PennSilverTaco's HVAC BS MegaThread!

@6 gearT444E
@ABA180
@Just_A_Guy
@RustyGreen
@shakerhood
@TnShooter
@wilcam47

One thing that I do not understand is why these houses have public gas for the heat and stove, but an electric water heater...

 

At the very top...

 

@shakerhood

Anybody remember the house where I got the mustard-colored GE appliance duo from? For some reason the central A/C unit is installed on the deck, rather than on the ground underneath the deck...

 

Seems like an oddball location.

 

The house next door had the same set up. These houses all have oil heat...



The owners of this house were of the mistaken assumption that the air-conditioner seen above was "fairly new". It clearly says 10 SEER on the emblem in the center of the fan grille, indicating that this unit is no newer than 2005...

 

Gas requires more material.
You have to vent it outside and run gas line.
It’s easier to install an electric appliance.

 

Does it flood there?

 

If it was my house, I would do two smaller units.

 

Oil furnace at the house I got all the scrap and vintage stuff; I have no idea how old it is, but the log says it was serviced regularly and recently...

 

Never heard of this brand, but it's got the venerable Beckett Burner...

 

The thermostat...

 

Not that I am aware of, but after going in the backyard, I figured out why the outdoor unit is on the deck. There is no room under the deck to put the unit; I have no idea if the house I was helping clear came with a deck, but the house next door did not have a deck and the only "back door" is the one from the walk-up basement. The house I was helping clear has a Kenmore 10 SEER unit, and this one has a Heil 12 SEER unit, which as you can see is mounted on the ground...

 

I did not know what brand the one at the estate sale house was until today. Since it's a 10 SEER, that means it is no newer than 2005, as the government mandated a minimum of 13 SEER beginning in 2006; I don't know if International Comfort Products (ICP) was a subsidiary of United Technologies back then - United Technologies owns Carrier, Bryant, Payne, and now ICP - but the Kenmore branding means that this one was sold by Sears. ICP sold units identical to this one and the Heil next door under the following names; Comfortmaker, Day & Night, and Tempstar, among others...

 

Just about everyone born in the last 30+ years probably remembers the Sears/Kenmore HVAC that aired from the mid-1990s through the early 2000s...

 

A newer Rheem A/C unit installed on the deck at the other next door neighbor's house...

 

@Panchovilla6192002

So, this house is barely 1,300 square feet. It is also an interior unit townhouse with another house on side and no windows in the interior walls. As such, the load is much lower than that of a similar sized single-family home.

That said, I would not rip out the existing central HVAC system in this house. It is only a 2-ton/24,000-BTU unit. The house has oil heat that works great. If this were my house, I'd keep the 2-ton unit and oil furnace, but install 1.5-ton heat pump for the 2nd floor.

 

@6 gearT444E
@ABA180
@ColoradoTJ
@Just_A_Guy
@shakerhood
@steelcity2
@TnShooter

My neighbor was on the fence about whether to spend the extra money for a pool, and then I saw this in his driveway yesterday; I'm surprised he went with a heat pump, because our neighborhood has public natural gas...