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NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Sat Oct 02, 2021 2:41 pm

You'd think that somebody would make a 3/8" to 1/4" OD adapter for Pex - like SharkBite - but nope. Spent probably 30 minutes at Lowe's looking for one. Ended up getting a 1/2" to 1/4" adapter for this humidifier. It'll work, but given that 3/8 pex is damn common in residential plumbing, it makes no sense.

Grabbed the rest of the parts that I needed (the last of the 6" elbows and solid ductwork - none of that flex ****), and am undecided on whether or not I'll just do the install myself. If my BIL can get over here in the next two weeks, great. If not, I'll just do it myself.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Wed Oct 06, 2021 6:22 am

Got the humidifier installed last night. I have a new found respect for anyone using tin snips on a daily basis - my forearm was on fire after cutting out the box in the plenum. I was 99% of the way done, and went to complete the water connection at my manabloc only to find that I don't actually have any available 1/2" ports on the hot side. So I had to order 3/8" parts, and will have to go from 3/8 up to 1/2", and finally down to the 1/4" OD connection for the polyethylene tubing. So stupid that nobody makes that adapter.

Anyway, here are some pics.

Image

Image

Kane
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Postby Kane » Wed Oct 06, 2021 7:11 am

Noodle arms.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Thu Oct 07, 2021 5:49 pm

Finished the plumbing on my humidifier. 3/8” pex to 1/2” pex to 1/4” polyethylene for the water supply. Whatever, clean install and it works.

Image

All hail SharkBite.

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Thu Oct 07, 2021 9:34 pm

Whoever invented them things has to be loooooaddded

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Fri Oct 08, 2021 7:05 am

John Guest paved the way there. Both are staples in the industry now.

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Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Sat Oct 09, 2021 9:54 am

Our local Lowe's recently added pickup lockers, which is really convenient. Order a few items, go to the store when the order is picked, scan a barcode, and the locker door pops open, grab your **** and leave. Obviously, not helpful with a huge order of bulky items, but I managed to get the weed and feed and a couple of smaller items in one locker.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Sat Oct 09, 2021 9:58 am

Our local Lowe's recently added pickup lockers, which is really convenient. Order a few items, go to the store when the order is picked, scan a barcode, and the locker door pops open, grab your **** and leave. Obviously, not helpful with a huge order of bulky items, but I managed to get the weed and feed and a couple of smaller items in one locker.
Yep, I love using them. Ours also recently added self-checkout lanes. HD has had them for as long as I can remember.

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Postby Tomas » Sat Oct 16, 2021 10:42 pm

We recently bought a house - my first house ever multi-story house. One of those giant-ceiling living rooms, quite a lot of open space upstairs (so I got all the high ceiling old-style registers replaced with 220V style single deflection adjustable face bar registers - allegedly they allow air to have better “ throw” to the floor).

Two HVAC units - one controlling upstairs, the other downstairs. We finally started heating a few days ago. Now - I perfectly understand WHY it gets warmer upstairs. What I am trying to do is to learn some proven solution(s) that would lead to upstairs unit kick-in during the night to put some heat in upstairs bedrooms (which have doors closed during the night - and so the bedrooms do not get the warm air that is the the upstairs hallway).

From everything that I have read, it seems that setting a temperature differential for the two units could do the trick (colder downstairs, warmer upstairs). So, I have two questions:

A) If you use the similar temperature differential method - how big of a difference (I read 2,4, even 5-6 degrees)?
B) Would you simultaneously let the ceiling fan in the "giant ceiling" living room run through the night (to mix the air)?

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Postby meow » Sun Oct 17, 2021 5:58 am

Yes. We are in the exact same situation. The upstairs unit is set 3 degrees cooler than the down stairs. We leave a ceiling fan running backwards on low almost constantly to help turn the air. It takes some playing, but you’ll figure out what works.

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Postby Tomas » Sun Oct 17, 2021 6:31 pm

Yes. We are in the exact same situation. The upstairs unit is set 3 degrees cooler than the down stairs. We leave a ceiling fan running backwards on low almost constantly to help turn the air. It takes some playing, but you’ll figure out what works.
Upstairs unit is set COOLER? With warm air going upstairs - does your upstairs unit ever kick-in?

[My goal was to set upstairs temp slightly warmer than the house average I want to achieve - so that both units do their job throughout the night - and then let the ceiling fan mix the air...]

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Postby shafnutz05 » Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:34 pm

Yes. We are in the exact same situation. The upstairs unit is set 3 degrees cooler than the down stairs. We leave a ceiling fan running backwards on low almost constantly to help turn the air. It takes some playing, but you’ll figure out what works.
Upstairs unit is set COOLER? With warm air going upstairs - does your upstairs unit ever kick-in?

[My goal was to set upstairs temp slightly warmer than the house average I want to achieve - so that both units do their job throughout the night - and then let the ceiling fan mix the air...]
I thought that during the winter, my upstairs would be warmer because of the warm air rising thing. Nope. Our basement is the warmest floor of our house, I am assuming due to lack of windows and natural insulation from the ground. We also have four or five vents in the finished portion of the basement.

The second floor is the coldest all winter. We don't have zones.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:40 pm

It helps that your basement is surrounded by warmer temperatures to begin with.

