss from that room is going to be tough. A portable A/C or heater could work as well depending on the season and would be less expensive. I'm not an HVAC professional, but I don't think there is a code of when a house needs a second system or not. It's usually a function of sizing. I have a new construction house, my neighbors have a 3000 sq ft 2 story house that runs off a single large unit. My house has 2 smaller systems, one for each floor. (2.5 and 2 ton). My neighbor did have the HVAC company out several times until they could the the balance the system somewhat close.
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Jul 15, 2019 19:58
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TraderStav posted:Thoughts? Thanks in advance. Standard "warranty" bullshit for the industry. Parts aren't the expensive part, the labor is, which is why many dealers push the labor warranty as well. I had a evap coil replaced and the part was like 400 bucks. Labor 1100. 110 a pound is really high though. I'd try to negotiate that down to half that if possible. See if they'll work with you.
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Aug 29, 2019 18:53
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If everything outside seems in working order, the issue is somewhere inside. The inside coil and filter are clean? Fan working properly? Coil isn’t icing up? Ducts all connected properly?
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Sep 17, 2019 07:04
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What do you want the smart vents for? Is there a balancing issue or something?
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Jan 12, 2020 07:07
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IndianaZoidberg posted:There's an HVAC thread? Cool! Not an HVAC person, but when my previous system was running low on refrigerant, the coil would freeze up. So in my experience a freezing coil indicates a low refrigerant charge. I replaced the coil at my previous house that was leaking due to formicary corrosion and the issue went away.
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Apr 17, 2020 21:35
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BonoMan posted:I mean who knows in Cali, but in Mississippi I just got a 4 ton AC installed for $6,000 so that seems expensive. But it def could depend on SEER and brand. That sounds about right for a replacement of an existing AC unit. I was quoted similar at my old house. I’d want clarification from OP though, the words “new install” might mean the house didn’t have central air before so ductwork, extra labor, etc are involved which would make 10k more reasonable Brand, features, etc also make a difference. Hard to say without more specifics. 10k for a basic 13 seer Goodman unit might be outrageous, but a fancier variable speed high seer system not so much
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Apr 28, 2020 05:32
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That Horizon quote has their really long extended warranty baked into it as well. 10 years parts and labor isn't standard at all. I'm a big fan of supporting local small businesses, they'll take care of you in the long run imo.
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May 7, 2020 17:41
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Well I'm assuming it's a long extended warranty.
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May 7, 2020 17:54
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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 not an HVAC pro, but I would guess you have an airflow issue, not a capacity issue. I had a 2.5 ton 14 seer unit in my last house, and it was 1750 sq ft in South Central Texas. It kept the house at 71 even on 100 degree days. I'd try to find a really good local tech that can look at the entire system and make sure it's performing properly. Measuring airflow before and after the evap, make sure the temp drop is within spec, charge and pressure is good on the system, ducting is in good shape and properly sized. Easiest thing to check, the filter is 1) clean, 2) designed for the system. If the system was designed for a cheap fiberglass filter and you're choking it out with a high MERV filter, you can run into airflow issues. Mini splits would fix the issue, but it's a bandaid, not a fix. What's your HVAC ducting like?
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Jun 29, 2020 17:43
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Gimpalimpa posted:I had a real guy come out. Last year a guy refilled coolant and today I'm at 40 psi when it's supposed to be like 70. Apparently this means a new unit. I'm renewing my home warranty and hoping for the best. When this happened to me, I had to replace my evaporator coil inside the unit. There were issues in the past with formicary corrosion causing microfissures in the coil and a slow leak in the system. I put like 6 or 7 pounds of 410 in my old system over 2 service calls because they couldn't find the leak. Same symptoms as you. Reduced cooling capacity, coil freezing over. You shouldn't need a new unit, but you do need to find the source of the leak and have it repaired. If you're lucky the parts might still be covered under warranty. Hopefully your home warranty covers labor and refrigerant. My repair bill was a little over 1400 dollars. 1000 of that was labor and refrigerant, the coil itself was only 400 bucks or so . A full on basic trane replacement quote was 6,000 dollars, so I repaired the system. It was only 6 years old at the time, and the repair company and I figured the compressor would probably last about 12. skipdogg fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Jul 2, 2020 |
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Jul 2, 2020 23:37
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Is there a recommended brand and/or place to purchase capacitors for HVAC systems? I just paid to have one replaced on one of my systems and I'm thinking I'm just going to buy a spare to keep on hand. I have 2 HVAC units, one uses a 35/5 and the other a 40/5. Carrier PN P291-3554RS and P291-4054RS. I see price differences from 5 bucks to 25 bucks with all sorts of brand names. I'm in the San Antonio area, and this last capacitor lasted 2 years, so I'm guessing the heat is going kill these things on a regular basis and I should just keep a spare on hand. Are there any other inexpensive parts I should keep on hand? I'm not going to keep a fan motor or anything on the shelf, but I can easily handle a capacitor, relay or a contactor
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Oct 8, 2020 21:26
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I have those, but they're in my attic, not laying on the ground in a crawlspace. Mine are R-8 I think since they're in unconditioned space. Uninsulated sheet metal ducts would just lose a ton energy.
