/r/hvacadvice
A place for homeowners, renters, tenants, business owners or anyone with a general question about their HVAC system.
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/r/HVACadvice exists to offer insight from people who are experienced in the HVAC field. If you are experiencing issues with your Heating, Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Refrigeration system PLEASE call a professional. While the mods do their best to make sure information is accurate, you should ALWAYS take internet advice with a grain of salt.
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If you have an electrical question, feel free to ask over at r/askanelectrician !
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Blacklisted topics:
An immediate ban will result for anyone giving unsafe or dangerous advice.
Related Subreddits:
/r/HVAC (mother and father to us all)
r/hvacporn (for those sweet, sexy mechanical rooms and installs)
r/askanelectrician (for basic electrical questions)
r/ProHVACR (questions about owning or operating a HVAC company)
r/refrigeration (commercial refrigeration stuff)
r/airbalance (for Test, Adjust and Balance professionals)
r/kitchensuppression (for commercial range hood/restaurant fire suppression)
r/airconditioners (window units, wall shakers and all related equipment)
r/construction (for the lols and the hahas)
There's also the HVAC discord that seems like a pretty chill place to hang out, but it isn't affiliated with Reddit. The mod crew is forever on call here.
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/r/hvacadvice
I THINK this is not how typical furnaces run, but I need you guys to confirm please! I have an older generation Nest thermostat. I cranked the heat to 24 C when the temp was at 22.5 C on the thermostat. It’s a 90 % efficiency furnace TRANE XB. I’m not sure if the way it’s running is normal, or it’s short cycling. Should it stay on until the set temperature is reached or turn off and on like it is? I thought maybe it does this to be efficient but now I’m think it’s short cycling. If it’s short cycling, any ideas? The nest does not have a common wire. And I just charged it for over an hour.
Hey y’all, I’m an electrician and as such I’m used to supporting my pipe. Well my wife and I just bought our first place and I noticed today that almost none of my radiator pipes are supported in the basement. Is there a maximum span that a pipe is supposed to go between supports? Most of our radiator pipes are being held up by… well. I guess our other radiator pipes. It’s bad. Please advise.
My drain line clogs up repeatedly and my HOA is starting to give me shit for running my shop vac every week. I think I need to run a new line, but I'll have to talk with my AC company about that. the line runs under my house, so it doesn't seem like it'll be cheap to fix.
How much damage might I cause by using the Safe-T switch outlet as an auxillary drain line (as pictured)? I'm also thinking about replacing the line under my house with one that just goes straight out of my garage.
I’ve tried levelling it out and it didn’t change anything. Tried with the valve fully open, fully closed, in every position doesn’t change a thing.
Seems to happen whenever the building’s furnace first turns on, so basically in the middle of every night now.
We live in a 8 unit building that has a central furnace.
Any tips, tricks, or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Or is this normal and we just need to live with it?
A troubling situation has arisen approx 2.5 yrs after getting new duct work. Apparently the new duct work, new A/C, and old metal vents have caused serious condensation that has led to paint bubbling on walls around A/C vents in multiple rooms, visible mold on the backside of walls where the A/C vents are located (vent on one side of wall and visible mold on the other side), and now the house reeks of mold even though I have 2 different UV lights in the A/C and ductwork to help filter the air.
I contacted the company that did the work, and they're saying yes it's a condensation issue because the cold A/C air is hitting the old metal vents and causing the condensation because it isn't insulated properly around where the duct work meets the old metal vents.
Multiple companies have said this is a known issue that the company I hired should have realized would be a problem.
I say old metal vents because they are the original. The HVAC company did suggest replacing them - only for better air flow - they never mentioned condensation and mold could be a factor. Because my walls are plaster, and they wanted to cut new vents in all the rooms I did decline the new vents - so that part is on me. But again, I was never informed anything bad could arise from not switching them out - I was told it was just a better air flow thing.
A few local HVAC companies are saying off the record is the company never should have done the job like that because it was assured there would be condensation problems later.
I need help navigating this because I am not an HVAC person, the city I live in is a very tight knit community and so far the HVAC companies are saying they will not let me hire them to do any inspection of this company's work because no one wants to upset this company. These other HVAC companies will talk to me off the record, but won't put anything in writing.
The company never pulled a permit to do the work - most likely because it wouldn't have passed inspection because the old vents needed to be upgraded - per other HVAC companies.
I did request a permit get pulled now, and the city came out to do an inspection.
The city failed them on the inspection but for a different reason.
