Hot answers tagged hvac
12
I assume you are in a cold climate, like Minnesota (where I am). I will address your question in three parts; the first two have to do with the humidifier.
The "winter" setting on the duct in your photo: It appears from the photo that the duct in question goes from your humidifier around to the return (intake) side of your furnace's ducting. This needs ...
8
Necessary?
No.
More efficient? Yes.
When the HVAC is centrally located the warmer/cooler air has less overall distance to travel to cover the entire house, as it's radiating out from the center.
If you have noticed that one side of your house is less comfortable than the other, it may be worth the relocation. If the house is generally comfortable year ...
7
Try this on for size:
Annual Oil Bill * Efficiency = Cost of Oil actually used for heating. (The rest is waste).
So on an annual bill of $1000, you are currently paying $650 for heat, and $350 out the chimney. (i.e. $650 is as low as you can go with a 100% furnace)
So, if you were to replace that with an 87.2% furnace, your annual cost would be $650/87.1% ...
7
Do the joints in adjustable duct elbows need to be taped as well once they're adjusted
Yes, they do.
or are they considered air-tight?
No, they are not. Far from it, in fact.
You want to tape every seam in your ductwork, using (as Shirlock pointed out) foil tape. Each exposed seam, whether it's at a connection or part of pre-formed metal like ...
7
For the ducts, the setting indicates where you should set the switch based on the season. If your house has separate air return ducts on different floors or even multiple ducts on the same floor, changing the setting changes which ducts pull air from the house, allowing lower ducts to suck cold air out in the winter and higher ducts to suck hot air out in ...
6
The device you linked to will work. You are essentially converting to a SPST "thermostat" from your current DPST thermostat. Some people feel a SPST thermostat is dangerous because the heating device is always connected to a hot leg of the power mains. Both legs are disconnected with a DPST device. Yet this SPST practice is common and acceptable in many ...
6
Cover the vent
They sell magnetic vent covers at nearly all hardware stores. Buy one, and cover the vent when it's not being used. This will prevent moist air from entering the vent, though it may not stop water if it pools around the vent.
Install an exhaust fan
Install a properly sized exhaust fan in the bathroom. Let it run during showers, and for ...
5
Some programmable thermostats do base their filter reminder on run time. However, the problem is looking at a filter, their change out period is not mentioned in runtime, it just says 'every 6 months' or something like that, so it's a little tricky to convert sometimes.
The Radiothermostat 3M-50 (in your link) says:
FILTER - AIR FILTER ALERT - The ...
5
Single phase
1hp = 756 watts
5hp = 3730 watts
3730 watts at 230 volts = 17 amps
Three Phase
3730 watts = 3730(watts) / (207(v) x 1.73) or 3730 / 358.11 = 10.4 amps.
Three phase is 40% less amperage.
There are other things to make this accurate, like motor efficiency and power factor. I used 1 for each.
Another savings is that with the reduced ...
5
Its been a long time since I did any fluids, and even then, it was not much. But I'll take a shot just from simple logic.
Suppose we have a single fan at the front end of the duct. It is rated for 650 CFM, and without any duct there, you will get essentially that. But suppose you put this fan in a duct. Moving air will see friction against the walls of the ...
5
Your question almost exactly sums up the situation I had at my home last August.
What I found then was that despite a properly sized air conditioning unit and what I believe to be good insulation (the house holds heat well during the winter), the unit still couldn't keep up.
I don't have full proof, but I think a few factors caused my situation and might ...
4
The easy answer is because your thermostat is telling it to run all day. So, should it or should it not be? Is the thermostat in a good position in the house? If it's directly in the path of a sunbeam, then it will get hot and run more than necessary to cool the rest of the the house down. Is there enough cool air coming out each of the vents? If you ...
4
If you have the condensers already selected, you should be able to get the two pieces of data you need to make a decision.
1) price increase for 3 phase condenser
2) operating power for single phase and 3 phase units.
I suspect they will quote you that the two units consume the same amount of operating power.
Yes, theory says 3 phase motors run smoother ...
4
You should check the specifications for your fridge and freezer, specifically the section that discusses required clearances. If you provided enough clearance, then the heat is likely not an issue as the fridge/freezer is designed to dissipate heat given the specified clearances.
If your clearances are too small then there is a good chance the device will ...
4
There are various sellers of louvered and non-louvered floor vents. These can be pricey though.
Of course if you're going to be replacing the existing cover anyway, you may as well try the other poster's solution of just removing the plastic from the one you've already got.
