Are you saying the refrigerant, which is in a sealed system, affects the air that goes through the air handler?
Does that mean the people in the house breathe different air depending on what refrigerant is used in the AC?
As is usually the case, I forget to check if anyone else has answered before I do. Sometimes I just end up saying the same thing others have, and other times, the discussion has moved on and I should reply to the last answer instead of 3 posts up.
It's time for the OP to answer some of the questions below, but in this case, the answers are not obvious and she probably doesn't know them and has to call someone. It's also likely like most new posters that she'll never be back, not even to say thanks.
It can affect the temperature of the air and capacity of the unit so yes, it can have an effect.
There will be differences in tubing size, fin size, fin spacing, materials. The old one may have some contamination too.
Short answer, using an old coil with an ew system is dumb.
Trader's explanation at the bottom makes sense. I can see it either way. , but if he's right, then it doesn't matter at all if the old air handler is in the attic except it takes up a little space. A lot of attics don't get used at all except for the AC, so losing a little space doesn't matter.
Long ago I needed a new muffler and I took it to a gas station only 4 blocks from my house. Since I don't have a wife with a car, the chief thing I look for is someone close. He called me at work and listed the parts he was replacing. I approved it and when I got there after work I somehow figured out he had not replaced, and he had not reused, the resonator. Now I had no resonator. He said that didn't matter. I figure if Buick went to the trouble to put it in, it matters.
He looked in his trash and it was gone already. So I lived with it. It wan't much louder but he should have pointed out what he wasn't going to do. That was more important than what he was going to do, because we'd agreed on that already. (So I applaud the contractor in the OP who did say what he didnt' do.) Anyhow it's stories like this that made me think "the new system was installed" is sometimes an exaggeration (but here it still might not have been).
Months later he made some other mistake, and I was really getting suspicious.
A year later I asked him to align my wheels and he didn't know how to attach the device to my alloy rims, which were stock, the car was 10 years old and loads of cars had rims like mine by then. He had to call someone on the phone to find out how to do it. (Attach wheel weights first.)
3 strikes and you're out, even though I would have to go much farther away.Then they tore down the whole garage and put up a convenience store. I wonder if he'd lost other customers in addition to me. Kept the gas pumps.
I see that you have more or less retracted all of the points/questions in this response. Indirect apology accepted.
(I can still respond to your individual points and questions if you'd like)
However, I am still curious about this statement:
"By box I meant the sheet metal box they always use. Not a wood box."
How does a "wood box" even enter into this discussion? Why did you mention that?
R410 uses a different oil and if they can't purge all of the old oil out of the system it will contaminate the new oil. You still have the problem that a mismatched A/H will not make the SEER of a new system and your energy code may require a minimum SEER. It will be up to your AHJ if they think a condenser replacement is simply a "repair" or whether they will require you to come up to the current energy code..
Huh? I didn't retract anything. I don't kow where you got the idea.
That was for the OP. I don't how she wold have interpreted my first use of box. I myself don't think of sheet metal when I first think of a box. I think of cardboard or wood. Even thoguh a metal box is every bit as much a box. I didn't want her looking around for a wooden box, because I said there was a box.
Oh Ok, then I guess I'll address/ask about some of things you said in response to my post. To keep it simple (I hope) I'll just pull out the comments here instead of going back and squeezing my questions in. It's getting a little messy up there. I hope that's Ok with you.
You: "The new AC was chosen for the same house and was similar in size to the original AC."
Me: How do you know it was similar in size? Have you been speaking to Rachel on the side? What in her short post led you to that firm conclusion? You didn't "I assume it was" or "I'm guessing it was", you said it "was".
It's possible that the reason it was replaced is because it was the wrong size. Too big can be as bad as too small. We don't know why the system* had to be replaced, but there was certainly nothing in the OP that indicates the new system* was similar in size, yet you say that it "was". How do you *know* that.
You: "And it was the AC contractor which decided to continue using the old AH, not the customer."
