A-Coil direction.

[gsmornot]

Can someone tell me the correct direction for the A-Coil? Right now the coil is installed with the top of the A pointed to the blower. A friend that does AC tells me this is backwards and the air should blow into the open part of the A.

When the house was built one of the installers said the same thing and his boss told him it could go either way and to move to the next job.

Do I need to have this thing turn around so the air blows into the open part?

[4l530]

IMO in most cases it could go either way as long as the drainpan is on bottom. Depending on if the furn is orientated upflow or downflow then the blower would blow into the open end for upflow (usu. also for horiz.) and into the apex for downflow. The general means of situating the A coil.




[Edited by 4l530 on 07-09-2006 at 04:01 AM]

[beenthere]

Post the model number of the coil.

Is your furnace a upflow or downflow.

[mjk_na]

.

[Edited by mjk_na on 07-09-2006 at 08:36 AM]

[mjk_na]

I would not worry about it. Even "N" coil is a combination of "\" and an inverted "A".

[sealy b]

It depends on design. I service Carrier and have found "A" coils installed backward in horizontal right applications. Carrier airhandlers using "a" coils are shipped with the coil installed for horizontal left and upflow. If the airhandler is installed horizontal right, then the coil must be removed from the airhandler and oriented for that application. I've seen it incorrectly rotated on several occassions with the "a" pointing away from the blower. the blower will pull the water off the coil and flood the interior of the airhandler.

Without knowing the specifics of your particular coil/application, I don't know if that is incorrect or not. I have seen some coils in which the direction of the "a" was not a factor (Aspen, Allstyle??? ) There are even some older GE/Trane airhandlers that used an inverted "a" in an upflow position.

[gsmornot]

My system is a Ruud and it is mounted sideways with the return on the left and the coil on the right. The coil points back toward the blower. It seems to me it is backwards but may work in either direction.

Anyway, the house is not cooling well and I wonder if this is a factor to worry about.

[Mr Bill]

Originally posted by gsmornot
Can someone tell me the correct direction for the A-Coil? Right now the coil is installed with the top of the A pointed to the blower.

I see this all the time and Carrier does it a lot at least on some of there older systems and you ask Carrier that question and they will tell you this is the correct way so go figure.

[gsmornot]

Well, if the coil is ok to be installed in either direction then I guess the system size is the problem. I have 1650 square feet with 18' celings in the living room, kitchen, and dining room. The system takes a long time to catch up after a hot afternoon. I have a 4 ton furnace unit and a 3.5 ton coil outside.

My friend in AC can help me with the price and install of a larger outdoor unit, I just wondered if the coil could be the trouble. Thanks for the help.

[Mr Bill]

Originally posted by gsmornot

My friend in AC can help me with the price and install of a larger outdoor unit, I just wondered if the coil could be the trouble. Thanks for the help.

By no means trust me just install the outside unit, replace both in and out or you will be disappointed all the new equipment is at least 13 seer and designed to work with an equal seer rating component to work properly and give you the seer rating of both components

[Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]

If your friend knows what he is doing, he will know that it is more than likely not the size, but an airflow problem.
Its funny to me that when a system isn't performing properly people want to increase their size immediately.
It couldn't be lack of maintenence or a poor installation.

[gsmornot]

It could be any of the items you mention. The AC portion of my system has not worked correctly since we moved in 7 years ago. Every summer we talk about making it better but we just let the time pass. I clean the coils, replace the filter monthly, and have tried all sorts of things to have the system work better.

The system we have is a zone system. It is divided for upstairs and downstairs with just the one 3.5 ton unit outside. We have high celings downstairs with a balcony that over looks the living room and kitchen.

When we first moved in an installer came by and told me my A coil should be facing the other direction but his boss said it could go either way. It seems to work ok if the outside temp never goes above 85 but around here it does quite a bit. It has only been recently that I have meet someone in the AC business. He has checked the freon level and asked a few questions. That is about all that has been done on his part.

I am just curious to know if the A coil being turned the way it is has anything to do with how the system works. I dont want to buy all new stuff if I dont need to but I am tired of being hot in the summer. The heater in the winter does a great job no matter how cold it gets. It can make the house any temp you want it to be.

So, do I need more than just a bigger unit? Do I need to turn the A coil in the oppsite direction? (With the point of the A away from the blower.) Do I need to look at somthing else that may be wrong?

[plain spoken]

The direction the A is facing makes only a minimal difference, most manufactuers say it can go either direction, so changing direction will not resolve your problem.

Please describe your problem. If it is upstairs is warmer than down, that is normal unless you have a zoning system or some way to re-balance your airflow from season to season. A larger unit may make matters worse, especially if your duct work is too small (which may be your only problem now). A complete inspection and evalutaion by a knowledgeable technician is the only way to determine if your problem is mechanical or design.

[rickboggs]

The coil doesn't know nor does it care which direction the air is flowing. You have other problems.

[mjk_na]

Originally posted by gsmornot
So, do I need more than just a bigger unit?

Do I need to turn the A coil in the oppsite direction? (With the point of the A away from the blower.)

Do I need to look at somthing else that may be wrong?

- Maybe. You have to do load calculation using Manual J and psychrometrics, and calculate the duct size using Manual D before selecting the equipment.

- Not necessarily. No difference in performance.

- Yes. Duct work and charging. There might be some other issue, only observable near the AC itself. Call a good contractor to troubleshoot the whole issue.

[fat bob]

On a related issue, living in Texas I have a rather small horizontal furnace attached to a big evaporator N coil. The joint where two slabs of the coil meet is a flat piece of metal about 3 inches thick and real close to the relatively small furnace opening. Air blowing out of the furnace hits that flat joint head on and just looking at it makes me think its not efficient at all for airflow. It would be easy to make a V shaped piece of sheet metal and attach it to the joint as a deflector or sorts. Is that something worth trying?