Heating Help

crazy question/crazy customer / need an answer

we put an attic a/c system in a one story cape.
no rooms on second floor, big open attic, well vented, cold up there

 The customer is a germ-o-phobe, mold-o-phope,draft-o-phobe.

in the off season the customer covers up all the registers with sheet plastic,
taped at the edges. She thinks the humidity from her super humidifier will migrate up there and condenses leaving puddles in the ductwork and encouraging mold growth.

She is getting a few teaspoons of condensation in the sheet plastic
 at a few different registers. We go over there and uncover everything, run the fan for a half hour and she's fine again.

she wants a more permanent solution... any ideas?

she runs two clean air machines and a steam humidifier which she keeps at 33%.
oh and she is some kind of a scientist.

she has thrown service people out of her house for coughing sneezing or farting
so everybody just walks in and coughs to get out of finding a fix for her weird problem.  It actually says on her service screen"NO COUGHING BURPING,SNEEZING OR FARTING ALLOWED IN THIS CUSTOMERS HOUSE"

Where to start

we put an attic a/c system in a one story cape.

no rooms on second floor, big open attic, well vented, cold up there



 The customer is a germ-o-phobe, mold-o-phope,draft-o-phobe.

Sell her UV lights for in the blower/coil area

in the off season the customer covers up all the registers with sheet
plastic,

taped at the edges. She thinks the humidity from her super humidifier
will migrate up there and condenses leaving puddles in the ductwork and
encouraging mold growth. Yes it can migrate into the ductwork and condense on the colder surfaces, sometimes severely if the humidity is too high. Thats partially why the humidifier companies want you to adjust your humidity settings based on the OA temp. Aprilaire gives you a OA sensor for there humidistats specifically for this. Possibly adapt this method to her steam humidifier



She is getting a few teaspoons of condensation in the sheet plastic

 at a few different registers. We go over there and uncover everything,
run the fan for a half hour and she's fine again. Make sure all boots, plastic or metal are insulated well



she wants a more permanent solution... any ideas?

Disconnect the ducts and cap off in the fall and reconnect in the spring

she runs two clean air machines and a steam humidifier which she keeps
at 33%.

oh and she is some kind of a scientist.



she has thrown service people out of her house for coughing sneezing or
farting

so everybody just walks in and coughs to get out of finding a fix for
her weird problem.  It actually says on her service screen"NO COUGHING
BURPING,SNEEZING OR FARTING ALLOWED IN THIS CUSTOMERS HOUSE
Good luck, people with phobias don't bend very much. Maybe start coughing or sneezing

thanks

she already has a UV light, which she drives us nuts about because there is no indicator light on it to show its "ON".
Its pretty hard for any homeowner to tell if those things are working.

we already re-wrapped all the boxes and made sure the fiberglass was up tight to the boxes

I actually think she might like the idea of dis-connecting the runs, but she will not like the idea of leaving them open in the attic all winter, we would have to plug the box and the
run.

when the temperature drops she should adjust her 33% setting down some.


Thank you for the help.

Challenging customer

thanks
she already has a UV light, which she drives us nuts about because there
is no indicator light on it to show its "ON".  You can buy LED lights from ABCO or Radio Shack for different voltages and mount one directly or remotely from the Light or mount a video cam inside the plenum and connect it to her computer. All of this would be charged appropriately of course

Its pretty hard for any homeowner to tell if those things are working.



we already re-wrapped all the boxes and made sure the fiberglass was up
tight to the boxes



I actually think she might like the idea of dis-connecting the runs, but
she will not like the idea of leaving them open in the attic all
winter, we would have to plug the box and the. Thats easy to do. going back there repeatedly is not

run.



when the temperature drops she should adjust her 33% setting down some.

Again the aprilaire Humidistat will adjust  automatically. Having her adjust manually by OA temp is just another phone call to you.


Thank you for the help.

Use foam board instead of plastic

Maybe if one inch foam board is used to cover the ducts there will be less of a chance for condensation. Plus if there is any she cant see it, unlike the plastic.
Dan

another good idea

thanks

crazy answer

Sell her what she needs! In the attic unit install the steam humidifier with an outdoor temp sensor to auto adjust the humidity level,also install a Trane or Carrier super Clean Effects air cleaner and install the UV light in the attic unit. Put the fan in the " on " position for the cleanest air possible. IF she's proud to be a card carrying germaphobe then she will go for it.As far as the coughing ,sneezing,farting,etc,put on a body condom and a respirator,but charge her up the dupa on your pricing. Good luck

Heat Recovery Ventilator?

Would a heat recovery ventilator be a solution?  It would be running continuously and work in conjunction with her air filter and UV light.