Regular Guest
I have a Lennox furnace with a 2 stage motor on it and the Harmony II zone controller.
I had a "professional" come out and put a 4th zone on my furnace to heat the area above the garage. He ran a 6" pipe up to 3 ducts (about 15' up and 15' across, one duct at each end and one around 8'). The other 3 zones are about 1500 sqft each, the garage zone is about 500 sqft.
Long story short, the heat gets there, but the entire main hose heats up to a bazillion degrees even when zone 4 is the only one calling. I have read that this zone may be too small (okay IS too small). So I tried setting the jumper switch to 25% for airflow for the 4th zone but that didn't do anything.
My questions are...
Is this ruining my furnace?
And should I try to have the guy come back to fix the zone, or should I just remove the zone and make it part of zone 1 or something. Of course I wouldn't be able to control the heat very well doing the ladder.
And last, why is the rest of the house heating up. It is like the other zones are opening.
Thank you in advace for your reply.
Professional Member
you got big house pay for another opinion locally
3 zones 1,500 sq ft each that 4500 sq ft plus your garage zone at 500 st ft
you have 5,000 sqft home I think you can afford to have a second company review the setup and advise
you have problems with the zoning and the add on you need to have it all reviewed in person locally by a good company
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Regular Guest
Perhaps I don't want to be at their mercy. I figured it out on my own thank you. The answer...
The cold air return is too small, the furnace cannot suck the air out of the zone fast enough; so it is negatively sucking air out of the other 3 zones causing the dampers so leak in an effort to neutralize the house. This is creating the whistling sound and lack of heat production. So, now that I know what is wrong, I will hire a company to come in and fix it.
I’ve dealt with enough subcontractors now that they all leave a bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps you should concentrate on improving the perspective of your entire profession before telling someone what they can and cannot afford. Oh, and thank you for your answer, wait... what answer?
Professional Member*
It blows me away how intelligent you are to get logged on and then ask a question only to jump someone for maybe a minor fraction of intention to persuade you to afford a separate pro opinion. If you already knew what to do, then why bother the forum with it to begin with? I do think not to many people with 5000 sq ft are of low income and on food stamps and section 8 housing, but then I guess I could be wrong!Of course I'm just ribbing you to get an reaction and mean no harm, this is a form of entertainment us HVAC heads get on weekends just for fun and maybe help someone without getting into DIY's.
So "thank you" for your thank you in advance, I would just have your personal assistant reply rather than expend your efforts on the open ended thinking powers of us licensed and experienced journeymen, salesmen, managers, contractors, mechanical engineers, design engineers, owners, CEO's, and finally the stockholders of the HVAC national industry. Have a wonderful day and "don't let the door slam you on the a** on the way out"!
See Ya!
Regular Guest
Maybe a minor infraction? Please, I’m a member of many boards. If the answer is to “seek” other help, what is the point? Again, I’ll rest on my experience that most subcontractors are complete ignorant idiots that only make it through life and/or work because there isn’t anyone else to help. This forum included. And I don’t mean a general your useless, just thanks for no input. Just as I would have/should have expected.
Banned
Originally Posted by goldenspacek
Hit the road dude.
Let us all bow down to you as you are a GOD!!!
I'm glad you didn't call anybody, would've wasted there time as you know it all.
God Speed, Jim. We'll miss you - 2-26-23
This zone has a 6" duct feeding an 8" and 2 other supply runs. Not a good set up.
You need to address that before it can work anywhere near how it is suppose to.
You may have a return issue, but it is not the only problem with your zoning system.
By increasing the amount of return, you could make a bad set up worse.
That 6" is the main problem.
Was the guy you hired to install this 4th zone the same guy that installed the original 3 zones.
Doesn't matter if you like my answer or not.
Professional Member
4 zones with 1/10 of the total load on the 4th is problematical with a non modulating furnace and a two stage blower. Yes, overheating can damage the heat exchanger and run inefficiently since the furnace will temperature limit continuously.
I would check to see that the dampers to the 3 other zones be balanced so that at their maximum opening, the temperatures in each of those zones ( without control) would be close to their setpoints and while at the same time leave the 4th zone wide open with a slightly higher temperature there. If this is possible and the total flow rates are satisfactory, then the system will never have the 4th zone working alone which is now the problem. However, if you can't do this and this may be very well be your case, the 4th zone ductwork is too small and the options are clear- increase the duct size to the 4th zone or abandon its control altogether.
Finally, I don't remember your giving a net worth statement before making your inquiry. You are entitled to an answer to a reasonable question which will educate you so that you can also understand the problem before engaging a professional. Also, a blanket statement about the competency of these dedicated professionals is totally unfair. Most are very competent, but like in any field, there is a normal curve and sometimes you get somebody on the left side of the center.
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