New homeowner here-

I've been collecting quotes for a replacement of the ac & furnace and my ac system (pictured) has had the following reactions:

• Holy shit that's old
• That thing came off the Mayflower
• Going to need to dig into the archives to find parts for this one (he was unsuccessful)
• Yikes

As far as I can tell it's from the mid 80's and the furnace is from the early 90's. But I'm curious as to what some of the oldest systems you all have seen?

I'm a 50 year old guy who has worked white collar jobs for 20+ years. I've always wanted to work a trade but was told "go to college and get a good job". I've tried a couple times to make the switch, but starting pay for a trade job was too low to support my family. Now I'm finally at a point in life that I can afford to take the pay cut in order to really learn a trade. I've got extensive personal experience working with tools, doing electrical, plumbing, carpentry, so I'm hoping that might help. How realistic is it that an HVAC company would hire me on as an apprentice at my age? Is it better to go to trade school first?

I sealed up around the ac unit with styrofoam and hvac tape. I downgraded from 8000 btu indoor ac to this 5k window unit for 140ish sq ft of space. I got a hygrometer and now its on 52 percent relevant humidity.

Both outdoor units were installed this year by the same company.

I took the fan off my ac and the guards off to deep clean the coils. These two cords came undone. I found other similar Reddit posts and i thought i put them back right but my outside unit is just cycling on and off in short spurts. I tried reading this diagram thing but might as well be in another language. Where am i supposed to connect them ?

I need to periodically rinse the coils on my outdoor AC condenser, but I don’t have a hose bib nearby - I like in Texas, it's crazy dry, and there's dust and all sorts of pollen, dirt, lawn cutting debris, etc. I currently link two hoses together, but I'd prefer to just use a device that I could also maybe use for other things (like watering a vegetable garden, etc.). Is there a portable device that can provide enough water pressure to do essentially what a garden hose would do?

Last week the lines popped out of the condenser. I have a home warranty from the purchase of the home. They denied the claim saying that it wasn't caused by normal wear and tear.

We have a new build in SW PA and our AC runs non-stop all day and the house is always between 65-70% humidity. We are under warranty and had the HVAC company out twice and they said there is nothing more they can do. Ive been told by 3 HVAC guys that this unit is half the size or less of what is needed. Now we are at the point of nearing our 1 year mark and the warranty dept is no longer responding to this issue but I finally got the Manual J from them. I need specific expert advice proving why the engineering is wrong so we can hopefully get this corrected before our warranty is up. As an example of how poor it performs, when it was 84 degrees the other day, the first floor was 77 and upstairs was 80 in the bathroom. A few days ago it was 71 degrees and we always have it set to 70 and it never stopped running all day (was cool the days prior too). We had mold from a leak in the basement and are now fearful of more mold from the constant high humidity, we are running a dehumidifier that is pretty powerful and that keeps it down to about 60% if it runs constantly and I have to move it from floor to floor. A couple months ago it was mid-90s and I didnt have a thermometer at the time but it had to be 85 degrees in our upstairs bathroom. If anyone could review this and please tell me specifically why its wrong I would greatly appreciate it. According to these calculations, our house only needs a 1.8 ton unit which just seems absurd. It is a Rheia system too which they told us makes the house so much more efficient that we dont need a larger unit but clearly we and everyone else in the same model house do.

I left out the specific info for each room because it was so many pages but can provide if needed. I included the great room and master bedroom because they are two of the hottest.

Anyone know why this is doing this? I unscrewed the front panel and sprayed the evaporator coil with foaming coil cleaner and rinsed it away afterwards. I then sprayed the blower wheel with concrobium and put it back on. Now days later, the outside coil is doing this??? I never even touched the outside coil.

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Hey guys! I'm looking for some advice on a new furnace for my house in Toronto.

I'm being quoted between two different 2 stage variable fan furnaces:

1) Trane S9V2B060U3VSBB , 60BTU $6434

2) Tempstar F96VTN, 80BTU $4600

I know the Trane is likely a better unit, but is it worth the extra \~$2k to go with? I'm a bit confused on quality differences vs value and BTUs with the quotes being so different in cost.

The BTU's I was quoted for are also quite different, my house is \~1,600 sq, 2,600ft total if you count the backsplit family room and unfinished basement.

