Best Of
Re: 3 and 1 1/2 ton finally done
Thanks @EBEBRATT-Ed for that comment. At a closer look, I see that First Co. air handlers were replaced by the Water Furnace air handlers. Now I get it.
Re: Prevent mold in mini-split heads
Do your best to keep it reasonably clean.
That's about all you can do with anything that spends it's entire life at 100% RH.
ChrisJ
Re: leaking return line
Copper or black pipe. You've been told and it has been explained. If you want to use plastic, you might as well use garden hose. That will be cheap and last a few years too.
Black is cheaper than copper, but with the cost of fittings and labor will be more expensive. Black pipe will last 75 years; copper maybe 75 - 100.
Most residential customers care more about their counter tops than their heating system. A conscientious pre-purchase inspection might have netted a handsome credit for the leaky returns. If it was missed b y the "inspector," you may have some recourse.
Plastic pipe will fall apart quickly and get you or your plumber called a hack.
Re: leaking return line
A couple of general comments.
First, don't just replace the leaking section. Replace all the pipe which is in a similar setting at one go. Yes, the material cost will be greater — but the ultimate material cost will be the same, and the labour cost less. You'll only have to do the job once.
Second, there are two problems in my view with CPVC. The first is that it is possible, though I'll agree unlikely, that steam or very hot condensate might get into the pipe. The cpvc simply can't handle that temperature. The second is that a pipe down low, near the floor, is vulnerable to damage. Copper or iron won't break. CPVC might…
Re: New Refrigerants
There are a ton of places that buy used refrigerant and are EPA certified to clean and resell it.
If they didn't or weren't doing that when it was taken off the market the supply would dry up real fast
Re: I'm getting solar panels. I'll let you know how it goes in this discussion thread.
With how much NJ has grown, all I've seen is more and more transmission lines run etc.
My power goes out for a short time maybe once every 5 years. I still haven't been able to actually use the NG generator I built 5 years ago.
All I ever see is JCP&L and PSE&G upgrading and replacing equipment.
There's always the chance it's not the same everywhere. Also, they just increased everyone's electric bill by 20%, so maybe that's part of it too.
ChrisJ
Re: 3 and 1 1/2 ton finally done
Paul then i would call that a win! That's a good problem
You pumped it in? One Chem sales guy scared me silly years ago, the stuff can be dangerous.
GW
Single Zone mini- labor grabber
two seasoned installers couldn’t get a simple single zone installled in one day😄.
We at least got the ac going— small details and Flair Puck stuff tomorrow
some jobs take time
this is a 1 1/2 story condo, and it’s on slab. This is the 1st floor. Drilling down into this wall was a pain- had to skim a joist (easy now! the joist was sitting on this wall) and pop the the metal “top plate”, and fight a bunch of foam.
GW
Re: Prevent mold in mini-split heads
To add to @pecmsg 's comment, I have a feeling he's talking about keeping the blower wheel clean.
They seem to crud up if they run slow most of the time, running it fast blows the stuff out.
ChrisJ
Re: Prevent mold in mini-split heads
Several things have been bothering me on this topic
First, why would a minisplit, or any inverter system not dehumidify well at lower speeds? Wouldn't it be better, if anything? They usually run EEVs, so I'd expect the evaporator to be good and cold especially at lower output levels. I
Next, cooling too fast to dehumidify. I have ZERO experience with water chilled systems etc, I've only worked with small (tiny, relatively speaking) systems with the evaporator directly cooling the air. How can it cool the air without dehumidifying? Even if it does it rapidly, it still had to pull the air through the evaporator which was at a fairly low dew point. If the system moves more air faster, it's still moving X amount of air through the evaporator, typically 350-400 cfm per ton. Honestly, I don't understand and I have not personally seen an oversized system not dehumidify well. I don't get it? Can someone please explain?
ChrisJ