My Comfort Maker system is less than a year old but has an issue I need help diagnosing. When it was first installed, in the summer, it ran fine but within a month stopped cooling. I assumed there was a leak and was able to get the original installer (o.i.) to come back and check it. The o.i. said "There is no leak. The refrigerant lines are getting blocked and need to be vacuumed out and re-filled." Which he did on three occasions because every time within a few days it would stop transferring heat. Soon the o.i. was MIA. My home warranty sent me service company "A" who basically said, "I don't know what the problem is but it might be a leak in your traveling lines, which are not covered by the warranty. Goodbye." I brought in a highly recommended (and expensive) service company "B" who said, "The TXV needs to be replaced. It's failure is causing the refrigerant lines to get blocked. Also, the compressor is making a lot more noise than is normal and may need to be replaced. Also having an acid test done might be a good idea to see if there are further compressor related problems." Since the TXV and compressor was covered by my warranty, I asked my home warranty for a second opinion and they sent service company "C" who recognised the need for a new compressor and I suggested he replace the TXV. He made the repairs and it worked. It worked wonderfully for about 5 days until I switched the thermostat to "OFF" because I was going away for a day and didn't want to waste money on cooling an empty house. When I returned and switched it back to "COOL" the unit ran but after two hours without dropping the house a degree I checked the condensing unit and the pipe supplying the cold refrigerant was cool but not even cold enough produce condensate on a 90 degree humid day. I gave it 4 more hours without a difference before I turned it off to not ruin the compressor. I think that switching the T-stat "OFF" is a key part. After the original install I did turn the T-stat off at some point, and there after I noticed it was no longer cooling. Any suggestions on what the problems could be, and how I can best get it resolved? I've been dealing with this for a year, my warranty is up at the end of August.

"Bad" power factor does NOT increase the REAL actual power consumed, "REAL" or actual power is measured in kW, that's all you use and that's what you're charged for. If device(CFL) uses 80% of the power going into it, the power factor is 80%. Power factor is the Real Power divided by the Apparent Power. For example, 98 kW (Real Power) ÷ 100 kVA (Apparent Power) = 98%. Again, residential customers are charged only for the REAL Power actually used, not the Apparent Power sent, That's not our problem, it is for the utility, believe me if it was a significant amount we would be billed a fee for power factor. Factories are billed for power factor,power factor does require the utility to compensate a little bit, it's at a far, far lower level than would be the case if they had to make up the total difference between the actual power factor and a power factor of 1.We can and do ignore the power factor issues in residential, there would be no way to diagnose anything if no rules applied or reality unable to be qualified. To prove this point, I set up an experiment with CFLs vs. incandescent lights (resistive loads with a power factor of 1.0), and measured watts and volt-amperes delivered by my inverter. Then I measured the amps from my power source, a bank of L-16 batteries, which are DC sources wise to the tricks of reactive power....The low power factor did not require the batteries (or the utility) to produce any extra energy.

Hello, I finally proved to myself that something is definitely ajar when my system is purely on first stage heat. I took a clamp meter and measured the current drawn from the cables entering and leaving the heat kit terminal. The meter read 60.4 amps!This current draw is consistent with the blower and heat strips operating, in addition to whatever my heat pump is using. I am half relieved as I knew I wasn't crazy about my calculations and trying to self diagnose the issue. On the wiring diagram, there is a note mentioning that for a heat kit greater than 13kW the W1 and W2 cables be jumpered to provide maximum temperature boost. I have a feeling it could be this. @weedmeister: 3 -3.5 kW sounds about right. It depends on the environment temp, which affects COP of the pump. At most, a 2.5 ton unit should not draw more than 3.6kW. As for the possibility of my unit entering defrost mode for periods longer than a few minutes is unlikely at my current location's temperature and relative humidity. @fsq4cs:Yup, my 2nd gen meter was swapped out back in early September. I based my energy consumption by recording the LIV values at specific times. Honestly, I only caught onto this problem when I saw my meter jump by 50kWh in a single day when I normally used 17. I have a pretty good idea of approximately how much energy is used when I'm at home or when it's unoccupied. I've tried dissecting the DMW to figure out how the hvac equipment is requesting 19.596kW! I backwards calculated the power draw over the 20 minute heating cycle and surely, I got 6.5kWh which appeared as a delta 7 kWh on the smart meter.

I don't think it will make much difference because heat rises. So the upstairs will always be this way, the same thing happens in the summer... cool air falls and heat rises because you don't run the AC during this time the effect among thermostats is a much wider temperature range between the two floors. As far as how hard a system has to run, this really is more of a figure of speech. Probably as high as 98% of all air conditioners / heat pump combos they are single speed machines (residential market). Basically this means the machine is either on or off. If the system is on it produces the amount of cooling / heating it is designed for. This doesn't change given the load, because the machine is only capable to produce the number of BTU's it was designed for given the load. In winter you have to understand what a heat pump is doing... it is taking the warmth in the air outside and transferring it to the inside. What warmth? It's cold outside! Again these things are figures of speech. The problem is that when ambient temps approach 32 degrees outdoors the coils start to freeze up forcing the heat pump into defrost and cycling your resistance heat inside or whatever you have for emergency back up when the heat pump can't deliver. If the heat pump is in defrost, it is not transferring any heat during these times to the house. This is where you may get the notion that the heat pump is 'working hard'. But if the heat pump is on, the amount of work that is done is virtually the same. The difference is the load and conditions in which you are placing upon it to perform.