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Heating & Air Conditioning

Trane variable speed air handler setting

13 years ago

Hello!

I just had my unit installed last saturday XR15 Trane 3.5ton HP A/H-4TEE3C07,COND-4TWR5042E, stat Honeywell Vision Pro 8000 w/ humidity control. Everything went well i believed. Air handler was so quiet i actually had to put my ear beside the unit just to hear it running. Sunday around noon i checked the air handler unit and it's making like a swishing,air blowing noise from where the copper tubing is connected to the air handler. So Monday i called the company to request to speak or have the installer call me to ask him about the noise if it's normal. I was told that there's no way that they could get in touch with the guy and instead they will send a tech to check it out. Tech came by Tuesday and said that the noise is normal but found out that the air handler is running on low speed so he changed the setting to "normal".(There was actually condensation inside the handler when he opened it, is this normal?, and did not know why the installer set it on low speed when i asked him.) With the change, the air handler noise was louder and the return inside the house was louder than before when i still have the old unit. And of course the tech said that this is normal. Just took his word for it thinking that im just gonna post the issue here and hopefully get some advice/comments. And today, the sales guy came by to give me a copy of my manual j, so i had him checked it out. Long story short, he said that the tech should have just left it at low speed coz the return was really loud and will send back the tech who did the installation to adjust it back to low speed. I asked him to send their most senior/knowledgable tech and told me that the one who installed my unit was their most senior. I am so confused right now, dont know who to believe, me and my $5500 unit are at their mercy. Pleease, any advice /comments will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

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Comments (6)

ryanhughes
13 years ago
That air handler should not be set on "normal" which is likely "high," because that would be the equivalent of airflow for a 5 ton unit. You want the unit set so that the airflow matches the requirement for a 3.5 ton unit. Too high or too low airflow will throw off the refrigerant charge. Probably too high at it's current setting, or your ductwork is poor. Should be looking at 1400 cfm for a 3.5 ton unit. Sounds like the installers are right over the tech on this one (since they even adjusted the airflow to begin with -- many do not).
mr_bean
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for your quick reply ryan but how would i know that they will set it for 1400cfm and is the condensation inside the air handler normal?
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tigerdunes
13 years ago
bean

I assume you are speaking about dip switch settings. charts are usually found on the air handler inside door to controls. low would be 350 CFMs/ton, medium 400 CFMs/ton, high 450 CFMs/ton. you will get the better dehumidification with the lower setting. and as I recall, you have the HW VP IAQ stat. Comfort R should be off if you are using the IAQ's "DOD" feature.

noise is usually associated with undersized ductwork, not new HVAC.

IMO
ryanhughes
13 years ago
I'm not too familiar with this new air handler from Trane. I believe they did away with dipswitches and went to an LCD-type control on the board. So there are settings to scroll through. Not sure if they left the installation instructions, so might have to rely on a competent tech. Condensation is normal -- too much could indicate airflow too low, or just very humid weather -- hard to judge from here whether it was a normal amount given the conditions. As TD said above, the noise is either from undersized ductwork, improper air handler speed settings, or both. If it's that noisy, the company should come back out. If they changed the airflow, they should have checked the refrigerant charge. What does the ticket say?
mr_bean
Original Author
13 years ago
tigerdunes
I have the Honeywell Vision Pro 8000 w/ humidity control stat. I am having my home energy audit w/c includes the duct testing right now, perhaps they could tell me if i have an undersized ductwork.

ryan
im sorry but what do u mean by ticket? and yes, i see an lcd control on the upper part of the handler.
ryanhughes
13 years ago
By ticket I mean the service ticket (or the copy you were left with). Since it was just installed they may not have written one up, but ideally they should have to record what was done.

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