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Originally Posted by robotman2009

I had the extra return removed...the house was ok for a while with a portabke dehumidifer. But when we hit heat pump mode weather, i have ver seriously bad breathing issues, going to the neurologist, there is a smell, my son is constantly sick, i cant begin to tell u hiw much i hate the ac industry for failing the public in this area so horribly right now

don't hate the industry, there is a large miscommunication gap between house problems & hvac problems.
foam insulation companies etc.

while saving for dehumidifier, invest in an energy rating.
test house, duct system, plenum connections,
return air(s) and seal these leakage sites.

caulk is a good inexpensive sealant for house, mastic for
ducts/returns. air is stupid...it doesn't follow a logical pathway.

if the supply boxes aren't sealed, the other side of where supply grill attaches, then the
insulation around it enters the house.
as would large gaps around bath vent fans hidden by cover, and recessed lights
that are IC and not ICAT (Insulation Contact Air Tight)
these openings contribute to your child being sick, esp if you
have cellulose. cellulose contains a fine dust comprised of ground newspaper treated with
borate.

duct & house leakage sealing has a fast payback & inexpensive material cost.
the peace of mind & comfort is hard to put a price on, esp when your
child is suffering.

Resnet is the source for energy raters who test ducts as part of the service.
they could probably recommend someone they have worked with in the past
to do the work. as we test both before work is done & after...this provides
a way to measure what was accomplished. unlike utility sponsored audits
raters have to achieve a MINIMUM of 30% improvement. utilities don't want
to cut rate payer's cost this much, as it cuts into their bottom line of profit.

BPI is the source for Energy Auditors.
if you chose this route, specify that duct testing needs to be done.
both raters & auditors go through specific training in this field.
we are often the bridge between trades people & home owner.

best of luck.

I have came across this problem several times in my business. We have cleaned the evap coil,installed charcoal filters,and added more returns. Nothing has helped my customers except to replace the unit.

For a customer to have problems with the smell and then replace the unit and that fixes it long term tells me the problem is not in the ductwork. I have seen this problem on Amana and Goodman package units only.

Next time I encounter this problem again, I am going to recommend sending the coils off to get coated.

Here is a link to something i found

http://www.achrnews.com/articles/a-n...-sock-syndrome

In the marines we called this type of a situation something that i cant say on this forum

Btw humidity ist 47 to 50 percent right now. Just not sure what it is inside the air handler....probably not good sine heat pumps suck in that regard.

I had the extra return removed...the house was ok for a while with a portabke dehumidifer. But when we hit heat pump mode weather, i have ver seriously bad breathing issues, going to the neurologist, there is a smell, my son is constantly sick, i cant begin to tell u hiw much i hate the ac industry for failing the public in this area so horribly right now

I think it is time to save up for ultra aire 70h.

Originally Posted by robotman2009

Humidity went back up to 57% today....whats funny is i left the system off yesterday while sealing up the return from the inside. The house stayed at 55% with the system off! Then once i cranked the sytem up around 3...the humidity came down to around 51%. But i left it on today and the humidity gradually came up to 57%. Btw the temps have been. 100+ on the days it came up to 57%. On another day it came up to 57% but it was atadbit cooler. Out of money for the time being... This is new house hell!

This is about getting enough fresh air to purge the indoor pollutants and maintaining <50%RH. Wether the %RH is 50%RH of 55%RH is not the difference. Its about fresh filtered air and avoiding indoor pollution.
Mold, dust mites and other indoor pollutants need low %RH and steady fresh air ventilation.
A good whole house ventialting dehumdifier with a merv 14 air filtering system is a good start. Ultra-Aire 105 H with the optional merv 14 air filter is a start. Even with the best of equipment, expect to take time to turn the space around.
Regards TB
Regards TB

Humidity went back up to 57% today....whats funny is i left the system off yesterday while sealing up the return from the inside. The house stayed at 55% with the system off! Then once i cranked the sytem up around 3...the humidity came down to around 51%. But i left it on today and the humidity gradually came up to 57%. Btw the temps have been. 100+ on the days it came up to 57%. On another day it came up to 57% but it was atadbit cooler. Out of money for the time being... This is new house hell!