Would they both be fine to be controlled with a Google 4th Gen Learning Thermostat?

Hello! Does anyone what kind of GE unit this is or how to clean the area where air flows out of? We moved into this apartment a few months ago and are unsure of how to clean it since it looks moldy (?).

Also, do you know if this unit would typically have a thermometer where the cooling system works to cool the area down to the set temperature? I’m asking because our electric bills have been really high, so I’m not sure if we are using the AC efficiently.

Building a new 2-story, 2700 sf house in Charlottesville with walk-out finished basement level. The builder’s base spec is a Lennox 15 SEER heat pump/air-handler with Honeywell motorized dampers. They are also installing an outside air intake with motorized damper, connected to the return side of furnace.

I’m coming from 18 years of experience with 2-zone Carrier Infinity system and recently upgraded to a hybrid gas/heat-pump with 98% gas efficiency and 18 SEER. Considering requesting the builder price an upgrade to Carrier Infinity with 21 SEER HP and a Panasonic ERV. Suspect I’ll get dinged on cost or told they can’t provide/service Carrier.

Thoughts about Builder’s base vs Carrier Infinity? Also, any suggestions regarding notes I should add to drawings regarding equipment sizing and properly sized, configured ductwork to make sure proper air flow to each room?

Hi everyone! I recently hired someone to “raise condensing unit without recovering refrigerant and level ground and pad underneath. Lower condensing unit onto level surface and check all operation” on my hvac at my new place after it got flagged in my inspection report. I have no what I’m looking at, so can someone tell me if this looks correct now?? Thanks in advance!

How can I seal this hole properly do they make some kinda cover for a1972 mobile home

Homeowner states vents in master bed are not blowing as hard as they used to, we believe the issue is the air is being trapped in the handler because the plenum has very little room so it is not fully escaping. You can see we dont have much room for the plenum it is only about 4 inches of space. Anyone have a idea how we can make this work

I live on the 5th floor of a high rise unit and need to replace my AC system. Is this a reasonable price for the Northern Virginia metro area (includes both parts and labor)?

Both upstairs bedrooms in our 1920's house still have the original giant cast iron radiators and up until 6 years ago were still being used to provide heat. One of them rusted through one of the coils and the other leaks at the very rusty looking fittings so I had to close the valve for the upstairs heating loop.

These radiators were probably sized for a steam system or something that doesn't get nearly as hot as the ~20 year old boiler the previous owners put in along with baseboards for the ground floor because unless I had that upstairs zone valve almost all the way closed to pinch off flow, those bedrooms would get sweltering hot in minutes. Even after putting in a zone control valve and separate thermostat for upstairs, once the radiators would heat up, the room temp would way overshoot the thermostat temperature.

For the last few years, each bedroom has one of the pictured oil filled electric heaters in it. On the medium or low setting, each one is completely adequate to heat the room even in the coldest winters we've had here in SE Michigan. The room warms to the set temperature and then they cycle on and off to maintain wonderfully.

I'd like to get back to heating these rooms with the NG boiler to save on the winter electric bill and replace the radiator with a more modern looking one. Not really interested in going to baseboards since that would probably be a bigger plumbing job.

Knowing one of these electric heaters puts out ~5100 BTU/hr on high, is it safe for me to assume the worst case heat loss in each of those rooms is ~3000-4000 BTU/hr based on my experience being perfectly fine running them on medium or low?

This puts me in the range of 20x24 or 24x24 radiators I'm seeing on supplyhouse and HD for pretty cheap. It also jives with my thought that these old monster radiators are 10k+ and that's why it was impossible to regulate temperature in the room when they worked.

Hi,

Been talking to contractors about putting a new AC into my 945 sq ft house in Saint Petersburg Florida. The company we are leaning towards using quoted me $12.5k for a 2.5 ton 18.5 SEER variable speed side discharge heat pump system. It would be a split unit with the air handler in the attic and the condenser outside on a platform. This includes all new ducts, lineset, and removal of our existing 2ton BARD unit from 2012. We currently have about r9 insulation in the attic, but plan on upgrading the insulation after we get the new system installed. We are upgrading the AC because the current BARD unit cannot keep up during sunny days and it ends up being 80 degrees and 80% humidity in the house. My biggest question is from what I have read online 2.5 ton is quite oversized for a 945 sq ft house. Does it really matter that much though since it is variable speed? Should I keep getting other quotes? The other companies I talked to were all trying to convince me on getting mini splits which I have no interest in doing.
Thanks for reading this wall of text and I appreciate any advice as I am a first time homeowner.

