I live in an apartment shared with 5 people through a central cooling/heating unit. There are three floors and I happen to live on the first. My issue is that I've only lived here for a week and I've noticed constant sinus and ear pressure that doesn't seem to go away. I've linked the issue to the air pressure in my room.

When I open my door, the loud humming sound goes away. When I close it, it comes right back. I noticed there's difficulty opening my door but also the pressure closes my door right away. Does that mean I'm dealing with positive air pressure or is it negative? I've called maintenance thinking it was an issue with the compressor/condenser unit - and they inspected for leaks with nothing. However, I did fail to mention that about the air pressure as a main concern. Is this fixable and what should I mention when I call for maintenance through my leasing office? What technical terms should I relay so that I don't get the runaround like the first time?

I'm concerned if this will eventually lead to serious health concerns. Could someone please give me any sort of insight that could help reassure me? I greatly appreciate any help that's offered here. Thank you so much guys.

Question: I have a 2010 Rheem Communicating 3 ton system. I think the evap coils are freezing up

due to not having been cleaned since the system was installed. [RCFN-HM3624CC] sits on top of the furnace

but it's in a narrow closet with only a few inches clearance on the sides and back so I cant get the cover

off the 'N' coil to clean it, the plates on the front side are really hard to access or remove.
On the hottest days, it cant pull below about 75, but if I let it run the fan for a bit, it will pull down a few more degrees to say 73 and then it wont go much lower.

The installer said I'd probably have to support the evaporator module and remove the furnace to get to the inside

coils to clean then, or evac the system, and remove the refrigerant lines and pull the evap module out to clean it.

If I have to go that far, should I just buy a new set of coils for about $500 (I've priced them) and get another 14 years out of it?

Or modify the new coils to give better access and maybe be able to clean them better than the original Rheem design.

Hello,

So I live in Sacramento CA where it's gets relatively hot. I live in a two-story townhome about 1600 sq that has one HVAC unit, and two thermostats (one upstairs and one downstairs). Our AC also alternates between floors, so for example it is either running on the top floor or bottom floor, but never simultaneously.

I have been trying to do research online on what to set each thermostat to in the summer but I am getting confused, should the downstairs be 2 degrees lower or higher than the one upstairs? Please give examples with temperatures to better understand, thank you! Also, suggestions for winter will be helpful as well, thank you!

Are Goodman furnaces being sold under GE logo?

I was quoted GECNF80U090V5C but my search returned only Goodman.

I wasn’t home at the time. My brother thought my spouse left something in the oven. It wasn’t an electrical or rubber smell. They thought it was an AC issue so shut it off. I got home like three hours later and started with just turning on the fan. No issues. Turned on the AC. Blowing cool as normal. No sounds or issues.

Two hours later now the returns are blowing warm and the big guy is blowing cool.

Only thing different is I changed the filter yesterday as I do every month.

I don't use my AC very much. Where I live the marine layer often comes in a night a keeps temps cool. But a high pressure ridge settled in and stopped that causing temps to rise. The AC worked when I needed it to, but the other day the air was not cold. I called my home warranty company and said sent a bad hvac tech. I used electronics talk and said I think it needs to be recapped. I got a few words out about the blower being on and no cold air. He told his assistant to take his basic meters back to the truck. He remove the quarter panel and took out a 3 tab running cap whose electrolytics were expanding out of the sides. I tried to ask if if the contactor/relay should be changes at the same time but he would not answer directly. They had pulled the disconnect from the wall before the changed the cap. When the put the disconnect back it the system came back to life and I could see one of the lines was condensing and looked cold. They gather their tools and left quickly.

2 hours later the blower was on but there was no cold air. This time I got closer to it and the compressor and fan made no sound at all. I pulled the disconnect, reset the breaker (which was not tripped), put the thermostat in call mode and went out side and put in the disconnect: nothing, no sound no movement.

I think it is under warranty, so I don't want to take it apart, take photos or use a multimeter to troubleshoot. I think it maybe it was the wrong cap, maybe the contactor is not pulling in, maybe worse. What do you think?

To add more insult the bad HVAC tech wrote are report to the home warranty insurance company saying it is "rusted out" from irrigation sprinklers. Of course the fins are aluminum and don't rust. Sure they are oxidized but the system work find for a few hours and even the bad tech said it "held freon". He went on to say it is not covered under warranty because it is not normal wear and tear; I strongly disagree.

What do you think the problem is?