Me: Why do you think the old AH is still in use? I don't think anyone else in this thread does. Rachel said the new system* was installed and the old AH was "left in the attic". She didn't say it was still being used. Granted, she didn't say it wasn't, but I sure don't think it is.
*System: a set of things working together as parts of a mechanismI (and I think everyone else) read "new system" to include a new air handler.
You "You have no evidence the regular warranty wasn't given. Rachel said nothing about that, and she would have if it had happened."
Me: I was simply giving an example of a reason why a new AH would be installed as part of the system. You had said "I wouldn't want them to change the handler...why go looking for trouble". Perhaps I should have used quotation marks to indicate that I was merely giving an example of how a contractor might respond to your request. "I only install match sets. The manufacturer will not cover warranty service if I don't install a complete system. Your choice: Complete system, full warranty or partial system, no warranty." In fact, it would surprise me if the contractor *didn't* say that.
As a slight aside, it is interesting that you used the words "Rachel said nothing about that and she would have if it had happened."
First, she also said nothing about "similar size" yet you claim to know that it "was".
Second, how do you know what Rachel would have said had the warranty been an issue? I'll ask again, have you been talking to her on the side? Have you been channeling Rachel? Are you Rachel?
I see, so you were responding to me and decided to slip in a comment directed at Rachel. Perhaps that would have been better done in a follow-up to the post that you felt might be confusing. It sure seemed, based on the annotations, that you were responding to me. I hope Rachel caught that single line and realized that it was for her.
Most often it is, but it is replaceable
Fo you have an snswer for removing the ait handler that was installed before the roof sheathing was installed? and before the drywall was installed on the ceilings, and is wider than the 16 or 24 inches between the trusses? There are retrofits made for a lot of air handler systems to take modern parts - just like there are retrofits to put breakers into a legacy fuse panel to avoid having to remove the old steel box, involving re-routing all the wires and conduits - whatever is used. (At least there were less than 10 years ago - I'm not going to do your homework finding the exact parts you need for this theoretical job)
Will the resulting job be 100% of what a brand new state of the art engineered system would be in a new house? Not too bloody likely - but it will be a LOT better than what was there was when it was new - and DEFINITELY better than the worn out system coming out. The difference in efficiency would take twice it's lifetime or more to cover the extra expense of dissassembling the roof to change it.
Part of the reason I'm glad I fon't live in a swamp like FloriDuh or Georgia where a basement is called an indoor swimming pool - here all the HVAC crap goes in the basement where servicing and replacing it is dead-nuts simple
Maybe both???
That's an option if putting the new one somewhere else is easy - or if moving it is not a problem but removing it is.
I was going on the assumption that the OP was re-using the air handler because replacing it involved roof modifications because the old one HAD to come out in order to install the new one. (not a bad assumption from some of the installs I've seen in slab-built houses with the HVAC in the attic!!!)
But nobody said they re-used the old coil, did they???
Plus, sooner or later a coil will leak (sooner with higher pressure refrigerants) and inside an airhandler they are hard to impossible to fix. An old coil is the last thing I'd want.
But my old one came out through the attic hatch and the new one went in the same way, albeit with some cussing and sweating.
Awkward permit questions did not arise. I used a reputable contractor - and I looked it up and like for like heat pump replacement was exempt in my locality.
That's silly. The unit fits in what is like a large closet and easily accessed for normal service. Maybe every 20 or 30 years you need more work. Proper design makes it easy.
Ass U me often is wrong Lack of facts
But you got to make a comment. So worth it
"proper design" would preclude a situation where removing the air handler had any level of difficulty
Let's here from the OP for the FACTS - otherwise YOU are ASS UI Me ing too.
What does that have to do with basements in Florida? Many houses around the country are built with air handlers remote. So are millions of apartments and condos. Some even have basements. Off the top of my head, I knows of a half dozen friends and family like that, with basements.
Oh, I get it, just a dig to Florida.
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