Air cooled,fan forced0 in the open, where with every good rain it gets washed. When it was at ground level it got dirty from the rain and sucked in leaves and grass. 9 inches above ground it is not attracting much if any dirt. Likely helps that the breeze blowing around the corner of the house blows anything out that gets in and doesn't wash out.
I don't think I mentioned it, but the system is a Trane Heat Pump. It is a
14 on the efficency number or whatever they call that number. The inside coils were clean, he did clean them while doing the outside cleaning. The filter is clean. He thought I had changed it before he arrrived. It was put in about the first of the month. I use the inexpensive ones and change them every 2 months. Even at that they don't look dirty. don't have any animals or children in the house.I don't recall the temperatures of the pipe comming off the high pressure side going to the evaporator but thought they did not feel hot compaired to the ones on other refrigeration units. He did hook up some thermocouples to the lines and said I had 18 deg of superheat and 10 deg of sub cool. I don't recall what that actually means from the very limiated exposuer I have had to the systems. He did put some theromomiters in the inlet and outlet and said that was ok, but don't recall what he said it was.
I am in the middle of NC and like you said on many days it is easy to tell if the unit is working by the ammount of water running out the drain.
Ok on the SEER. I could not recall if SEER or some other leters were the one for the cooling.
I am not sure what the coils have on them to help get rid of the heat. The condensing unit fan only runs at one speed as far as I know. The one on the air handler changes speeds. I don't think it is a true variable speed, but has several preset speeds.
I think the speeds of the fans are really just a way to go to a larger seer number. From what I read about 10 years ago when looking to put in a new heat pump it seemed that anything above a rating of 14 was really a waste of money. YOu may save a few dollars on power,but the price jump would take years to pay back.
I understand about controling the head pressure to some extent. The refregeration units at work had water cooled condensers and a valve on the water to help control the head pressure. I guess that it opened up more as the coils got dirty. Then the thing would shut down on high head pressure and the mechanic would have to clean out the heat exchanger. I had forgoten about that. As I said I know a little about the stuff, but not a whole lot and it has been way over 3 years ago that I last saw one.
So, you have a farm too, or you're just in the middle of farm country? Sounds nice to me.
go back and start at the beginning, Clare. That was my first solution to her disposal problem. Then, and only then, if that failed, set it out for garbage collection a day or two ahead and the pickup truck with the undocumented Democrats would grab it for her.
From what I read about 10 years ago when looking to put in a new
I went through that analysis about 4 years ago and came to the same conclusion for my AC. I got a 14 SEER too. It's not hot enough here in NJ, nor are our electric rates high enough to get a reasonable pay back. The only thing I might reconsider paying more for would be a two stage, so that it can run more on days where you just need it to take some humidity out. But even that isn't really an issue here. If I drop the temp 1 or
2 deg, it's enough to get the humidity down enough.
I sure hope that gives you years of good service. Perhaps you fixed what was wrong with it?
We have a wide range of housing, where I am. As it happens, I live in a trailer in a trailer park. Walking distance from me are apartments, and fourplex houses. And farther than that are stick built frame houses. About five miles away is a KOA full of campers.
But me, well, trailer with not enough insulation and too much clutter.
I sure hope so! :)
Doesn't it get pretty cold in the winter where you live? Maybe the clutter actually helps with the insulation factor? As least that's what I hope for us. Everyone else here is a clutter bug, except for myself, of course. (hahaha!!)
Glad to see someone in agreement that going above 14 seer at the time was going to take too long for the payback.
The two stage would be nice and as someone mentioned a 2 speed or variatable speed on the outside fan. I don't recall those being mentioned when the system was installed. As humid as it is around here, at 85 deg outside you sweat and hard to get cool. The air needs to run a lot to get rid of that humidity without cooling down too much. Then it may hit high 90's and we need more cooling than the smaller unit can provide. Whoever sized my unit (2.5 tons) seems to have it about right for around here. The thing runs a lot when it is over 95, but runs enough at 85 deg to knock much of the humidity out .
Wasn't clear that the price tag wasn't to try to sell it. A lot of people won't buy, and if it's worthless they won't pick it up, but if they can steal something of negligible value - that's a different story
[snip]
Which is EXACTLY why I put a nominal price on it ;)
If you put FREE on it, it likely will be ignored as people will suspect that it's DOA. Put a very reasonable price on it and they'll steal it.
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Yes, it can get down near zereo F (minus 17c) in the winter. Cold enough that I don't want to go out for any reason. Hope the clutter helps with the heat, but I kind of doubt it.
Dress warm all the time indoors and outdoors and only change clothes like you've entered a speed contest when the heat has been turned up enough so most body parts won't freeze in the interim. Right?
That's pretty much the way of it. I've found that a humidifier is a huge help in the winter. Takes about two gal of water a day. I do what I can to keep the house vapor tight, but obviously the humidity is going some where.
We run a humidifier in the winter, too, otherwise, it gets to dry.
and the cats don't like it when it's too dry (static shock when petting cat).
Forgot about static shock. I get zapped all the time like that when the humidity is low.
Put a pan of water or teakettle on the stove. Not exactly rocket science.
nb
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