Our 20+ y.o. stat is now posting a screentemp 2-3° above other sensors in house. ie 74° on three remote sensors but 8655 says it's 77. Two feet away from it, there is a new (3 yrs) Emerson which controls our Gas FP and they all say 74° . Understandably, this screws up our AC settings cause our COOL temp is set at 77°. Although it's most certainly 74 in the house, the AmStd AC system keeps coming on cause it "thinks it's 77°. After 21 yrs, it's probably "time" to get a new stat. I see many online and most will do the phone, wireless, Siri, Alexa etc but I don't want any of that. I just want what the old 8655 ChronoIV had: 4 set points (times) for Wake, AWAY, RETURN, Sleep and no other SMART features, I'm a dinosaur and don't need them. I just set the 4time/temps on the 7 dayer and there they stay unless I want to manually change.

Am I going to have to ​pay 'more ​for less' cause I want to NOT have the NEW SMART features ?

Of course there needs to be the​ seasonal "HEAT" vs ​COOL" settings and EM HEAT to Run the AMSTD Heat Pump​ with Winter heat strips.

Suggestions on a more modern looking, maybe backlit stat without too much NEW TEK ?? I have the standard (prob 8) wires in the wall. NO BATTERIES in ancient model, hardwired.

G

ac [Arctic Whisper Extreme Portable Air Conditioner | DeLonghi] De Longhi portable ac purchased in August 2022 and used for three summer's in Southern California never serviced. Supposedly has a three year warranty but I dont know what that means? Dont know how you would send in a big appliance like this for a repair. Should I hire someone to come and service this or just buy a new one? The unit has stopped blowing out with force and the actual amount of water its putting out has slowed tremendously. The unit in my room is a DeLonghi diff model and is putting out a bucket of water every few hours. The air is cold but the force is not there. Has shut off on its own a few times/ maybe five on really hot days in the past month. I notice it is extremely dusty within the inside. put a picture below of the area thats really dirty

Hey all I need some help troubleshooting a damper that won’t open. I have 2 m847d1004 motors. From my understanding these are powered close and spring open. Hvac tech manually opened the damper but after a few hours it closed again. I disconnected power to the damper motor and it fully opened. This tells me the spring is good. How do I troubeshoot if it‘s the damper is not receiving the signal or perhaps the zone board is not sending? I also switched thermostats from upstairs to downstairs and vice versa and the damper was still not responding.

Hello, I'm trying to buy the following Duravent products for a b-vent chimney for a chimney rebuild in my house. I was going to woodstovepro.com which is great and has all the products I want, but the big issue with them is the no return policy. That makes it hard to place an order as a DIY'er as I'll more than likely not get everything precisely correct. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

|| || |Products I Picked|SKU| | | | |Rooftop Term Kit|6BVK| |DuraVent 4x6 increaser|4BVX6| |45/60 degree elbow|6BVL45| |90 degree elbow|6BVL90| |4 foot pipe (can go larger)|6BV48| |Wall Support (questionable if needed)|6BVWSB| |Gas Vent Firestop Spacer|6BVFS| |Support Assembly (what is the differnce between the 2)|6BVVS|

Hi everyone - do you know where I can get a replacement? And what is this called? I tried a Google lens search but couldn't find anything that looked like it.

#HVAC #help Heater automatically turns on by itself and I can't turn it off from thermostat. A/C is on but suddenly hot air coming out(thermostat shows A/C is working ).

I called two HVAC vendors but both did not find a cause.

I removed the air filters for one day and had no heater issues!!!! As soon as I put the air filters, heater issue came back.

Thermostat is new since it's replaced after water damaged. Condenser and control panel look okay according to vendors.

What would cause this issue? :( please advise me.

Hi are the Aprilaire 800 and Carrier HUMCRSTM3134 essentially the same unit? Is one recommended over the other? Got quotes with installation for $3500 for Aprilaire and $2800 for Carrier (quotes from two different HVAC companies). For reference I live in a HCOL town in a HCOL area

Also what kind of kWh consumption am I looking at with these units? How about water usage / water bills? 6000 sq ft house.

We had approximately 55 inches of water in the basement. Furnace and its electronics were pretty much completely under water for a few hours. Insurance isn't helping much.

Currently have a Lennox system installed in 2011. I got 2 quotes on how to move forward and I'm very
confused.