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Postby dodint » Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:44 pm

Closer to hell?

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Postby robbiestoupe » Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:44 pm

Yes. We are in the exact same situation. The upstairs unit is set 3 degrees cooler than the down stairs. We leave a ceiling fan running backwards on low almost constantly to help turn the air. It takes some playing, but you’ll figure out what works.
Upstairs unit is set COOLER? With warm air going upstairs - does your upstairs unit ever kick-in?

[My goal was to set upstairs temp slightly warmer than the house average I want to achieve - so that both units do their job throughout the night - and then let the ceiling fan mix the air...]
I thought that during the winter, my upstairs would be warmer because of the warm air rising thing. Nope. Our basement is the warmest floor of our house, I am assuming due to lack of windows and natural insulation from the ground. We also have four or five vents in the finished portion of the basement.

The second floor is the coldest all winter. We don't have zones.
This is pretty much our situation as well. You're pretty much spot on with the basement assumption. Same thing is most likely applying to your second floor. Lack of, or poor insulation. Pretty sure our insulation needs an upgrade to help remedy our situation. I also think that having vaulted ceilings makes it worse. There isn't as much of an air barrier between the ceiling and the roof, meaning more heat loss. Our bedroom is much colder than the kids' rooms, and they do not have the vaulted ceilings

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Postby Tomas » Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:02 pm

I am going to dip into the collective wisdom of 5AF again, because I know nothing about HVAC. Here is my most recent issue:

Every time the downstairs unit kick in (heating cycle), I hear a squeaking/scratching wheel-like noise for something like 30+ initial seconds. The noise always goes away after those 30+ seconds, and does not come back for the rest of the cycle. But, when the new cycle starts, again the same squeaking noise.

[BTW I think the noise comes from indoors, not the outdoor "propeller."]

Before I talk to HVAC specialist, I'd like to determine what I am facing (i.e. is it repairable? should I replace the unit? etc.)

I know that both units are quite old, so replacement is inevitable eventually. But, since the previous owner replaced coils about 2 years ago, I was hoping to get a few more years out of that system (especially since the HVAC company confirmed the whole system - both units - is still in a pretty decent shape).

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:19 pm

Go to your furnace and remove the front panel, displaying the burner tubes and fan. Hold down the safety switch and turn on your heat. See if that squeak is coming from the blower fan itself - should be easy to tell. When mine went, it started like that for a day, and then it turned into a jet engine.

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:27 pm

Yeah, sounds like a blower issue to me. Nearly lost my furnace when water backed up into the impeller. This burned out the motor bearings. Heard the same thing you did, Tomas.

Mine was repairable, but it was 4 figures. It'll give me another 5 years or so, so just delaying the inevitable.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:27 pm

If mine ever went again, I would just replace it myself. A few bolts and wires, and I could have it done in half an hour. I think it was a sub-$300 part, too.

DigitalGypsy66
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Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:47 pm

Furnace in Arkansas? Hmm.

My old Goodman heat pump sounded like that when it cranked up running heat. Just poor engineering.

Tomas
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Postby Tomas » Mon Oct 18, 2021 8:35 pm

Furnace in Arkansas? Hmm.

My old Goodman heat pump sounded like that when it cranked up running heat. Just poor engineering.
Northwest Arkansas = Midwest weather, frequently freezing in the fall/winter. My personal all-time snowfall high was over 2 feet (and 100 yard long driveway :) ).

My previous house had a heat pump, but I don't think it ran very efficiently in the winter. The new house has "normal" heating units....

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Postby robbiestoupe » Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:00 pm

Dryer question: Does anybody else have issues with the sensor on their clothes dryer where it shuts off way too early and clothes are left damp? We bought a new Maytag back in May and it's already acting like this. Don't know if this is normal with newer dryers or if I could even get a warranty claim to go through on something that may be subjective like this.

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Postby skullman80 » Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:03 pm

Dryer question: Does anybody else have issues with the sensor on their clothes dryer where it shuts off way too early and clothes are left damp? We bought a new Maytag back in May and it's already acting like this. Don't know if this is normal with newer dryers or if I could even get a warranty claim to go through on something that may be subjective like this.
Ours does the same and it's a Samsung.. we basically just stopped using that feature and and just do time dried loads. We need to get a new set at some point as these were left by the last owners. The dryer is only like 2 years old too from when I looked up the model info.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:04 pm

Dryer question: Does anybody else have issues with the sensor on their clothes dryer where it shuts off way too early and clothes are left damp? We bought a new Maytag back in May and it's already acting like this. Don't know if this is normal with newer dryers or if I could even get a warranty claim to go through on something that may be subjective like this.
Yeah, my wife complains about this constantly on our current LG. Hoping the new model doesn't suffer from it, as well.

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Postby count2infinity » Thu Nov 04, 2021 1:04 pm

Front entry way door ordered May 24. Update in July was 1st week of September. Update the first week of October was the first week of November. Scheduled for install Wednesday, canceled because the installer "didn't realize how big the door was" and it didn't fit in his vehicle. Rescheduled for today so he could get a delivery truck. Couldn't get a delivery truck today, rescheduled for tomorrow. I have my doubts, but we'll see. :lol:

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