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Oct 27, 2020 18:48
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Looking at the manual it should work fine. I wouldn't replace your thermostats with Nests though. Not a fan of them at all. There are better smart thermostats out there.
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Dec 7, 2020 21:34
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hooah posted:Can you expand on this? I installed a 3rd generation Nest Learning Thermostat in our old house and it worked fine. I particularly like that you don't have to choose heat or cool modes - it can do whichever one is appropriate. I don't like the way they attempt to save you energy. I live in a hot climate, and in my experience with 2 new construction homes, attempts to have the temperatures swing in order to save money end up being less efficient than just leaving the house a single temperature all day. My prior house could maintain 72 degrees on a 100+ degree Texas day no problem, but it didn't have the capacity to cool down from 78 or 80 to 72 in any reasonable amount of time after we'd get home. Some of the learning/presence stuff on the Nest also is less than ideal as sometimes thermostats are stuck in out of the way locations. My prior house had the thermostat in a hallway towards the master bedroom. A Nest would have never known I was home unless I went down the hall to my bedroom. Personally I use Ecobee thermostats. I have 2 of them with 2 remote sensors each and I find that they work great.
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Dec 7, 2020 23:11
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Have you looked into a VRF type system? Could work out for you. It's a multi split system for lack of a better word. A lot of high end builders are moving towards these systems. It'll be more expensive though. You could mix up ducted and non ducted inside units to build a system that works for you.
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Apr 7, 2021 17:11
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Don't worry about the name on the HVAC equipment. Comfortmaker is owned by Carrier, and Amana is owned by Daikan which bought Goodman. I don't know how much the product lines differ, but like a lot of things in the world, there is only 3 or 4 real OEM's out there with lots of different brands. Installation quality and dealer service is more important than the name brand of the equipment.
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Apr 19, 2021 16:36
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I’m pretty sure it’s a rule that AC systems always break at the worst time. Last night I noticed our downstairs unit outside fan running but it didn’t sound like the compressor was running and it was a little warmer than set temp on the thermostat. Our bedroom wall is right next to the outdoor units so you can tell when things kick on/off. Great, I knew it was probably the capacitor since the fan was running but no compressor, but it’s like 11pm on a Saturday. The part is under warranty but I was probably looking at 400 for the labor and after hours/weekend service call to replace it. Long story short, got lucky and found an ace hardware about 30 minutes away that had a 40/5 440v on the shelf that was open on Sunday. 17 bucks and I’m back in action. I’m going to order a couple spares and keep them on the shelf since this Texas heat seems to kill these things. I’ve already replaced both systems capacitors once and the systems are less than 3 years old. I might as well order a set of spare contactors as well. Well that was my Sunday morning hope yours was better
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Apr 25, 2021 18:40
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Hed posted:Jeezus, two replacement caps in three years? Are your outdoor units on the south side of the building or something? Southwest side, full south Texas sun. H110Hawk posted:Yeah you might as well just replace them annually in the spring. Why risk it. Not a bad idea. Cheap insurance for sure. Filters and caps in the spring lol
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Apr 25, 2021 21:26
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Ace of Baes posted:Just pick up a turbo cap, they come with a 5 year warranty. I saw those, are they worth the money? The 5 year warranty is nice, but it won't do anything when the cap eventually fails at the worst time possible (with my luck). My current plan is to just pick up a couple genteq caps for like 15 bucks each. If they last 2.5 years, that's 10 years of caps for the price of 1 turbo 200 (using amazon pricing). I'm fine just keeping a couple on the shelf of my garage. One unit uses a 35/5, the other a 40/5. 30 bucks to keep a set of spares on the shelf doesn't seem like a bad deal.
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Apr 26, 2021 18:54
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The foam insulation on one of my units keeps falling down from the top of the unit and landing on top of the blower motor. I attempted to reattach it and pushed really hard hoping to get it to stick better and stop doing that, but I'm guessing that's not a long term fix. What's the proper and safe adhesive to use to reattach the foam? Obviously I don't want to put anything in there that would negatively affect us. Here's a picture of the foam/insulation in it's proper place, the top part falls and covers the top of the blower motor, which probably affects airflow, and in hot TX summer heat, I need all the airflow I can get. 
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May 11, 2021 21:28
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Yeah. I have one on my patio for my natural gas grill. Quick disconnect to a 10 foot hose. Not sure if code allows a longer hose or not.
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May 15, 2021 22:41
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Are you in a really high cost of living area? Local companies to me advertise a complete 5ton change out for like 6 grand. Company P2 pricing is nutso in my opinion. I've had the best luck finding good companies via local social networking sites like an area FB group or Nextdoor.
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Jun 23, 2021 20:43
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tactlessbastard posted:No, not particularly. Im getting the impression 6k would have been the price in 2019, but ~in these unprecedented times~... You can expect a small premium because it's summer and unprecedented times, but I still think it's high. But that's location dependent. I have 100's of companies to choose from in my area. I saw in the other thread you mentioned a 15 year warranty? Drop it and the what are the details on the air purifier? Both of those items are probably massively marked up. 9500 for everything isn't super high, but you can probably do better.
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Jun 23, 2021 21:20
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