PennSilverTaco's HVAC BS MegaThread!

@ABA180
@ColoradoTJ
@Just_A_Guy
@Lt. Dangle
@shakerhood
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@TnShooter

As stated above, our old house is on its third complete HVAC system since it was built. This Coleman (York) is just months old, as it had a Bryant less than a year ago. The house is like 2,800 square feet with an unfinished basement, and Zillow says it is presently just under 3,500 square feet; I would have expected this house to have at least a 4-ton but more than likely a 5-ton, but the realtor told me it was a 3.5-ton and to my amazement it was! The A/C was on, and it didn’t feel weak coming out of the vents on the second floor like so many older 2-story homes with only one A/C unit. The house was built by Amish workers, and I’m assuming that whoever did the HVAC used the same attention to detail. If this were my house, I would personally do mini-splits for every bedroom in addition to the existing central air, for that extra bit of “oomph” on really hot days…

 

The closest thing we have to Amish here are Hutterites, unfortunately they don't build houses

 

What do they build?

 

They mostly just work on their farms. They're a lot like the Amish but they're fine using modern equipment. They keep away from most outside communication though unless it's for business and only like one guy in the community has the phone

 

Do they have electricity?

 

Yup, they seem like fairly modern people but they still do stuff like make all of their food and clothing and buildings. They're just not afraid to buy building materials

 

@Lt. Dangle

Another prime example of “They don’t build things like they used to”…

1987 Lennox central A/C and gas furnace, still operational when removed for a massive home renovation. The A/C unit’s coils have been destroyed by dog urine, but according to the guys I got it from, it still worked!

 

I was told that the unit is a 2-ton (24,000 BTU), but I’m not good at deciphering 1980s Lennox data sheets…

 

The house was built in 1987, which coincides perfectly with the manufacture date…

 

As stated above, the condenser is destroyed; I’m honestly shocked that it was holding a charge!

 

@6 gearT444E
@ABA180
@ColoradoTJ
@Just_A_Guy
@Lt. Dangle
@shakerhood
@Speedytech7
@steelcity2
@TnShooter

I do not know how I missed this last year...

Some of the newer buildings at Pennhurst did have central A/C; Pennhurst closed in 1987, and this Trane was at least 10 years old by then! Trane bought General Electric's central A/C division in 1982, and then at some point Trane was purchased by Ingersoll-Rand. The GE purchase gave Trane HVAC equipment some of its most distinctive traits, including red Climatuff compressors and spine-fin coils, which are still used today. This unit is obviously a pre-GE model, and it resembles a residential unit from 1964 that I had the honor of filming back in 2012 (albeit much larger)...

 

I'm thinking that were at least two other identical Trane units here at some point, possibly removed and reused elsewhere, but likely stolen by scrappers before Pennhurst was designated a historic landmark and reopened as a tourist attraction...

 

It's got some damage, but if it's still holding a charge of R-22 (I see no reason why it wouldn't), it would probably still turn on and blow cold air if there was power to it!

 

@ColoradoTJ
@Lt. Dangle
@shakerhood
@steelcity2
@TnShooter

These A/C disconnect boxes are located at Mayflower, which Amanda and I toured the inside of last year, and which I also somehow missed last year. The Mayflower building was one of the first constructed, back in 1903, but I think that it may have been added onto. In that case, the central A/C was likely in the newer part. As stated above with the lone Trane unit, I have no idea what became of these units, but it's more than likely that they were stolen by scrappers...

 

@Lt. Dangle

More than likely the indoor part of one of these old Tranes…

 

It would definitely appear that Quaker Hall had central A/C throughout the entire building at some point! I say “at some point” because the building is disintegrating, there’s no electricity to the building beyond generators used to run the party lights in the basement, and there is only one A/C left that isn’t very good condition…