Home Improvement Thread

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:17 pm

That's funny about the garage door shortage. I drive by a new development almost every day. They cleared the site over the summer, and three houses started going up. It always amazes me how quickly framers work, but they had the houses framed in 2-3 days, roofers did their thing, siding, and sheetrock. None of the three have garage doors - including the first house that was framed and roofed back in September.

Surely we still make garage doors in this country?

Postby **MrKennethTKangaroo** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:24 pm

@count2infinity

We need a new side door in our abode. The temperature near this door is usually 3 to 4 degrees colder than everywhere else in the house during the winter and 3 to 4 degrees hotter during the summer. I got a guy coming out for an estimate in the next few days. Got any pro tips on door purchases

Postby **mac5155** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:52 pm

That's funny about the garage door shortage. I drive by a new development almost every day. They cleared the site over the summer, and three houses started going up. It always amazes me how quickly framers work, but they had the houses framed in 2-3 days, roofers did their thing, siding, and sheetrock. None of the three have garage doors - including the first house that was framed and roofed back in September.

Surely we still make garage doors in this country?

Clopay garage doors are made in the USA

Postby **count2infinity** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:57 pm

count2infinity

We need a new side door in our abode. The temperature near this door is usually 3 to 4 degrees colder than everywhere else in the house during the winter and 3 to 4 degrees hotter during the summer. I got a guy coming out for an estimate in the next few days. Got any pro tips on door purchases

Nope... I clearly did it wrong.

As long as your rough opening is a standard size and you're just looking for a normal door, you should be fine with whatever they offer. Get a couple quotes though. Don't just go with the first guy.

Postby **skullman80** » Wed Feb 16, 2022 8:07 am

Furnace and A/C install day is today. Not sure why I am so stressed out about it. Having heat again after the last 36 hours or so will be nice though even if it's going to get up to 55 or so today.

Tired of running space heaters and having to sit in front of the fireplace in the basement where it's cold anyways haha.

Postby **skullman80** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:07 am

Furnace/AC install/duct cleaning went smoothly yesterday. Took them a full day ...as they were here from 9 to about 5:30. New furnace is whisper quiet...doesn't sound like a jet engine starting up and blasting air. The two stage variable speed motor is nice, air delivery is much more consistent around the house rather than some vents just getting all the air blasted.

It was actually fairly mild last night, but looking at the ecobee reports this morning everything looks good. Shall see how it goes when it gets colder this weekend again.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:11 am

IIRC, one thing to note about variable speed units is that the blower will actually run more than a conventional unit, since it can regulate itself better and doesn't need to waste energy on 100% fan speed constantly.

Postby **skullman80** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:14 am

IIRC, one thing to note about variable speed units is that the blower will actually run more than a conventional unit, since it can regulate itself better and doesn't need to waste energy on 100% fan speed constantly.

Yeah that makes sense. I haven't read all the ins and outs on it yet. I do know that our last furnace short cycled alot because of it being oversized...it just blasted air out at full force for like 6 or 7 minutes tops...then stopped. Rinse and repeat over and over.

I may need to go through the ecobee and tweak a few things, but waiting till it gets colder again. I know I had switched my temp diff to 1 degree from 0.5 to kick heat on when I first installed it, but can't remember what else I played with.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:18 am

Our unit is 11 years old, but it's still a 95% efficiency unit. Not a huge fan of the single speed blower, though. I imagine with yours, you might be able to disable the automatic fan recycle, where the fan comes on every so often for a set period of time to cycle air through the system while the heat/AC is off.

Postby **skullman80** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:23 am

Our unit is 11 years old, but it's still a 95% efficiency unit. Not a huge fan of the single speed blower, though. I imagine with yours, you might be able to disable the automatic fan recycle, where the fan comes on every so often for a set period of time to cycle air through the system while the heat/AC is off.

I'd have to go check the paperwork, but I believe this is the furnace we had installed...

https://www.lennox.com/products/heating ... ces/el296v

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:33 am

According to an online calculator, my 15 year savings would be around $1311 with a 97% efficiency unit, $1946 for a 97% unit, and $2568 for a 99% unit. I honestly expected that to be higher.

Postby **mac5155** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:47 am

What setting do you ecobee guys have your fans on? I have mine to run A LOT and I'm thinking it's maybe too much.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:53 am

What setting do you ecobee guys have your fans on? I have mine to run A LOT and I'm thinking it's maybe too much.

I have my fan set to run 10 minutes every hour to cycle the air through the house.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:54 am

And I will say that I think that doing so has helped me maintain a more consistent temperature throughout the house. That in combination with balancing the dampers on each duct run.

Postby **skullman80** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:03 am

Mine is set to 10 minutes/hr as well.

Postby **skullman80** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:05 am

Though I may put that to 0 now with the variable speed motor thing on the new furnace. I dunno.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:09 am

Though I may put that to 0 now with the variable speed motor thing on the new furnace. I dunno.

I would run your system as-is for the next 2-3 weeks, looking at your data at the end of each week. Then make the change and compare.

Also, beestat.io is your friend here.

Postby **mac5155** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:14 am

What setting do you ecobee guys have your fans on? I have mine to run A LOT and I'm thinking it's maybe too much.
I have my fan set to run 10 minutes every hour to cycle the air through the house.

This is "minimum fan runtime per hour in Auto Mode" right?

Mine was 55 lol woops

Postby **skullman80** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:16 am

What setting do you ecobee guys have your fans on? I have mine to run A LOT and I'm thinking it's maybe too much.
I have my fan set to run 10 minutes every hour to cycle the air through the house.
This is "minimum fan runtime per hour in Auto Mode" right?

Mine was 55 lol woops

Postby **mac5155** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:19 am

Haha my electric bill next month gonna be half of it.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:27 am

jesus mac

Postby **mac5155** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:38 am

I'm a doofus.

Postby **mac5155** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:38 am

It's been like that for probably a year. Hahaha

Postby **Shyster** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:51 pm

IIRC, one thing to note about variable speed units is that the blower will actually run more than a conventional unit, since it can regulate itself better and doesn't need to waste energy on 100% fan speed constantly.

Can confirm as well. The fan on my new variable speed furnace runs a lot more than the old unit, but at a lower rate. That was one of the first things I noticed: "Huh, this thing is running a lot more often." Based on my bills, however, it's definitely not using any more energy to do so.

Postby **mac5155** » Mon Feb 21, 2022 7:57 am

Anyone have one of those pavilion looking gazebos they sell at Costco and Sam's?

We've been thinking of pulling the trigger on one, but it's very windy at our house, and while I'm not as worried about anchoring to concrete I am concerned about the roof strength.