Modern Cooling & Heating

Finished this one last week. Full system and duct replacement.

A couple of installs from the past few weeks.

Time to schedule your spring check before air conditioning season gets into full swing.

Last week we did a gas furnace/air conditioner to electric heat/heat pump change out. When switching from gas heat to heat pump it is very important to peform an accurate Manual J heat load and Manual S equipment selection for best performance. A heat pump is air conditioning in reverse, but your house will have a different cooling load than heating load. It is possible to when sizing for heat to oversize the air conditioner leading to humidity and possible mold issues. When sizing for air conditioning you can undersize for heat and have to rely on very expensive electric heat strips to keep the house warm.

Homeowner was complaining of water peeling off the texture of the walls directly below the furnace. A 90%+ furnace requires condensate lines because of the amount of moisture created by burning higher amounts of gas. When installed above a ceiling it is recommended to have a secondary drain pan installed under the furnace. The installing contractor did not install a secondary drain pan or follow the manufacturer's installation instructions when installing this furnace. On the bottom of the furnace they had cut two very jagged holes in the cabinet and just stuck the drain tubing down into the pvc drain lines. The drain line did not have the proper fall and actually went uphill in some spots allowing water to flow back towards the unit. This was causing the water to overflow the drain line around where the hoses stubbed into the pvc. The top plate of the wall under the unit was entirely soaked in water. The furnace vent went downhill before turning up to exit the house and was holding water. When the unit called for heat you could hear the inducer motor blowing the water in the pipe. Additionally where the drain line tied in under the sink, the outlet of the sink drain was higher than the outlet of the sanitary trap for the sink.

Because of the amount of modification made to the furnace and the installation clearances we determined they were better off replacing the furnace with an 80% gas furnace that does not require drain lines. We installed a condensate pump for the air conditioner condensate and routed the drain to a different location so the sink drain could easily be fixed.

An Aprilaire filter rack had been installed but was too small for the furnace and sealed shut. The return duct was tied directly to back of the filter rack, so even if a filter was installed there, the whole filter area would not be used. (If you ever change your filter and see a dark circle in the middle but it looks brand new around the edges). We installed a dual filter plenum with a 4-3/8" filter and removed the filter from the filter grill.

A three system replacement we just finished. Two downflow systems and one upflow with all three condensers mounted on the roof. We installed the old equipment back in 2005, and the homeowner was ready for an upgrade.

We have been really busy since Thanksgiving, so I have been slow to post.

These are pictures from a duct replacement/reconfiguration job we completed a couple of weeks ago. In 2016 the homeowners had a Lennox 20 SEER variable capacity cooling system installed and had never been very happy with the way it cooled. The system was split into two zones; one for the living area and one for the bedrooms. The ductwork was a combination of new flex duct and the original metal duct from the late 60's early 70's. Some of the supply air ducts were excessively long and ran to the back of the house only to then go to a room in the front of the house. Both the furnace heat exchanger and the evaporator coil had already been replaced. Numerous safety circuit wires inside the furnace had been cut and put back together with wire nuts. Two of the four zone control dampers were no longer wired in and were open all the time, and the other two zone dampers did not close all the way when that zone was off and the other zone was on. After extended run times at 100% capacity the furnace control board would flash an error code stating the system was unable to produce the desired airflow for the system. The static pressure was 1.23" w.c.; Lennox recommends a static pressure of no higher than 0.8" w.c.

