Another score for the "summer home"

[gansky1]

Awesome deal, Rick. I had a RuuD a/c in one of my townhouses. It looked identical to yours but was a little older. They made a terrible mess putting it in as the lines had to be run through the ceiling about 25 feet, but it worked perfectly and was very quiet.

I have a Carrier furnace and an ancient Bryant central a/c unit. The coil is newer (with the furnace) but that Bryant just keeps cooling like new. I had to spray-paint the top panel last spring as it was getting a bit rough but other than keeping the coils clean and oiling the fan motor, I've had no trouble with it. The HVAC guy across the street has forbidden it's replacement unless absolutely necessary. "You save no money replacing for 'more efficient' units." I think someone on the forum here said almost the same thing the other day. Dollars and cents, it all makes sense.

 

[goatfarmer]

Great deal, Rick. That "summer house" is really coming along.

 

[pturo]

My, your furnaces are so Ruud! Teach them some manners.

 

[rickr]

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Thanks for the comments everyone! I am VERY happy with finding this equiptment, and for such a reasonable price!

There is ductwork in place in the house, but only down the walls from the attic. This unit will go in the utility room, instead of the attic where the origial furnace was located years ago. This furnace will have to be "plumbed" and I may just have new ducts put into the ceilings instead of hooking into the originals that run down into the walls from the attic. I will wait and see what the installer thinks is best.

Here is a couple pixs of the utility room.

 

[rickr]

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Another angle of the same.

I will be looking for an older set of Maytags to put in here also. I will remove the cabinet next to the water heater, and the water heater may be relocated in the room to gain more space.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Rick:

Comfort levels will be much greater at a reduced utlity cost with warm air entering the residence near the floor. When set up this way, your return(s) will need to be high up on the wall(s) or in the ceiling at the hightest point in the residence. Good for heating and to facilitate cooling. If heat is to be delivered to each room via ceiling vents, then a return near the floor will be REQUIRED for comfort. The idea is to reduce stratification which means that warm air will naturally collect near the ceiling and cold air near the floor.
For greatest economy of installation I'm guessing warmed/cooled air will blow up via a new plenum and duct and be hooked into the existing ducts.

Gansky and others:
Efficiency of air conditioners measures the ability to cool (i.e. move heat "uphill" from less to more)with the least amount of power. (More BTUs per watt). However "inefficient" units tend to have smaller/ colder coils which dehumidify much better. In my area it's not the heat that is uncomfortable, it's the humidity.

So the total energy used used may not be (strictly) cooling directly but may be dehumdifying which helps one FEEL cooler, and yes even at higher temperatures. So, inefficienty furnaces/boilers waste a great deal of heat up the chimney.

Inneficient air-condtioners, however tend to dehumidfy which is NOT wasted energy. there is no need IMHO to toss an A/C just based on its "efficiency" (low EER).

 

[goatfarmer]

Rick, looks like you need a gas dryer, eh?

 

[rickr]

Hi Kenny, I have purchased a 200 amp service, so I was planning on an electric dryer.
Still don't know if I can use a set, or may have to go with a stacked set. Don't really want to have stackers, but may not have enough room. Have to wait and see what space the furnace takes up, ect. What do you have right now?

Hi Steve, there are existing vents half way up the walls in each room for the forced air. They ducts for those vents go all the way up to the attic. That is where the original furance was located. There are also small vents in each room at the baseboards, but these vents only vent from room to room, with no ductwork involved at all. In other words, the boaseboard vents are only "passways" from room to room. So the vents with ductwork are located halfway up the walls in each room. It was a very stupid way of installing vents, but thats the way this house was built. I think the house was built in the late 1930's early 1940's. Forced air heat still fairly new at that time. Most houses of this era still were using coal fired gravity heat. The original installer prolly did not know any better than to install the vents halfway up the walls. If there is room,I would like to install a humidifier on the furnace. Just have to wait and see.

 

[sudsmaster]

Toggs,

For heating, the best placement of both the warm air supply and the return(s) should be at floor level.

For cooling, the cool air supply should be high on walls or on ceiling, and the returns at ceiling level as well.

Or at least this is how it seems to me.

Placement of the air supply registers midway up the walls seems like a sort of compromise that will please nobody but might actually work out ok, but the return should be at floor level for heating and at ceiling level for cooling.

Or so it seems to me.

I remember living in a place where there was only heating (gas forced air) and the warm air supply was at ceiling level, and the return was near the floor. It wasn't particularly efficient but since the landlady paid the gas bill I didn't complain. She did, though, and I suggested maybe she could insulate the attic, which she never did.

Your mileage may vary.

Probably the most important thing in an older house is to make sure the ductwork is not leaky, and is insulated where it passes through non-conditioned spaces.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Yes, understood. For systems that *both* heat and cool:

In the north (heating seasong predomindates) the supply vents are to be low and returns high.

In the south (cooling season predominates) the vents are to be high and the returns low.

In those very very few places where one needs heating or cooling only (Alaska, south Florida, Puerto Rico) one can keep their vents and returns on the same level.

There are systems that have multiple retuns (i.e. one per room) both high and low. No manual intervention required.
Smaller homes may have one large low return and antoher high return. In these one retiurn grille may have a lever to open and close the shutters. So say the low return nearest the furnace would be closed in summer allowing the upper return to be the only one open (in summer).

My only original point ot Rick was that with the addtion of cooling the location of the returns may need to be reconfigured.

Clear as mud? *LOL*

 

[goatfarmer]

Nothing in a stack right now. I have a set of 80's Maytag's that I need to go through. Electric dryer, I know it needs a motor.

 

[animasinsulinpu]

Speaking of copper theft......

About 6 months ago a guy who cas suffering from Meth-rot. Well it had been raining and he decided to steal some copper from someone's air conditioner, well he did this BAREFOOT at night with the power still ON!!!! Needless to say, he WON"T be stealing copper anymore!!!!.....Bill in Az..... PS this happened here in Phoenix.