Simple AC tips to help keep your cool this summer

[Bugeater]

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[Delano]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Well yeah, the problem with that is you can't plant big trees. You have to plant small ones and wait for the damn things to grow.

Stick with HVAC advice. You can transplant any size of tree if you've the money, space, and water.
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[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by Delano

Stick with HVAC advice. You can transplant any size of tree if you've the money, space, and water.
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Duly noted.

[sedated]

I live in an apt and the crawlspace that houses my AC scares me. It doesn't work worth shit. Bug, you can take a look the next tme you are in town.

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by sedated

I live in an apt and the crawlspace that houses my AC scares me. It doesn't work worth shit. Bug, you can take a look the next tme you are in town.

Oh yeah got to love them crawl spaces. Better than an attic this time of year where it is 200+

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by sedated

I live in an apt and the crawlspace that houses my AC scares me. It doesn't work worth shit. Bug, you can take a look the next tme you are in town.

Crawl space?

Most apartments either have the units outside or on the roof. Either way though, you should have a maintenance guy that can look at it for you. No guarantees he knows what the hell he is doing though.

[Time's Yours]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

No this will not work like you are thinking at all.
Blower are sized by the size of the system that they are put into.
If you have a 5 ton Air Handler it has a motor and a blower wheel sized to move 2000 cfm's of air. If you restrict or block off half of the registers in your home it will make the blower slow down because it can't move that air. Then that air becomes a restriction. When the blower slows down it won't even be able to pull half of the normal amount of air. Also when you do this and it can't move enough air across the coil and that will cause the coil to freeze up. Along with all of this you are making that motor work hard pulling more amps, costing your more energy, as well as the motor uses that air to keep itself cool.

Interesting. In November my wife and I bought a house way bigger than what we need because we both hate moving and don't want to have to move when we decide to have kids.

I've had half the house shut down all summer; I was thinking exactly like Dave Lane is thinking. I guess that was a mistake.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by phillip

Interesting. In November my wife and I bought a house way bigger than what we need because we both hate moving and don't want to have to move when we decide to have kids.

I've had half the house shut down all summer; I was thinking exactly like Dave Lane is thinking. I guess that was a mistake.

Man I thought the same thing forever as well. It's hard to wrap your mind around the physics behind it.

I'm a bit surprised that's the only thing anyone took any exception to. I thought for sure someone would take me to task on recommending the cheap crappy air filters.

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by phillip

Interesting. In November my wife and I bought a house way bigger than what we need because we both hate moving and don't want to have to move when we decide to have kids.

I've had half the house shut down all summer; I was thinking exactly like Dave Lane is thinking. I guess that was a mistake.

Well if it hasn't froze up by now you must have quite a bit of duct leakage or the refrigerant levels will not be quite right when you start using the whole house. Try opening all the vents and see what difference it makes. See if the house cools better. I know it will cool more evenly. But see if the system will stay off a little longer between cycles. See if you have a little better airflow not just out of the registers but see if your return grills where your filters are at catch more dust. At the return you can use a piece of paper to see how strongly it is pulling the paper towards or on to the grills. If you have a couple of thermometers put one on or as close to the returns as possible. Put another at one of the registers. This time of year you should have somewhere around a Delta T of 15. That is the temperature difference between the two. 14 to 17 this time of year. Anything out of that range will show that the system is not opperating properly.

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Man I thought the same thing forever as well. It's hard to wrap your mind around the physics behind it.

I'm a bit surprised that's the only thing anyone took any exception to. I thought for sure someone would take me to task on recommending the cheap crappy air filters.

Why that is one of the best pieces of info that you gave!
A person should change thier filters every month. But for the sake of your customers to recommend a pleeted high capture filter you HAVE to know how the system was installed. Because if the return duct is not sized properly or if the surface area of the return grill is not large enough a pleeted filter with a small amount of dust can be a huge restriction to the airflow.
Not to mention they are 5 times more expensive.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

Why that is one of the best pieces of info that you gave!
A person should change thier filters every month. But for the sake of your customers to recommend a pleeted high capture filter you HAVE to know how the system was installed. Because if the return duct is not sized properly or if the surface area of the return grill is not large enough a pleeted filter with a small amount of dust can be a huge restriction to the airflow.
Not to mention they are 5 times more expensive.

I do use the cheapest pleated ones over the winter since I run woodstove to heat my house and the dust from it is terrible. My furnace doesn't even run all that much and those things are filthy after just a few weeks.

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

I do use the cheapest pleated ones over the winter since I run woodstove to heat my house and the dust from it is terrible. My furnace doesn't even run all that much and those things are filthy after just a few weeks.

Well that is good that you check and are aware. And that you are a heat and air guy you can fix your own stuff. If you tell someone or do something for someone else that costs them any money or break down you are the bad guy.
In this business you will either be a hero or a zero.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

This is not true. Duct is like a water line you are only going to get so much air through it.
Meaning you can't hook a piece of 10" duct right off the plenum box of a 5 ton unit and think it will blow just fine. 10" duct will not move that much air. The speed of the blower motor is ony in rpm's that the motor will turn. The speed will only affect the fps that the air will travel. Not the volume of air.

This is not true I have a 6" duct I move 1000 cfm through. It has an inline fan but you can move huge amounts of air through ducts if you want.

[Time's Yours]

Originally Posted by Chief Roundup

Well if it hasn't froze up by now you must have quite a bit of duct leakage or the refrigerant levels will not be quite right when you start using the whole house. Try opening all the vents and see what difference it makes. See if the house cools better. I know it will cool more evenly. But see if the system will stay off a little longer between cycles. See if you have a little better airflow not just out of the registers but see if your return grills where your filters are at catch more dust. At the return you can use a piece of paper to see how strongly it is pulling the paper towards or on to the grills. If you have a couple of thermometers put one on or as close to the returns as possible. Put another at one of the registers. This time of year you should have somewhere around a Delta T of 15. That is the temperature difference between the two. 14 to 17 this time of year. Anything out of that range will show that the system is not opperating properly.

Are registers and vents synonymous?

I have 4 filters (2 for each a/c unit) in the ceiling in the hallway upstairs. Are these the only filters, or are there more in the ducting or near the units? The only ones I've ever changed are those ones in the ceiling.

I opened all of the vents today. It seems so counterintuitive to cool more of the house.

[Groves]

Originally Posted by Delano

Stick with HVAC advice. You can transplant any size of tree if you've the money, space, and water.
Posted via Mobile Device

Those "large tree" transplants always fascinate me.

Feel free to share some stories. Is there a size that hits the sweet spot in terms of money and "worth it"-ness?

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

This is not true I have a 6" duct I move 1000 cfm through. It has an inline fan but you can move huge amounts of air through ducts if you want.

Dude you can think what you want but until you have been to school and educated yourself you will not understand. You can believe what you want but there is a huge difference between cfm and fps. You are moving are at 1000 fps but you CANNOT move 1000 cfm of air through a 6" round piece of duct.

fps = feet per second
cfm = cubic foot minute

When you mess up your system and it costs you 10k to replace it and they tell you that your duct is all blown apart and needs to be replaced for an addition 2500 to 3000. Maybe then you will understand.