HVAC: Blower only runs on "Heat" mode, not "On" or "Circulate".
Darin Gilchrist
5 years ago
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Austin Air Companie
5 years agomike_home
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Heat Pump running continually vs. using the back up heat
Comments (23)A test like that is not accurate unless the parameters are tightly controlled and all contributing factors noted. The meter reading includes all household electric use, not just the heat pump. Cooking? Bathing? Dishwashing? Laundry? Sunshine vs. overcast? Wet vs. dry weather (affects heat pump defrost frequency)? Did the 3°F recovery involve use of auxiliary heat strips? 2°F and 3°F setback is very minimal. More savings is potentially garnered with larger setbacks. I'm in TX. We had a rare snowfall during a wet norther on Dec 4. After that Dec 4 weather incident, I didn't run the central heating (heat pump) for several weeks. Instead, I used a space heater only in the bedroom at night. I noted that even with occasional nighttime temps into the upper 30°Fs, the unheated rooms in my house rarely dropped below 60°F. So ... if I had been running the heat pump at 70°F normal with a 2°F setback (68°F), it still would run to maintain 68°F during the setback periods ... but an 8°F to 10°F setback (setpoint of 62°F or 60°F), it would run very little during the setback periods, if at all. That'd make a difference on KWH usage in regards to setback vs. none....See MoreAC and Blower Dead! Heat Pump or new AC?
Comments (0)Our 11 Yr old 3.5 ton RUUD Silouhette II AC for the upstairs (2000 sq. ft.) stopped cooling Monday and DH discovered that the evaporator coils were coated in ice. Shut off AC and fan which is always ON was used to thaw out. But although the drip line was clear (DH opens the evap. cabinet and pours bleach/water mix down the line to condensate pump every 3 months and had installed new condensate pump last year) it turned out that the horizontal cold air return cabinet had 10 inches of stagnant rusty water sitting under the air handler. The blower motor had died of rust! We've never had a service contract on our HVAC but have had whoever was available check freon every other year. Last check was in June by Service Magic and he only suggested cleaning the outdoor units which we did following instructions in a Family Handyman article. But DH admits that though he vacuumed the evap coils he never looked into the furnace blower cabinet below the burner in 11 years so we've likely had that water sitting there for 7 years. 7 years ago we noticed dripping and repairman said he had to correct the "tilt" of the evaporator coil to have water drain to the drain line. Apparently either that didn't work or he cracked the drip pan. The coils are very much tilted toward the drain, but the original installer who came out yesterday says that the drip pan was cracked allowing the unseen drip onto the blower and into the rusty lake below. He's saying that the cracked drip pan and coils are no longer available and therefore we have to change to new coil, matching condensor, and put in new blower for airhandler so we probably should go with new efficient units especially as DH and 2 of the kids have asthma so we run fans on always thru the HP electric air cleaners. Strangely even though they are Rheem/Ruud Top Contractors, they spec'd all Lennox equipment. DH told them he didn't want Lennox but that was the only type the fellow would quote, saying call the office for Rheen/Ruud pricing. Rheem is higher quality right??? He's quoted 3.5 ton 2 Stage 14SEER Lennox AC and 90,000 BTU 80AFUE variable speed Lennox Air Handler Furnace for $6820 w/ Honeywell 2 Stage Thermostat. This is Princeton, NJ does that seem right for Lennox??? House is 4400sqft. with underconstruction basement adding another 1800sqft. We had assumed larger first floor unit was sized for a finished basement but having read many pages of this forum we are now no longer certain???? Existing contractor grade Ruuds are 82% AFUE original equipment for home built in 1997. We pay $0.20KWh from Jersey CPL. (Princeton). We have Home Depot (Trane) and 2 other Trane contractors coming today to get competitive bids. We can't find a Ruud contractor who will show up in less than 2 weeks so will have American Standard bids also if possible. I see they are Trane equivalents. The original installer said no to our request to have a 90% AFUE quoted. He says that the chimney flue would have to be changed, PVC exhaust run to side of house, condesate drip to sump run, gas water heaters replaced because exhaust vents would no longer work. Is that all true???? We have a 3 year old and intend to see him through high school so at least till then or death of DH (go go arsenic!), we'll be here. So really thought we should step up to 90%AFUE. Absent that should we think heat pump? We used 2800KWH and electric bill avg. $600 during summer months at $0.20/KWH. It appears to be flat rate on current bill but I thought it ramped up to 0.34/KWH before. So is central NJ too cold for a heat pump to be effective???...See MoreRunning hvac on generator
Comments (21)after seeing weed's post I looked around and it does seem to be around 800. Obviously they will all be different depending on size and model. I can find out for sure I bet if I go read the panel inside my furnace where it probably says...I have a 4-ton a/c so I guess my blower is on the bigger usage side. The problem is accounting for starting watts which can be around 2000w. The blower will be turning on and off and we won't be able to control when that is happening, so we'd have to account for the whole starting wattage the entire time it's hooked up. That's how it seems to me anyway. That would really cut into what else could be run off a generator in the 3500-5500 which is what I was looking at for a portable. For my purposes I will stick with space heaters and fireplace. I can more easily control the space heater even though it is high watt usage. I can simply shut off some other things until we get more comfortable. I'm not expecting total comfort, just to not be an icicle. Those of us with newer units also need to be more careful what we hook up to them. Thanks for all the input. I hope others find it useful....See MoreYork Furnace - blower motor only sometimes turning on
Comments (6)because fan runs in fan on(according to him) . ran just fine in a/c according to him the only common thing that doesn't run is low speed fan for heat. low speed fan is turned on by different relay on control board than high speed fan (which works according to poster). can't be cap because cap doesn't work sometimes and not others. can be low on capacitance and overheating motor but it still would not run ok some of the time as stated. best i could do with info given....See MoreDarin Gilchrist
5 years agoAustin Air Companie
5 years agoDarin Gilchrist
5 years agomike_home
5 years agoMck Services
3 years agoAdam Midyette
3 years ago
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