First off, the inspector never left the steps of the attic - I'm not familiar with all of this but how is that a proper inspection? He stood on the attic steps and made all of his determination from just standing there. He admitted he only looked at two of the seven vents - I don't even believe that. I believe he only looked at one.
The inspector said of the two vents he looked at one failed due to so much air escaping from the duct work.
He said the tie in to the vents and duct work looked fine - which is causing all the moisture/mold issue. Our city has long had issues with inspectors being paid off and even the FBI has gotten involved in the past so I'm not sure about this guy. Although he did fail them.
I'm at a loss.
The company is being awful. They're blowing me off, and they want me to pay thousands of dollars for them to fix this.
I'm supposed to have a warranty on the ductwork, but the company is denying my ability to utilize it.
I've actually spent over $1,000 in vet bills because my cat is asthmatic and had numerous issues the past year and this is problem why.
Any help trying to strategically navigate this would be so appreciated.
I'm a total novice over my head dealing with some scummy people and could really use some help.
Thanks.
I’m considering replacing my Bryant Single Stage system with a new Carrier Infinity system. I’m waiting on estimates for various models in the infinity line. Can any professionals in here tell me what kind of prices I should expect? I’m going to be getting a quote for new indoor and outdoor unit (zoned system with 2 zones, upstairs and downstairs), 2 infinity thermostats, and the controller. Conditioned space is 2600-2700 square feet.
I live in the VA Beach area if that helps
Does anyone know how to disable the fan running every hour at a LEED property? Apparently it's something they do for the LEED certification. They do it to pump in fresh air every hour but it runs for 10 minutes and now that it's cold outside, its causing the apartment to constantly get colder. I am looking for anyway to disable this feature.
My fan started squeaking recently. Any ideas? (Unit is ~12 years old).
Getting ready to purchase a single zone 1 ton mini split for living room and kitchen area. Any recommendations on an affordable 1 to 1.5 ton unit? Completely DIYable if possible.
TIA
First time homebuyer. Live in North Carolina. Pretty humid from May to November. I went into the crawl space initially to find where some ants had made a home but was surprised by the water. Is this from condensation? Who do I call to mitigate this problem? Can I just shop vac the water out or is that a bad idea because it’s near electrical equipment? Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Three weeks I installed the Amazon Thermostat. It worked perfectly for about 10 days, then it became unresponsive. I read other people had issues with these and by unplugging the faceplate from the wall and plugging it back in that it should work. That worked after about 3 times of receiving the “unresponsive” notification. Today it turned off and I tried unplugging it twice and now it just doesn’t light back up. Nothing is loose, nothing changed, except that it just doesn’t work.
Has anyone had good experience with these? Based on reviews I had read it seems units just stop functioning after a few months. Are these just POS? Is there any WiFi units/brands that are known for working well ?
Thank you.
I got a quote from a local hvac guy for a replacement gas furnace for my 3BR condo. He is offering three options:
“Remove existing 90% gas furnace. Purchase and install one new 60,000 BTU 95% gas furnace. Connect system to existing duct work, flue pipe, drains, line sets, air conditioning system and power wiring.
One year installation warranty. Installation warranties not honored until final payment is received. Factory parts warranty after one year. Warranties do not cover misuse, neglect, or natural disaster. Account past 30 days are subjected to 1 1/2 % service charges per month. 10-year parts warranty-20 year heat exchanger warranty
50% deposit required prior to ordering equipment. Paid in full when equipment is installed. This may qualify for South Jersey Gas $650.00 rebate and South Jersey gas loan. Trane model: TS9X1B060U4PSBA $5,280.00 RunTru: RA951X060BU4SAB $4,350.00 Payne: PG95ESAA36060B $4,140.00”
My neighbor is going with a Lennox 96% from another contractor for $6550.
Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!
Has anyone ever received an error that their brand new in the box part (evaporator coil for instance) is tied to another warranty registration already when trying to register for a new install? Makes no sense unless the other customer/dealer somehow mistyped the serial number, or the coil was returned as new/un-installed to a distributor and then resold. Have a case open with Trane already. Just curious to get any input or feedback in case anyone has encountered this issue before.
Brand new install. Can’t get my subcool up. 80 outside. 53 at supply 67 at return. Tstat is reading 72 degrees. Added 38 oz already.
TLDR: Is around 103-120F on the intake side, around 90F on the outlet side of the compressor itself measured with an IR thermometer at different places of the compressor unit reasonable, normal, good for long term reliability?
I have one of these "value priced" ($600ish) Chinese 12V DC mini split air conditioners on my camper van. I want to know what temperatures are normal/healthy for the compressor to be? I just measured around 103-120F on the intake side, around 90F on the outlet side. Seems to be running ok. It's about 90F in the sun on the surface of my white van. This was using the optical IR thermometer on my multimeter, pointing it at various places on the compressor.