We replaced the 3ft supply air plenum with a longer 5ft plenum that allows for at least 12" between the end of the evaporator coil and the first duct takeoff as well as at least 12" between the last duct takeoff and the end of the plenum. Airflow experts are now saying the distance should be 18", but this means having two plenums made and connecting them together. Most installing by the standard 3ft long plenum from the manufacturer because anything else is special order. This allows for the plenum to pressurize equally before the air travels down the ducts. We added a transition between the furnace and evaporator as required by the manufacturer for a horizontal right application; this transition was not originally installed. When we separated the furnace and coil, we discovered the sensing bulb for the refrigerant metering device was on the return air side and had not been insulated. An uninsulated sensing bulb can cause the refrigerant pressures to fluctuate during operation as the metering device searches for the optimal flow of refrigerant through the evaporator coil. We replaced the filter rack with a larger filter designed for 2000+ cfm and the return air plenum. Because the new filter is so much larger than the furnace we installed a transition between the filter and furnace. On the ductwork, we removed as much of the old metal duct as possible and replaced with flex duct. We also straightened out all the ductwork to make each duct run as short and straight possible. This required reconfiguring the number of zone dampers. We also added a return to the hallway. All of our improvements reduced the system static pressure to 0.63" w.c. We also replaced most of the furnace vent. The installers had cut out a portion of the inner liner of the first piece because they couldn't get it to fit on the furnace. They also did not properly transition the vent from the new 4" vent to the old 5" vent that goes through the roof.

If you are considering replacing your system with a high efficiency, variable capacity cooling system we recommend both zoning and replacing all the ductwork. Variable capacity systems can run at a much lower airflow based on system demand, so a lack of zoning can cause the air to not reach the intended room because of low air pressure in the ductwork. Also, old, leaky ductwork will leak cool air to the attic.

The before pictures were taken in July when it was extremely hot in the attic. We did all the work after Thanksgiving. The kitchen ceiling was not insulated after their summer kitchen remodel project, so we wouldn't mess it all up.

Some before and after photos of a couple of installs we have done the past 2 weeks. The first was a complete system and the second was an evaporator coil and condenser only.

An install we finished up today. Lennox 96% 2 stage furnace converted to propane with a 2 stage condenser outside. We recommend this type of furnace for people using propane as it is more efficient than the standard furnace.

Mitsubishi units are highly efficient and quiet. Perfect for bedrooms, media rooms and garages.

https://www.facebook.com/100064575374228/posts/698216435674196/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Up to $2,900 in Stacked Incentives Talk to a Local Expert!

It's time to schedule your fall service checks to make sure your heating unit is in good shape for winter.

I have shared a post from Trane on furnaces, that I think is quite informative.

https://www.facebook.com/100069736230023/posts/624612949873241/?mibextid=2JQ9oc

Fall is here and it's important to prepare your furnace for the chilly weather. To steer clear of common myths related to home furnaces, check out the link below.

https://www.trane.com/residential/en/resources/blog/5-common-myths-about-furnaces/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mg_trane_lmg_1423000104

A Mitsubishi Mr Slim ductless unit we installed in a garage today.

Had a service call for a system not cooling. Turns out the system was completely out of refrigerant, so I put a small amount of nitrogen in it to try to find the leak. I ended up finding a very large leak in the indoor evaporator coil that was non-repairable. When we pulled out the leaking evaporator coil, we saw something we have never seen on an evaporator coil before. Especially not on one that is only 9 years old. We have seen this amount of fin damage on condensing units where a dog has used the unit as a territory marker, but we have no idea what caused this to happen on the evaporator coil. See the pics below to see what we found.

It's not very often we see condensing units that have suffered from storm damage and very rare to see three all on the same house. The first two are scrap and the third took enough damage to warrant replacement. We also took the extra step to clean up the refrigerant copper and electrical to make for a nicer install than how it was before.

💖Happy Mother’s Day Moms💖

ATTENTION!! At this time, we have made the decision to NOT stock R-22 refrigerant this year. After comparing the current wholesale cost of R-22 to the number of existing customers still using R-22, we made the decision that it is no longer financially feasible for us to maintain any R-22 in stock.

If you still have a system with R-22 and do not have a history of adding refrigerant you are ok. If you have been adding 1-2 lbs of R-22 per year then it's time to find the refrigerant leak and either repair it or replace the leaking component. We do stock R-22 alternative refrigerants which can be put into the sytem after the repair has been made and all of the R-22 has been removed from the system. There are NO alternative refrigerants that can be mixed with the R-22 already in the system.

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Pictures of our most recent Mitsubishi install.

That time of year again….. March will be here before you know it. Call to get scheduled for your spring and summer checks.

Affordable. Reliable. Dedicated.

📞📞📞Call us at 972-613-0082📞📞📞

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