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I took a look at the tankless electrics and went with a Marathon electric tank water heater instead. The standby losses are minimal with the Marathon and it was half the cost of a tankless. We didnt...

I should probably put a few qualifiers on my statement. I live in the south so we dont have much of a heating season. Heatpumps simply dont put out enough BTUs to rapidly change the temperature -...

In my opinion, heatpumps work best if you leave the thermostat at one temperature 24 hours a day.

In my opinion, the best procedure with a heat pump is to leave the house set at one temperature. If you dont do this then I suggest getting a thermostat that allows you to lock out the resistance...

My Bryant Evolution ( same as Carrier Infinity) does that. Dont worry about it.

Not quite true. The reason you feel cold next to a large single pane of glass is that the net long wave radiation ( what you radiate minus what you receive from the pane of glass is a negative...

I have a Marathon (electric tank water heater) - works great. I did speak with my builder about an electric tankless water heater and he claimed he put in several over the last couple of years and...

I have had a two story home with one system (thermostat on the 1st floor) and a two story home with two systems. Trust me on this, you dont want a two story home with one system. If the floor plan is...

Yes, I have one. Very quiet and not much for the termites to eat. I dont know the price premium over frame construction but I would do it again. With a brick exterior, the walls are about a foot...

I looked into a Geothermal (a ground source heatpump is a better description ) about 3-years ago and decided against it. My reasons came down to risk and cost. There was only one contractor in the...

If you do go with an electric water heater, take a look at Marathon water heaters.

A few things to consider. Do a sealed attic with sprayfoam insulation on the underside of the roof sheathing. Skip the propane furnaces and go with heatpumps instead. Have a Manual J calculation done...

On my system, the user interface reports 9% duct leakage ( 4 tons ).

Yes, it is hanging outside the unit - sort of pushed through a hole.

The outdoor unit is the older 2-speed Bristol TS compressor based system. The outdoor air temperature sensor does tend to read high. Is this something to be concerned about? Thanks so much.

My Evolution system is reporting a "range error" under the service menu - my HVAC guy is researching it. Anyone know what this is? Thanks.

I have 4 zones with an Evolution system and my smallest zone reports as less than 20% during duct assessment. I do get stage-downs to low-speed from high-speed when all but the smallest zones is...

Hold down the "advanced setup" button for about 15 secs and you will enter the service menu.

I have an Evolution 4 ton (same as Infinity) system with 4 zones and I am quite happy with it. It runs at half speed (2 tons) 90% of the time and the 4 zones gives precise temperature control. It...

Hold the "advanced setup" button down for 12 seconds and you will pop into the service menu. Lots of interesting info including the zone damper positions and cubic feet per minute to each zone. You...

I have a Bryant Evolution System (same as Infinity) - I have 2 returns in the main part of the house and a return in every bedroom/office/bonusroon for a total of 7 returns.

I am not sure I follow this logic. I cant imagine that the fan speed will affect the heat capacity much, if at all. Can you please explain more? Thanks.

Non-ventilated, foamed attics are becoming more common in the southern states. In southeast Georgia, it wasnt an issue with the building inpsectors as they have seen it before. Talk to your building...

Exactly. My HVAC equipment and ducts are in the attic and the underside of the roof sheathing is foamed. It gets up to about 85F on a hot summer day in the attic - we live in southern Georgia.

Take pictures, document everything, contact the building inspectors office, and send your builder a registered letter immediately.

I am surprised that there isnt a tray underneith the air handler. I have had houses with airhandlers in the attic and they always had trays.

I am also surprised to see a multi-million dollar home...

Using HVAC-Calc, I came up with the same number as the package the HVAC contractor used ( Elite something or other I think ).

I have 4 tons for around 3100 sq. ft. It is a Bryant Evolution 2-speed system with 4 zones. About 500 square feet is the bonus room and we have that zone shut when we are not using the room. We are...

Hi Paul42,

I am not sure I follow you. Basicly, the attic reaches a temperature of about 85F. The only thing separating the bonus room from the attic air is 1/2" drywall on 3 wall and the ceiling...

Hi Paul42,

The attic is sealed from the outside - the whole thing is foamed right down to the ICF walls. I watched that part of the construction carefully and had the foam guys go back and refoam...

Hi Bald Loonies,

Yes, the bonus room is surrounded by a foamed attic - closed cell, about 3 inches, attic goes up to about 85F or so on hot sunny days. It winds up taking a lot of AC to keep the...

Hi Paul42,

I have thought about that. I think the issue may be that the rest of the house is below the attic (and also separated from the attic by only 1/2" drywall ) but the temperature...

BaldLoonie,

Thanks for you post. A bit more info. The ceiling is sloped on the sides and the middle is flat as follows:

______________
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/ ...

While not really an HVAC question, I thought I would toss this out there to the knowledgeable folks of the forum. Our bonus room (room above the garage) essentially is at the attic level and is...

Our ICF/foam house never seems stale even with 2 dogs in the house most of the day. While the house seems pretty tight based on a blower test (cant remember the numbers but my HVAC guy said the house...

Hi Watercop,

I decided not to go with an ERV although we can trivially add one and the Evolution control will work with it. We havent seen any air quality issues. The house is tight but the doors...

It sounds like you have a great house. Our house is a split bedroom ranch (master bedroom and home office on one side, great room/kitchen in the middle, and the other bedrooms on the other side) with...

Pretty impressive - I suspect the white shingles are responsible for a lot of your efficiency. My home seems to be pretty close. We run 2 tons (most of the time, kicks up to 4 tons on hot days for a...

Do you have a lot or shade from trees or direct sunlight on the house all day?

The closed-cell sprayfoam is actually pretty hard stuff. It is sprayed between joists holding up the roof sheathing and adds stiffness, or so they claim.

It is a one-story ranch with a "bonus" room over the garage.

No, not at all. Our supply vents are in the ceiling and the cold air just sort of floats down in low-speed. Even in the winter on low speed there werent any problems with the air being stratified....

I have an ICF house with sprayfoam in the attic. The house is about 3000 sq. ft. ( true interior sq. ft. not the architectural sq. ft. which is measured from the outside walls ) The heatload came out...

I was on the fence about and ERV and decided not to go with one although adding it in is not a problem. I have an ICF house with a spray foam attic - the house appears to be pretty tight based on a...

I did a bit of research on this when planning my new home. Here are my numbers:

Average number of gallons of hot water per day: 50 gal/day
Average temperature rise: 50 deg ( 70F heated to 120F )...

The chances are remote that you will be providing DYI help to someone who will do the work themselves instead of hiring you. It is a big country with a lot of HVAC equipment. Anyone who is capable to...

I did the calculations on my new house with essentially the same costs for propane and electricity. Go with a heatpump with electric resistance strips in the airhandler as the backup/assist. Electric...

The number I typically see is 1 lb of coal for a KW.

Yes. If I interpret your question correctly, you are asking why the HVAC square footage is smaller than what you thought the square footage of your house was? If this is correct it is because the...

This is not quite correct. The addition of water vapor into the air actually drops its density.