Listing of the actual unit, but there's a billion variations on essentially the same type units sold by a billion different sellers on Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, for a range of prices from $300(plus $100+ shipping) to $800ish depending on how much you want to risk, how long you are willing to wait to get it, if you want a reasonable experience if you get a dud on delivery, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C33BKLS5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
In the past I had the "E05" "Compressor over-temperature" error and shut downs. I didn't have good batteries in my multi-meter with IR thermometer on it, so I don't know exactly how hot the compressor was getting, but it seemed HOT and even on the outlet side it was very hot to the touch.
I had the pressures checked and the hot side was 250psi! My fault for using an auto parts store R134A valve with a green/yellow/red zone pressure gauge, not actual PSI readings on it to check/add refrigerant when I thought it might be leaking/low on refrigerant. After removing refrigerant until it was reading 175-180ish PSI on the high side (35PSI on the low side). I believe this is what the rather lousy, poorly translated manual for the unit specifies, 35ish low side, 175ish high side.
At another time in the past I was getting a lot of build up of frozen condensation on the compressor, mostly or entirely on the outlet side, more so or entirely on the top given the outlet pipe is on the top of that side of the compressor. And at that time there was frozen condensation building up on the lower portions of the heat exchanger core in the inside airbox unit. I can't accurately say what the pressures were at that point, it's been a while since then. Should be keeping written notes!
When I got this unit I got gauges and a vacuum pump on loan from an O'reilly's and decided to give it a go of filling myself. Let's just say it was educational I suppose! Mostly it's been working fine, but obviously not perfectly all the time! And I made the mistake of not weighing the actual refrigerant originally put in precisely, but rather by guessing based on the weight of the can of R134A used. I should have used an actual scale and weighed the can before/after, etc! Once I find a shop that I trust to really know what they are doing and charge reasonable rates I want to have the thing entirely evacuated and refilled with a known quantity of refrigerant rather than just check/adjust pressures. And these do not come with a dryer/receiver? Ideally I'd like to find a shop that does custom AC systems and have them cut my hoses to a shorter, more ideal length, and if possible, add an inline dryer receiver.
But in the meantime, and for future reference, I'm curious what people think is "normal" or healthy for the long term reliability of R134A compressors? Granted this may vary by design, type of unit, whether it's under a car hood on the front of an engine, etc. But curious if anyone has thoughts or experiences around this subject? I'd just like to have good ways of judging if the unit is working well/correctly and not just pay random shops that may or may not know that they are doing, may or may not want to just soak me for things that may or may not actually be needed as I travel around North America. And I'll be putting one of these on my 13" camper trailer too, so I'd like to know as much as possible about using, maintaining them.
Title. He was trying to allow condensation to leave but drilled through refrigerant line. He’s asking me to wait a month to say anything so it doesn’t look suspicious and so he doesn’t get in trouble at work. I don’t want to get the guy fired but at the same time I also don’t want to end up getting blamed somehow if a different maintenance guy comes out to replace it and sees a drill hole and thinks I took a drill to it or something stupid.
Whether is cold for the next while and heater is separate so shouldn’t need AC.
What would yall do?
I want to connect my ac to a new Sensi Smart thermostat, and I don't know how to connect it. The actual connection of my thermostat is shown on picture. My ac is a water source heat pump. Help needed, thanks
Replaced the control board.
Bypassed pressure switch.
Jumpered the thermostat.
Inducer motor spins up, spins down and infinitely repeats.
Error code states normal.
Im not sure how to proceed with next steps troubleshooting.
Any suggestions would be appreciated so much.
I had our hometown furnace repairman come look. He did not even try troubleshooting because “it wasn’t his brand” and gave me a quote for a new furnace installation. I really don’t want to purchase a new furnace. I would love to fix this one to save the money.
Specifics: Tempstar forced air gas furnace. Was running for 15-20 minutes at a time and would recycle. Furnace quit working a few weeks ago. Noticed some rust on the control board components so it has been replaced.
I live in Ohio and want to install an exhaust fan in my bathroom. Should I run hard pipe then wrap it with insulation? Or insulated felx, or hard pipe no insulation? 1 story house running it in my attic.
We were told by our Landlord to only replace the filters once per year but I just checked the filter I last changed in January and it looks like the above. This seems significantly darker than the one I took out back in January.
We've been suspecting that there is mold in this house for a while. Would this indicate that or does it look pretty normal for that period of time?
We're in Austin, TX.