Quote 1 (Total $2,253 CAD +tax):

HVAC Replacement of electrical parts. Supply and install replacement of: Blower motor, wiring harness and capacitor. Transformer and relay. Fan motor is back ordered.
It is also recommended to replace the element pack. However the element pack for this furnace is a obsolete product and no longer available.

Quote 2 (Total $5,400 CAD +tax):

Complete replacement of all electronic components. Changing the blower and heating element, in addition to
all electronics "on the right side of the unit" (For reference, the left side is where the filter goes). Nothing wrong with the coil, will clean the chemicals.

In Quote 1, there is no guarantee since they claim that the element pack is unavailable. Therefore, this may still fail at any time in which case a new system would be needed. In Quote 2, by changing the blower and heating element, "you will get a 10 year warranty on the parts from the manufacturer".

I am very confused on how I can get two vastly different quotes. If you have any advice/knowledge, please
advise. Thank you.

Hi,

I've recently met with 4 hvac companies looking to replace a 30 year old cooling unit that is connected to central ducts. Since RI offers incentives on heat pumps, getting a heat pump will be just about the same as just a cooling unit. Out of the 4 companies I met, only one company took measurements of each room of the house. Overall this company feels like the best fit for my project. This company offered two heat pump options a TRANE XV17 model 4TWV7X36A1000A and a Mitsubishi m series model SUZ-KA30NA2. My problem now is trying to figure out which model to go with. I'm not familiar with the fine details between these two units and which would be better for my needs, and was wondering if anyone could help with some guidance.

I live in Rhode Island in a single story ranch that is about 1100 sqft. Generally through the year I keep the house around 65-69 degrees. During the winter the house is heated with heating oil and we will be keeping this as the main source of heat for lower temperature days. Our main goal with this new unit is looking for long term energy cost reduction with efficiencies during cooling seasons and heating seasons. While heating oil is our main heating source, it would be great to use the heat pump during higher winter temps to reduce the need to go through expensive heating oil. But our main purpose for this new unit is to increase effencies during the summer. Right now our unit struggles to keep the house cool and has made our bill go from about $200 to around $500+ a month, which seems high for a house of its size.

The price for the full project of each model before rebates is relatively similar with the Trane being $19.8k and Mitsubishi being $18.5k. The Trane model would come with a Trane UX360 Link thermostat and the Mitsubishi would use Honeywell t10 pro.

Any help would be much appreciated! If you have any questions AMA.

The far right PVC pipe out of the front of my central heat/air unit has a steady breeze of cool air coming out of it when my AC is on. I’ve never noticed it before. Is this normal?

I am not an HVAC professional; just a guy who needs a new central air system.

I’ve gotten a few quotes, and everyone has quoted systems that use 410a refrigerant. I understand this is going to be phased out next year. Should I be looking for/insisting on a system that uses a new refrigerant? I don’t want to get in on a dying product that could cost a fortune in maintenance a few years down the line.

Thanks for any advice.

My a/c will periodically stop working. There is no pattern or set time of day this happens. It can happen when it’s hot outside and it can happen when it’s cooler outside. It can happen during the day or overnight when I’m sleeping. I have no idea what’s going on.

More specific details:

— the air vents in my house will make a hissing-ish noise, but there will be zero air coming out of all of them

— I can usually get it to work again by turning my thermostat off, going to the electrical box and flipping off the switch for my a/c, waiting about 10-15 minutes, flip the switches back on and then turn my thermostat on

Any ideas at all what could be happening?

But have you considered??

Howdy experts! Looking for some help here

I have a Rheem AC unit RA1430WJ1NA that’s misbehaving.

The unit is 5 years old. The symptom is that the compressor starts up, but the condenser fan starts then spins down. It doesn’t keep running.

I first thought it might be the capacitor, but this cap only has a single input/output, so I’m guessing that’s for the compressor, which runs fine. It’s also not leaking or swollen.

I then thought it might be the contactor, but it tests fine for continuity. I also replaced it, just in case, but there was no change.

The fan blade spins very easily when turned by hand.

Filter is new, condenser fans are clean, electrical connections inside the fan/condenser unit look good.

I’m kinda stumped. Is this a fan motor (or internal thermal cutoff) failure?

Thanks for any help!

My house AC is old enough and probably need to be replaced in a year or two. It is Bryant and I have no issues with it.

What is a good brand in 2024?

I've only had the unit about 3 months and I've started noticing a weird smell when the unit runs. Kind of musty smelling.