You titled your question 'high flow'; the above I'd consider more 'normal flow'. ...
4
If both your central air handling fan and outdoor compressor are running and your not seeing any sort of cooling after a 10-20 minutes than I'd venture a guess and say it's time to call an AC repair service.
I'm curious what you are pushing in that makes the compressor turn on? Are you somehow bridging the main capacitor? Capacitors tend to be a common ...
4
If you put a couple of sheet metal screws in the joints, and tape them with foil tape, you should be able to do a 5 foot vertical rise with support at the roof boot or where you contact the rafters. You could use straps, but usually the boot if sized properly will be fine if the bottom of the run is supported well.
3
Squirrel cage blowers make great fans. Black is ground, white-negative and red-positive. Looks like blue, white and red coming from the motor. Read the info on the motor, it should have split capacitor in it, may have to change the wiring from 220 to 110. Looks like a 1/4-1/5 horse. Ask a local HVAC guy, feed his ego and be rewarded. If its a 110 just throw ...
3
First, realize that with a single zone system and multiple floors, it's difficult to get the temperature correct everywhere. Also, since you mentioned this was an attic space, you're likely against the roof and getting heat from every wall plus from the computers and people in the space. In short, you're fighting a losing battle.
I've got a similar ...
3
Talk to your HVAC service tech about installing a remote magnehelic gauge. They cost less $100 and you can probably install it yourself. When the fan runs it creates a vacum in the space between the filter and the fan. This pressure difference can be measured by the gauge. The higher the reading the dirtier the filter. You can experiment with how dirty you ...
3
Mineral build-up is going to be dependent on your water. Do you have a Water Quality Report? Mine looks like this:
http://www.acwd.org/story_detail.php5?story_id=157
Hard water starts around 10 grains per gallon or 170 ppm. In other words, 1 liter of water will have 0.17 grams of calcium/magnesium. I didn't see any water usage estimates for coolnsave aside ...
3
It looks like you can buy damper boxes separately from grilles. An example is here. You could also get a grille and install it without a damper box if you have no need to damp airflow from that supply vent.
Alternatively, just cut the metal/plastic that's blocking supply off your existing register and call it a day.
3
The reason you are only provided with the maximum is that you are expected to run it with a controller, which could allow you to run at anywhere from 0 to 2500 rpm (the rated maximum) and the current and power will vary depending on how fast you want the fan.
I think you are mistaken about the energy becoming heat aspect though - this is not a heater. While ...
3
You can't determine the actual amperage from the maximum. If the manufacturer did not provide this information (which is usual) your best bet is to use a device like a Kill-A-Watt (disclosure: I have no affiliation with this product nor have I ever used it, the name just stuck in my head). This device plugs into the wall and you plug the appliance into the ...
3
It depends on a few factors but just based off of what you've mentioned I'd say that it probably would be fairly good at keeping the room a more moderate temperature.
This is mostly because the air handling unit will be drawing the hot air out of your room and in the process the cooler air from the rest of the house will displace the hot air. Since you ...
3
If that loop is unused then it would probably be just as easy to replace the pump with another brand that fits the gap. If you can find a local shop that has a new Grundfos or Taco pump that has the same size fittings and gap between them you could swap a new one in. You could easily find one with the same GPM rating.
3
Ultimately, your issue is caused by not having an exhaust fan. Ask your landlord whether he could have someone come out and install one for you? You can push this as being a health concern to you and your family (which it is). Also, it's an investment and/or protection for his property. I'm pretty sure having someone come out to clean the vents on a regular ...
3
Almost every thermostat installation manual I've read always says something along the lines of "Make sure to mark you wires based on the currently connected thermostat. Do not rely on the wire coloring".
The colors are really just a guideline, there is no requirement to adhere to them.
Looking at the controller board of your furnace should confirm how they ...
3
HVAC systems don't exchange air with the outside unless you specifically add an air exchanger. In older houses, this wasn't necessary because they leaked enough that you always got new fresh air coming in somewhere. With newer houses and recently fully renovated ones, the houses can indeed be sealed up so air tight that an air exchanger is necessary.
Based ...
3
Most furnaces use a preset, adjustable, time delay circuit to control the start of the blower motor. Some higher end models may use a temperature sensor to determine when the blower should come on, but this is a less common setup. It's possible that something in the furnace is broken and/or configured incorrectly, but it's more likely that the thermostat has ...
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