xc62701
Well-Known Member
Can you repeat that in English?
A/C repair and replacement
- Thread starter Patrick
- Start date
jnos
Well-Known Member
Sorry. More indepth can be found here: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/saving-energy-manual-j-and-manual-d
The simplified version is:
Manual J is the design guide for determining heat loss (winter) and gain (Summer). Takes into account insulation levels, room size, window orientation and quality, and air leakage. Once you have that, you know how much heat you need to add (or remove) per room and can properly size equipment.
Manual D is used for properly sizing ducts. If done correctly (and this one is difficult) you won't end up with one room that is always too cold and one room that is never cold enough.
xc62701
Well-Known Member
Manual J yes as the tech measured everything and drew a house diagram noting position and size of windows doors etc...
Manual D no. They just want to keep the duct sizing the same but replace it with the newer more insulated duct lines.
jnos
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you are in good hands.
Gonna be hot this week. Of course one of my compressors stopped turning on yesterday. Checked the breaker, thermostat, clean filter... What am I checking next? And, who am I calling tomorrow who is not going to kill us when they see two 25 year old units that we'd rather not replace?
It is the capacitor.
Is it buzzing at all?
I might have one. Be aware that they can kill you.
I think I bought an extra one last year. How do I prevent death? Hoping to get a ride in after dealing with this today.
So, no buzzing with new or old cpaicitor unless I manually push down the contactor. Then, only buzzing, but motor won't start spinning. Should I try a new contactor or just make the $$$ call?
qclabrat
Well-Known Member
Is buzzing the sign of a bad cap?
qclabrat
Well-Known Member
Anyone trying putting in their own mini split? Seems relatively easy, electrical and coolant runs are all outside. Single compressor outside with 4-5 blower units. Got estimates for a 2000 sqf house and it's around 25-30k. Also any reason to get the heat pump option if I already have hot water baseboard?
Karate Monkey
Well-Known Member
The church apartment has a split upstairs w/heat pump in the (full-sized-unit) building. It also has hot water baseboards, but I found that the heat pump is nice since it reacts quickly to help take up the gap on a chilly morning/night. More of a shoulder-season type thing.
FYI, the church/apartment is literally at the beach, and bounded by the bay 1/4 mile in the other direction...should be similar conditions to your place.
rick81721
Lothar
Our A/C started to have trouble cooling. Opened it up and the coil was freezing. Let it defrost and iced up again. Guy came and found refrigerant low. No obvious leaks so refilled and added a uv dye. Will come back this week to find and fix the leak. Meanwhile nice and cool again.
You'll need a gauge set and vac pump.
Then some calcs to set the amount of refrigerant for extending or shortening the lines.
Someone you know may have these.
Expect the Amazon ones to last 5-7 years.
qclabrat
Well-Known Member
How old is the unit and what brand?
rick81721
Lothar
Carrier - 6 yrs old. A/C units take a beating down here. Have to get service 2x/year.
they also run 2x as much every year compared to nj
rick81721
Lothar
Probably more like 3x as much. Run all year
I strongly considered it, but ultimately it wasn't that much more money to have someone else do it (in my case with a single head).
The multi head units do have some drawbacks so I'd definitely be sure that it makes sense in your case. This blog is a great resource and there are others that I can pass along if you're interested:
6 Reasons to Do Single-Head Mini-Split Heat Pumps - Energy Vanguard
When it comes to mini-split heat pumps, you get to play by different rules. With a traditional split system heat pump (or air conditioner), there’s one outdoor unit and one indoor unit. But with mini-splits, you have the option of…
www.energyvanguard.com
I have one of the low temp heating models and use it as pretty much the sole source of heat in the house, to the extent that I've taken out some of the baseboard heaters in rooms where they're in the way/ugly.
Anyone know the quality of current RUUD products? Our existing unit lasted 25 years, but quality could have dropped. Starting to gather quotes for replacement of one or both 2 ton units.