I opened it up to check the drain but didn't see any evidence of mildew, it had barely any water in it at all despite running fairly regularly (i belive this is the type that doesnt typically require drainage unless its abnormally humid) and the coil looks pretty clean and shiny considering how new it is. Filter only had mild dust buildup as well. I'm scratching my head as to why the unit is creating this smell.

Hey Everyone,

I'm new to this subreddit. I'm in a bit of a nightmare scenario for my house purchased just one year ago.

Please forgive me if I use the wrong terminology.

The house has a Mitsubishi Split system with an outdoor compressor that feeds 4 air handlers inside the house with a single y split refrigerant line for each air handler. We have two air handlers in the attic, one in the ceiling on the main floor and one in the basement. The one in the main floor ceiling is so tight, it essentially cannot be accessed.

The system was installed 3.5 years ago. I'm the 3rd owner in these last 3.5 years.

We had the system inspected by two HVAC companies before moving into the house. Both said it was working strong and should not be concerned. We setup an annual maintenance contract with one of them upon closing on the house.

We bought in fall here in the south US and our heat over the winter struggled to keep up. We have wood windows that we found would shimmy open with the changes in humidity and temp, so chalked it up to that and the HVAC techs said everything looked fine.

Now come summer, our AC is really struggling. HVAC tech comes out and says all our air handlers have frozen coils, but the refrigerant isn't super low. He said it could be reading ok because the coils are frozen, and we should thaw them out overnight.

We did, he came back and the refrigerant registered very low. He refilled refrigerant and looked for a leak, but couldn't find one.

AC works fine for 2 weeks, then we are back in the same boat. They come back out and say they did a more thorough look and all 4 air handlers are leaking at the coils. They recommend replacing the whole system.

Since the system was only 3 and 1/2 years old, we decided to get another opinion and brought out company number two. This company inspected the system and said it's quite complex and based off of what we described. Scenes that a leak is reasonable and gave us a quote to replace all four air handlers to the tune of $21,000.

Another tech came out from company number one to do a die test at the refrigerant line at the air handler. He tested both air handlers in the Attic and found that there was dye in the drain pan. He said. This could only happen if there was a leak at the coils. He said if the two upstairs are this bad and leaky that more than likely the other two in the house are just as bad. He agreed to look through the maintenance history through all oners of this house since the system was installed since US and the previous two owners had maintenance contracts through them.

Surprised , we decided to get another opinion from a third company. This company is the one that originally installed the system 3 and 1/2 years ago as well as install the original system on the house many years before that. This company's tech came out instead that the fan coils were quite rusted and it seemed reasonable that there was probably a leak within the air handlers. He said he thought they should still be under warranty. His office checked with train and confirm that it is not under warranty.

We asked for someone from this third company to come out for a quote for a replacement. They sent a system builder and a tech. The system builder was to look at the design that we originally had in and then what a new design might look like to replace it with a newer model. The tech's role was to see what exactly needed to be fixed so that they could provide a quote for repair instead of just replace. Detected a sniffer test on the basement Air handler and found that there was a leak at the coil. He also did a stipro test on the two units in the attic and said he couldn't find a leak. Despite the other hvac company finding a leak through dye testing. He stated that maybe there wasn't enough refrigerant in the line to pressurize enough to push a leak out at the coil. His recommendation was to not sink any more money into the system.

The system builder said that the new versions of the system require new refrigerant lines because the compressor outside has a single refrigerant line that goes to a control box where there are four more refrigerant lines split off to each of the air handlers. He also said that that your air handlers are slightly bigger so we would need to hire a contractor to open the hole in the ceiling on the main floor a little bit bigger to fit the new size unit. The quote for this replacement system is roughly $36,000. They would not break down The price for the actual system versus labor to install it. Since the system also requires New refrigerant lines, they want to run them on the exterior of the house and cover them and then paint them to hide them to make it easier than tearing up the walls.

My question to this group is does any of this sound reasonable? Any reason why Mitsubishi wanted warrant the system after only 3 and 1/2 years? Anyone have contacts at Mitsubishi that could actually discuss this with? A tough pill to swallow as a new homeowner to have such a young system go bad and require such a big chunk of money to replace. Is this point to improper installation potentially?

The third company that originally installed the system also mention that they used Mitsubishi diamond software, sent over the design to Mitsubishi and got signoff from Mitsubishi. Also, mitsubishi sent out a tech on first startup to make sure everything was working properly when the system was originally installed.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.