Heating Help

Some things to consider

@ December 31, 2010 7:45 AM in Clicking contactor on air handler

Some not so obvious things to consider for chattering contactors
Poor solder connections on control board
Loose screw terminal connections
Poor splice connections
Pinched wires Possibly when stapled
Wires laying on hot water or hot gas pipes and grounding out
Wires chaffing on metal

Plus all the advice above, on finding the voltage drop

Hydro air controls

@ December 24, 2010 11:17 AM in Fan Coil with ECM Motor

Model number of Air handler please and a schematic if possible. It can be done but would have to add a 3 pole relay. Don't know of anything off the shelf for hydroair and ECM motors.

Ugly and dangerous

@ November 29, 2010 8:03 AM in We're having a contest!

Got a service call  to  "just relight the pilot"
Sorry, not by me

Plugs

@ April 25, 2010 5:10 PM in Lennox Pulse Furnaces

If they haven't been serviced in awhile, the chance of the plug or sensor breaking off is very high. Been there

Water completes the path

@ April 7, 2010 6:23 AM in water and electricity

5 years ago when we had the last heavy rains and flooded basements, I had about a foot of water in my basement. Mostly everything is high enough off the floor to not be a problem with the exception of the electric clothes dryer. When I waded through the basement and passing the dryer I felt heat coming out of it. I'm guessing the water created a path enough to energize the electric element

Any Pics

@ March 22, 2010 6:11 AM in Braze Solder R410a

Anybody have any pics using Staybrite 8?

Any Pics

@ March 22, 2010 6:11 AM in Braze Solder R410a

Anybody have any pics using Staybrite 8?

Opinion

@ March 2, 2010 6:21 AM in Honeywell Tru Steam humidifer

Steve - Would like to hear your opinion on operating the humidifier while running the fan. I recently installed one this way (which is the preferred way) and got complaints from the customer about the drafty feeling. So I rewired it and set it to run only when the furnace is on. Furnace is constant speed not variable. Not the best but it does work. 

Aprilaire 500

@ February 27, 2010 7:34 AM in AprilAire 500 controls

I am connecting an Aprilaire 500 humidifier. There are several ways to
control it.



One way is set it to run when the fan runs using the ACC connection. But
that is 120 volts on the Lennox I'm working on and will require a
transformer.



Another way is run it when the heat comes on by connecting it to the W. 
I like using W because it starts the water running across the pad before the fan starts



Is there any reason I couldn't connect it to the G, thus tying it into
the fan and a 24 volt line.
1. If you have A/C and it is not wired correctly you may backfeed to Y and bring on the compressor, depending on the stat you have.
2. Although running the fan is preferred over running with heat, often people don't like the "drafty" feeling of room temp air circulating.
This is a drain type humidifier. Make sure your condensate pump is pumped inside and not outside. Also get a pump with a float switch and connect it

Unconventional Air Scoop Location

@ February 23, 2010 7:04 AM in Unconventional Air Scoop Location

I find piping methods that are sometimes out of the ordinary
Have found this way of piping an air scoop on several service calls where the scoop is on the return rather than the supply.  It appears to be working.
Any ideas, good, bad. Is the installer a lunatic or a genius

Whoa

@ February 19, 2010 2:22 PM in Question re: Signaturestat

Slow down a bit. No need for that relay. that woulld be a bit overkill for what you need to do.  A simple "peanut" or General purpose relay is sufficient.
The early models of the signature stats had some internal overheating problems when in cooling mode. When the stat called it would generate some heat inside the stat and drive the sensor up keeping the system on and over cooling. I believe that has been corrected though.

"Also time to start shaking your head. I'm an engineer. I can't help
it..."

Thats OK I understand your dilemma. I've  worked with many Engineers and Harmony systems. :) :)

Signaturestat

@ February 19, 2010 9:25 AM in Question re: Signaturestat

Looking at the manual on the Signature stat there isn't any independant Heat/Cool  (Rh/Rc) only R. So you would have to use an isolation relay for the heat because you don't want to mix up transformers between the two systems. I have done that many times. And no it should not turn on the fan if it is the conventional stat, the furnace would do that. There are A few models of the Sig Stat. Which model do you have?

Good call

@ February 19, 2010 8:56 AM in 2 zones 2 stats: stat 1 calls both zones, stat 2 calls zone 2

What program did you use to create the images?

Customers

@ February 9, 2010 6:56 AM in Ever Just Had Enough,,,,

There are many customers that you will never please and will take advantage of you thinking you owe them rather than they owe you. Concentrate on the ones that appreciate your services and repeatedly come back. For the ones who don't, bring it to there attention the actual cost what it takes to bring a service truck to someones home or business. Some may change their view.

Challenging customer

@ February 8, 2010 7:14 AM in crazy question/crazy customer / need an answer

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.

Where to start

@ February 7, 2010 4:34 AM in 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.

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

Where to look

@ January 28, 2010 7:06 AM in Relay problem or something else?

If you are getting hotwater to the coil consistently then I would look at the air handler. Possibly a sticking relay or aqua stat  may not be bringing on the blower motor

Monoflo question

@ January 28, 2010 6:26 AM in Monoflo question

Thanks guys. Difficult to get to downstairs, so I'll connect it

Monoflo question

@ January 27, 2010 6:52 AM in Monoflo question

Have a convector on a mono-flo system that is going to be removed and not replaced. Second convector in the room is plenty. Question is, is it better to cut and cap that branch or connect it 

Happy Birthday Dan

@ January 27, 2010 6:41 AM in Happy Birthday Dan Holohan

Thanks for doing what you do

Geno

Try this

@ January 26, 2010 7:05 AM in Monitor and control from my laptop?

Try this link. This is from a recent issue of RSES Journal. It can monitor and control several communicating thermostats. Possibly it can go further.
http://www.networkthermostat.com/
Good luck with your project, I have a 29 ft Terry and couldn't imagine trying to retrofit a HW system to it. Keep us informed

Budgetary constraints

@ January 24, 2010 8:43 AM in Piping & Wiring Nightmare

All the money got allocated for the golden chandeliers, custom bookcases in the new library, new 500SL (his and hers of course) and the new kitchen with European design. Sorry, you got edged out.