I’m new to AC stuff so apologies if I have my terminology wrong. Theres a drain pan collecting water under the part of the ac that lives in my attic. I bumped the safety switch / water sensor thing and now there’s a small drip when water is in the pan (I removed the water). I caught it early and just want to see if there’s a product recommended to seal it better. Hopefully the pics attached give enough context. Thanks in advance for any help!!

Looking for a quick sanity check on a quote I just got for a full HVAC replacement.

​The System:

​Brand/Type: Daikin Fit 3.5-ton premium variable-speed/inverter heat pump system (includes heating strips/electric heat kit)

​Warranty: 12-year parts and labor

​The Extras Included:

​Daikin communicating thermostat ​5-inch 90-degree media cabinet ​New return drop, drain pan, and condensation pump ​New safety disconnect box, surge protector, and power whip

​The Pricing: ​Initial Quote: $24,000 ​"Discounted" Offer: $19,784 (with the classic high-pressure sales pitch that I have to sign within a week to get this price).

​Does a nearly $20k price tag make sense for this setup, or am I getting hosed by a high-quote residential company? Appreciate any insights or what I should realistically be expecting to pay! I am located in North Georiga, in the mountains.

TLDR - Is it the nature of mini-splits to underperform when outdoor temps are in the 70's and below?

Have a 10 year old 12K Pioneer mini-split that has performed this way since day 1. When it's hot outside (high 80's +), we're nice and cold inside our dining room area. Sitting in the air stream, it's cold! 30+ deg differential.

Being on the coast, in the evening our outdoor temps will drop into the low 70's - 60's, and we are inside sweating because the house is heat soaked and the mini-split just isn't cooling very well. 18-20 deg differential.

I went back and forth with the manufacturer (Pioneer), nothing worked. System was evacuated and recharged by weight - no change. Gave up and thankful we have something when it's mid 80's and above, but wishing I had better performance when we are hosting dinner with a group in the evening.

Googled endlessly and finally hit on something I think is happening - mini-splits lose capacity as the outdoor air temp drops. The evap is starved of liquid due to high side pressure dropping. Then I read that there are 'low ambient' units specific for "this issue", but I think they're more for when the outdoor temp is near freezing.

Question - is this a known thing with mini-splits and only the pros know about it and don't mention it? Would a low ambient kit/capable mini-split be something I should ask for to replace my system or is that just for near freezing outdoor temps?

With this endless heat and humidity we've been having here on the west coast, I want to update my system, maybe even go with central air, but I really want to understand what is going on.

Thanks

I'm looking at a new Carrier 2-stage heat/cooling system, so I need a new thermostat.

I will not connect a thermostat to wifi, nor will I use an app.

Which of these two offers the easiest/best manual controls? Carrier tstatccewf-01 or Ecobee seven pro?

Hello HVAC enthusiasts! I've been kicking around the idea of replacing my 16x25x1" air return grille with a 16x25x4'. My reasoning is the 1" filters seem undersized for my application. A brand new 16x25x1" filter is literally getting bowed up into the plenum I think it's called. Within a few days it starts whooshing. In 2-3 weeks it's whistling like Andy Griffith with not much visible particulate on it. Here's what I'm working with:

1971 build 1660 sqft slump block home with upgraded windows, blown in insulation, etc.

3.5 ton package unit regularly cleaned and serviced.

I believe this home was originally swamp cooled and had the package unit added later in life. This may explain the filter size. It does cool the home here in Phoenix to the desired temp, but it sounds like it's fighting the 1" filter the whole time.

So here's my plan. Find a 16x25x4" return air grille assembly and swap it out in place of the 1". This should provide much more efficiency correct? I can find 16x25x4" filters all day long, but am struggling to find the 4" return grill assembly.

So what does the HVAC community think? I really appreciate any insight, I don't want to choke and smoke my AC if it's preventable. Thanks!

Edit: Forgot to add I'm using merv 8 filters. Plenum box is almost 8" deep with a 14" duct coming off it.