Central air conditioning

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

OK not AC question... but kinda related. My wife has now turned on the home furnace recirculation fan. I think it's bringing in the hot hot outside air plus circulating inside and warming up the basement and soon the rest of the house. She thinks there's no outside air being added and helping to cool the house. Where does the truth lie?

I run my furnace fan 50 mins/hour. It doesn't have any noticeable affect on temp from outside the house. But it balances the temp inside.

The added air from outside is negligible.

[hesh329]

Not Central Air Related but i have a portable air conditioner that is not blowing cold air anywhere. Just wondering if anyone knows a place that repairs portable air conditioners?

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by hesh329

Not Central Air Related but i have a portable air conditioner that is not blowing cold air anywhere. Just wondering if anyone knows a place that repairs portable air conditioners?

Have you blown out the filter with compressed air? Also, do you have to drain the water out of them?

[timun]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

OK not AC question... but kinda related. My wife has now turned on the home furnace recirculation fan. I think it's bringing in the hot hot outside air plus circulating inside and warming up the basement and soon the rest of the house. She thinks there's no outside air being added and helping to cool the house. Where does the truth lie?

The truth depends on whether your furnace has an outdoor air intake or not. This branch ties into the return side of the ductwork, and mixes into the return before the furnace reheats the mixed air. Many houses do not have an outdoor air intake, and if yours doesn't this whole conversation is moot.

If your house does have an outdoor air intake, the proportion of outdoor to return air is very small, usually 10% or so. Often even less, depending on how crappy your duct installation is.

Hypothetically then you're bringing in outdoor air in every time you run the furnace fan, but you're also doing so every time you run your bathroom fan, or every time your water heater fires up (if you don't have a more modern direct-vented heater). The proportion is pretty small.

What you're really accomplishing running the furnace fan is mixing cold return air from your basement with warmer air in the upstairs, and redistributing the tempered mix of air back throughout the house. This will gradually warm the basement up and cool the upstairs down, but if your basement is losing heat quickly enough (i.e. if it's unfinished/uninsulated/poorly insulated) you may not notice much heat gain in the basement. In which case, so much the better for you.


Note that you do not want to block any outdoor air intakes. If you have older conventional gas-fired appliances you should have a combustion air intake that quite deliberately lets outdoor air into the house for your furnace/water heater to burn; DO NOT BLOCK A COMBUSTION AIR INTAKE, it could #### up the venting of your gas-fired appliances and result in flue products not being expelled properly out the flue.

[hesh329]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Have you blown out the filter with compressed air? Also, do you have to drain the water out of them?

Yeah tried that, did not work then took it apart and vacuumed the whole thing out. Should be no water I pulled it out of storage and from last year and it just wasn't cooling. Compressor turns on just not cooling. Any other suggestions are always appreciated.

[Jacks]

Went out for a few hours and thought I'd turn down the AC to 27 while I was gone, big mistake. An hour later after I got back and it's only managed to get to 26.5.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by timun

The truth depends on whether your furnace has an outdoor air intake or not. This branch ties into the return side of the ductwork, and mixes into the return before the furnace reheats the mixed air. Many houses do not have an outdoor air intake, and if yours doesn't this whole conversation is moot.

If your house does have an outdoor air intake, the proportion of outdoor to return air is very small, usually 10% or so. Often even less, depending on how crappy your duct installation is.

Hypothetically then you're bringing in outdoor air in every time you run the furnace fan, but you're also doing so every time you run your bathroom fan, or every time your water heater fires up (if you don't have a more modern direct-vented heater). The proportion is pretty small.

What you're really accomplishing running the furnace fan is mixing cold return air from your basement with warmer air in the upstairs, and redistributing the tempered mix of air back throughout the house. This will gradually warm the basement up and cool the upstairs down, but if your basement is losing heat quickly enough (i.e. if it's unfinished/uninsulated/poorly insulated) you may not notice much heat gain in the basement. In which case, so much the better for you.


Note that you do not want to block any outdoor air intakes. If you have older conventional gas-fired appliances you should have a combustion air intake that quite deliberately lets outdoor air into the house for your furnace/water heater to burn; DO NOT BLOCK A COMBUSTION AIR INTAKE, it could #### up the venting of your gas-fired appliances and result in flue products not being expelled properly out the flue.

Yep it seemed to somewhat redistribute the heat but since eupstairs was so hot and still had the sun it just got hotter as expected. The basement temp went from a pleasant ~70F up to about 78 which is more than I wanted. Oh well. And the temps Are in F because my office heater fan constantly displays in F... by WRGMG is that although I can reset that to C, if the unit gets knocked off its foot (or moved) it totally resets to F and warming to 85F.

