PennSilverTaco's HVAC BS MegaThread!

Shitbox NORDYNE unit at a smaller but expensive old house in Doylestown Borough, spotted while doing DoorDash; Have to admit the stainless steel look is pretty cool though...

 

Big David Cutler Group house...

 

Only one air-conditioner...

 

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hvachacks
Hvac_refer_guy
Howardmechanical
Jeffjdemhvac

 

Thanks!

 

Don't know much about HVAC but this; in the hot heat of the summer our AC will darn near run constantly. A HVAC coworker said that is how they size them pretty much. I never heard of the short cycle so appreciate that explanation. Much could be done here to improve our insulation for sure.

 

How many nominal tons/BTUs is the unit, and is it a 2-story house? It could be any number of things; If it runs constantly, it could also be that the unit is low on refrigerant or the coils need to be cleaned...

 

Ranch style house with basement. The basement stays cooler in the summer of course. We had the entire system replaced when we purchased the house in 2005, it's always run the same. I forget the specifics of the unit. I did have the company that installed it come out for a check up and coil clean about 6/7 years ago and he said the coil looked great. I'm pretty good at keeping the filter replaced regularly.

 

Gas or electric heat? My friend is from Nebraska and they live in an old house that didn't originally have central air; It currently has central air on the first floor and window units upstairs...

 

Natural gas for heat and the swimming pool!
You see a lot of older houses set up like that here, with window shakers upstairs.

 

I think their house has electric baseboard heat though...

 

Yeah, that's pretty common too. I would think it would be expensive but my neighbor said it's not bad. A nice option here at my place is a whole house fan, it's just a large fan with louver's and a trap door above the box its housed in. Located fairly central in hallway upstairs it draws cool morning air in, keeps attic cool, and 3 months maybe just get by with that. It's set up pretty cool with a rope in the garage to open that door up; this prevents hot or cold air coming through.

 

Do people in Nebraska have heat pumps at all?

 

Yes some do, and it seems there was a big push for them some years ago, I just mean advertising, rebates etc. Not many I don't think care for them much in the winter, as from what I gather the secondary or boost from coil heat runs more than expected.

 

Lol, that looks much like what I have. When I got the quote/estimate from HVAC company he gave me a few different options. I told him look man...I'm not a H&V guy...what would YOU put on your house? He said the Maytag warranty is tough to beat. 10years parts 5 years Service. I've had to replace the flame sensor (and or clean a few times) then just year before last a vacuum switch went bad.
Oh..and ignitor coil about same time. Other than that

 

When it comes to heating performance in the extreme cold, a heat pump is about as powerful as a fart in a hurricane and you’d be better off setting fire to your hair...

 

NORDYNE products aren’t as bad as they used to be, but I’d never install one in my house!

 

Do the design work for the ductwork and venting ahead of time. It usually gets shoe horned in after everything else with typically poor results. Ducts are huge unless you go with liquid heat/cooling transfer.