This nightmare is just getting worse..took a closer look at the return box yesterday morning... Spent yesterday afternoon and this morning trying to seal box better... Crappy crappy work! Holes everywhere for attic air to get into house... Sealed it up with some metal flex duct tape from home depot on the inside and outside.... Drenched the inside with mastic sealant afterwards... Got the outside sealed up with just tape... I guess next step is spreading on with mastic. Called the guy who did the work and he said he barely made any money. I only put the other return because that is what the first indoor air quality guy said he was going to do. So i went with this guy who was referred to me by my brother in law. I know many of you have said to just do the manual j or go with whole house dehumidifer. The guy i let do the extra return did a whole system on my brother in laws house and his house is 47%-53% all the time. The guy who did my return and my brother in laws house said my ac was the proper size.... 1 ton per 500 square feet. But man... Dude it seems like everybody and every place in the world hAs good air.... Wal mart .... All of my family.... But my house is terrible. This sucks!

Teddybear,

I dont have a whole house dehumidifer.

From above, our attic access is in the garage which has an exterior door between the house and it.

Originally Posted by robotman2009

Update


Since the symptoms i was experiencing were just like before when i was pulling particles into the house, i went up to do an inspection of the air handler. The door for the 4" filter wasnt sealing and had been pulling in attic air. I sealed it with some tape. The particles dont seem to be an issue. But the hunidity is still really high....58%. gonna watch it really clostle tonight.

Your a/c coil needs to be <50^F. Next set the dehumidistat on your whole house dehumidifier down to 50%RH.
Regards TB

The particles dont seem to be an issue now that i sealed the door. Thats what i meant to say. Also in my reply above i meant to say i not u.

Update


Since the symptoms i was experiencing were just like before when i was pulling particles into the house, i went up to do an inspection of the air handler. The door for the 4" filter wasnt sealing and had been pulling in attic air. I sealed it with some tape. The particles dont seem to be an issue. But the hunidity is still really high....58%. gonna watch it really clostle tonight.

The rise in humidity is probably the lower temps and corresponding shorter equipment run times.

Beenthere,

Dont think so on the turbine. As soon as i put it on, i noticed an improvement. Remember i started this whole post because i had high particles, high co2 and high humidity. The first thing i did was seal all the supply vents to keep from pulling in attic air through them. That helped a lot. Then After some time, i made the appointment to get the other return... And changed the turbine. After doing turbine (i still have one more to change) ii was having some realky good air quality.... But thought waht coumd it hurt? And i thought i might bring my humidity down from lower 50s to upper 40s. Yesterday i had he return put in I also cut a hole in the plywood behind the grill over my garage to help with ventilation. Now my symptoms are as bad as they were before i did my supply vents. So part of me thinks the guy who did the return may have not sealed it well enough. But i think i might wait a few days before i make any final decisions. I would take others advice and have the manual j done but i really dont think that is the way to go given that the house is fairly new.

Question for anyone... I noticed that he used ductboard for the plenum. On the interior of the ductboard it had some black lookin cloth stuff. Can that add to my particle level temporarily since it is on the interior where the air is blowing? The reason im asking is because the way things feel right now is a lot like it felt before i sealed my supply vents. Any comments would help.

How well sealed is your attic access.

Dude

I think i just made it worse doing the extra return. The humidity is back up to 56%. Before doing return and after adding the tuebine, the humidity was gettig down around 53% diring the hot parts of the day. Now it is around 56%.... Could be the lower temps... We r in the 90s now instead of the 100s. Also the side of the house on which i added the return is in a hotter section of the house. So maybe that slightly hotter air is mixing with the air from my original return which is in the cooler part of the house. Either way my symptoms are like they were back before i did anything. Maybe it will get better over time.

Its possible that the turbine is drawing air out of teh house, which in turn draws fresh air into the house and raises humidity.

Ok the humidity came diwn to 50% last night...thats good. Will be watching to see how the humidity levels go over the next week or so. Btw I'm noticing some activity with my symptoms that i havent notices since before i had the vents sealed. Thats scaring me a little but the ac guy went the extra mile to make sure everything was sealed well. The onky thing i ddnt like was he had the system back and on and running before the pookie had a chance to dry. It may just be the dust settling from the work and stuff. But i will be attentive. Finally in the roof, before i had two mushroom looking things that didt seem to move any heat at all... Replaced one with a turbine and that made a world of difference on the quality. In fact it seems this return thing has made it worse except for maybe the humidity. U will be warching it today ti see how humidity does during th hot part of the day.