[EVERLAST]

Originally Posted by Brendone

They’re recommending Napoleon and Goodman since they’re “Canadian” and units / parts are more readily available. The reviews seem good, and they all have 10yr warranty

Junk equipment
They are relatively new kids on the block still and to draw attention they are trying to out do other manufacturers with PROMISING claims , prices , warranties.

The problem is the incompetence of these installers and the companies doing g this work.
There is NO quality control. No enforcement of warranty entitlement for thr consumer/ homeowners.

I'm on the phone weekly representing clients and asking simple questions about the poor quality, service and knowledge of these technicians installing the equipment.

30 years in the industry and this last 5 years has been abysmal.

My installer has just won top dealer in Canada besting out 75 other company across the country.....so I'm not blowing smoke here.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Jacks

Went out for a few hours and thought I'd turn down the AC to 27 while I was gone, big mistake. An hour later after I got back and it's only managed to get to 26.5.

Almost seems like the deep temperature cycling is harder on the AC than just letting it maintain the temperature. Not sure how that looks like for electricity usage tho.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Almost seems like the deep temperature cycling is harder on the AC than just letting it maintain the temperature.

I think so, it's at 26 now, when it gets to 25 I'll let it sit there and rest for an hour.

[calgarygeologist]

I spent 90 minutes tonight taping up some of the ductwork at my furnace today. There were some significantly noticable leaks especially around where the humidifier feeds into the air supply. It was so poorly sealed that there was a breeze blowing on me from the gaps. I ran out of tape and didn't get everything done but hopefully this significantly improved air delivery to the upstairs of our house.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Barnes

They are now. When my main floor thermostat reaches below the setpoint and upstairs is still above it, the furnace kicks in and the upstairs ducts close.

Some are now is probably more accurate. It clearly must be an upgrade in virtually all new construction.
We were looking at building last year. Adding a zone to each of the two furnaces was 12k in upgrade.

[Brendone]

Originally Posted by EVERLAST

Junk equipment
They are relatively new kids on the block still and to draw attention they are trying to out do other manufacturers with PROMISING claims , prices , warranties.

Well then… #####. Thanks for the warning

[EVERLAST]

Originally Posted by Brendone

Well then… #####. Thanks for the warning

Make sure they follow through with promises regarding warranty. Don’t however pay extra for yearly services at $100+ for a guy to walk in with a clipboard and no tools and demand payment 10 minutes later.

Then u will be pished

[Wormius]

I have heard that heat pumps would be eligible for government rebates. Are they good for Alberta summer/winter conditions?

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I have heard that heat pumps would be eligible for government rebates. Are they good for Alberta summer/winter conditions?

Not really. Too cold here in the winter.

You pretty much need to go ground source heat pump (geothermal) which is $$.

Edited to add: geothermal is cheaper in the country, as you can put the underground portion in a trench. In the city you don't have enough room in your yard between the other utilities for a trench, so you have to drill a well.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I spent 90 minutes tonight taping up some of the ductwork at my furnace today. There were some significantly noticable leaks especially around where the humidifier feeds into the air supply. It was so poorly sealed that there was a breeze blowing on me from the gaps. I ran out of tape and didn't get everything done but hopefully this significantly improved air delivery to the upstairs of our house.

I taped everything up except the humidifier. Do you have a pic to show how you did yours??

[CroFlames]

I just wish businesses and offices didn't blast their AC on hot days like this.

I hate going from 35+ degrees outside to 18 degrees in a store or office. Like, can't we be reasonable and have it around 22-23 indoors so it's not such a shock to the body?

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I just wish businesses and offices didn't blast their AC on hot days like this.

I hate going from 35+ degrees outside to 18 degrees in a store or office. Like, can't we be reasonable and have it around 22-23 indoors so it's not such a shock to the body?

I’ve always found the AC in hot destinations in the US really suffer from the “shock” effect of stepping into a building. Like you’re outside sweating, so you step into the building already wet, within two minutes I find myself shivering and wishing for a sweater.

I’ve stayed in hotels where the ambient temp in the building really negates the need to even use the AC in your room, yet every time house keeping steps in they leave it blasting again.

[Regulator75]

My townhouse doesnt allow central air, so I have been using the stand alone portable units for a few years now.

I'd like someone to run the exhaust pipes (similar to the dryer) through the wall and up into the Attic.

My bedroom window is vertical outwards casement style and I only have one that opens, every time I want fresh air I need to completely remove my setup.

Anyone had experience with this or know of someone / company that could do this for me?