RE: hvac

My poor old AC system died during this last heatwave. My guy wants to try to to replace some part and if that doesn't work he's willing to eat the cost of it and I'll have to replace the outdoor unit and indoor coil.

If I have to go the replacement route I'm gonna try to get a Home Equity loan and just replace the whole damn thing along with the water heater. I don't know its age and it just seems like the reasonable thing to do as they're right next to each other. I want to move the unit into the attic and run all new returns and ducts. This house was built in the 50's and they just stuck an AC unit onto the old furnace ducts that run in the crawl space, so while it works its no where near optimal. I figure lets get this done once and fix all the issues in one go. Am I nuts for thinking that?

-V

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--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

If I have to go the replacement route I'm gonna try to get a Home Equity loan and just replace the whole damn thing along with the water heater.
I don't know its age and it just seems like the reasonable thing to do
as they're right next to each other. I want to move the unit into the
attic and run all new returns and ducts.

Have you researched which would be more energy efficient? To leave the ducts within the crawlspace versus the attic? Heat rises and there is nothing more comfortable (to me) than homes with floor ducts. A lot of peoples concerns are dust and air quality. My mom, when she was alive, had her crawlspace encapsulated. It wasn't that expensive and was completely sealed off to ensure it stayed dry, and that it stayed dust free. She then had ducts run as it was an older plenum ducts system whereas the HVAC would below the air into the crawlspace and the air was to blow naturally upward through vents in the floor. The ductwork helped tremendously.


This house was built in the

50's and they just stuck an AC unit onto the old furnace ducts that run
in the crawl space, so while it works its no where near optimal. I
figure lets get this done once and fix all the issues in one go. Am I
nuts for thinking that?

What exactly does the guy think is wrong with the a/c? There isn't much that can go wrong with them that aren't less expensive to repair than replace. The only downfall to older systems is that they aren't energy effecient, powerful, and use freon as opposed to newer coolants. This post is probably old so I'm curious what you ended up doing? I had to replace all of mine a few years back for different reasons and it was a costly decision to make for sure.

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--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

RE: hvac

My poor old AC system died during this last heatwave. My guy wants to try
to to replace some part and if that doesn't work he's willing to eat the cost of it and I'll have to replace the outdoor unit and indoor coil.

If I have to go the replacement route I'm gonna try to get a Home Equity loan and just replace the whole damn thing along with the water heater. I don't know its age and it just seems like the reasonable thing to do as they're right next to each other. I want to move the unit into the attic
and run all new returns and ducts. This house was built in the 50's and
they just stuck an AC unit onto the old furnace ducts that run in the
crawl space, so while it works its no where near optimal. I figure lets
get this done once and fix all the issues in one go. Am I nuts for
thinking that?

-V

You might want to investigate the mini-split option. Much less expensive than running duct work, etc, especially in older homes. They also are very efficient and scales really well when you want units in multiple rooms.

You also might get lucky and it is just a capacitor. I replaced that on my older unit years ago and got another 5 years out of it. The issue I ended up having was the stupid metal rusted pan under the coil started leaking and there was no way to access it to replace it. It would have cost more to replace than doing the entire unit thanks to the constant government bans of different types of coolants over the years. The older coolant is way too expensive since they don't make it anymore.

- Mark

:.: Weather Station BBS · telnet://bbs.weather-station.org :.: :.: http://www.weather-station.org/bbs · Bel Air, Maryland - USA :.:
      
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

What exactly does the guy think is wrong with the a/c? There isn't much that can go wrong with them that aren't less expensive to repair than replace. The only downfall to older systems is that they aren't energy effecient, powerful, and use freon as opposed to newer coolants. This
post is probably old so I'm curious what you ended up doing? I had to replace all of mine a few years back for different reasons and it was a costly decision to make for sure.

Pressures are way high, 190 on the low 400's on the High. He thinks the TXV valve might be the partially stuck. We're going to try replacing the valve and the dryer and while the system is open he's going to purge the lines with nitrogen to check for blockages. The system is from 2013 and uses r410 which after October (i believe) the regulations change and it becomes expensive/hard to get.

The reason for my wanting the move with new ducts is that I've never been happy with how the house cools. There is an addition on the house and the airflow there is nearly non-exsistant and even in the old part of the house there are warm "dead spots" where there's not alot of air flow. New ducting would allow us to place drops and returns where needed to more evenly cool.

There is always the option to rework the current ducts to try and correct airflow. My crawl space isn't encapsulated and honestly I've never been in the thing.

-V

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p ╞"→⌠
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

You might want to investigate the mini-split option. Much less
expensive thanrunning duct work, etc, especially in older homes. They
also are veryefficient and scales really well when you want units in multiple rooms.

You also might get lucky and it is just a capacitor. I replaced that on myolder unit years ago and got another 5 years out of it. The issue I
ended uphaving was the stupid metal rusted pan under the coil started leaking and therewas no way to access it to replace it. It would have
cost more to replace thandoing the entire unit thanks to the constant government bans of different typesof coolants over the years. The older coolant is way too expensive since theydon't make it anymore.

I've had friends that did the multi minisplit thing and they ended up tearing them all out and going the traditional route. They worked great till they all decided to start breaking every few weeks.

I wish it was just a capacitor, I can handle that. Hell last year I replaced the fan motor and the capacitor. I can do the basic stuff easy enough I just don't mess with compressors/refridgerants. The issue is theres either a blockage or a blown seal in the compressor. Pressures are way high. My guy suspects a bad TXV valve. We're gonna change that and hope that fixes it. If it doesn't we'll end up having to replace the indoor coil and out door unit. If that happens I'm just going to replace the whole system. The question comes down to try and fix the current ducting to better optimize or go all new.

-V

┌─────┐┌──┐──┐ ┌──┐ ┌─────┐┌─────┐┌─────┐ ┌──┐ ┌─────┐ bbs.outpost9.co:2023 │ ┬ ││ │ │┌┘ ┴─┐│ ──┘ ││ ┬ ││ ───┴┐┌┘ ┴─┐│ └── │
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--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

I honestly don't think so, and I live in the dessert. These heatr waves are serious and any accommodations that you can make for yourself will be really beneficial. Especially if you ever put the house up for sale ...


On Saturday,July 20, 2024 at 03:24 AM, Veeb0rg wrote:

RE: hvac

My poor old AC system died during this last heatwave. My guy wants to
try to to replace some part and if that doesn't work he's willing to eat
the cost of it and I'll have to replace the outdoor unit and indoor
coil.

If I have to go the replacement route I'm gonna try to get a Home Equity loan and just replace the whole damn thing along with the water heater.
I don't know its age and it just seems like the reasonable thing to do
as they're right next to each other. I want to move the unit into the
attic and run all new returns and ducts. This house was built in the
50's and they just stuck an AC unit onto the old furnace ducts that run
in the crawl space, so while it works its no where near optimal. I
figure lets get this done once and fix all the issues in one go. Am I
nuts for thinking that?

-V
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──┘└──┘ Maryland, USA
♦7

---
The Lair of the Wolverine * bbs.theshardforge.cc
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p ╞"→
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)