Can Anyone Explain how this system was Designed? My electric usage is extremely high.

[ag1010]

Take a look at this...



I've spent 3 weeks trying to get answers to how this system works, and nobody seems to know. The main thing I can't figure out is why the heat pump is behind a closet door (2 actually) when it has extremely strong suction. My old Whalen one in Boston was right in the living room & sucked in the air. It worked perfectly. This is a climate master that is attached to ducts that go through the whole place. My old one just gave air to the living and bedroom directly. I get what they tried to do here, but they forgot intake vents.

Second, if I open both doors - the weirdest stuff starts to happen. The thermostat continues to display "72" or so, but thermometers I have in the house drop quickly to 68 or 67 (within minutes). That's how powerful this thing is, but having it behind 2 closet doors is what (I think) is making my electric bill so high. I can't understand why the thermostat is so wrong though.

The prior owner filed a work order about an excessive electric bill and some repair was attempted in May...even after the electric company came to inspect the unit! (I have access to the old ticket system where I saw this.) My electric bills for this 1-bedroom condo are higher than my former 4 bedroom house (3x the size) with a standard outdoor compressor. This place was built in 2010 and is LEED certified. That house was from the 70s. The major issue I can see (with a totally unprofessional eye) is that there is no proper intake of air. There's supposed to be (from what the realtor said) something above the molding in the foyer area that is the primary intake...and it gets fed from building air under the door. Well, no air is flowing there at all. The only suction is coming from this heat pump, and it is incredibly intense. It feels like a tornado when I open both closet doors. But, I don't think I am supposed to open the doors (why did they put it back there?)

(Note - the kitchen is another out-take vent... I made it yellow by accident).

Is there a method to this madness that I am missing? It's just too weird for me to understand.

[dan sw fl]

What is Obvious may be 98% of the problem.
LEAVE THE DOORS OPEN.!

+ SET T-stat to 75'F

Mfg & model # : Climate Master # _ _ _ _ _ _

One AND ONLY 1 louvered door should have been provided 8 YEARS AGO.

I wonder what LEED Certified truly means
because NOTHING was actually Certified.

[ag1010]

Thanks Dan. I agree - any idea why it is in there like that to begin with? It's so weird. The maintenance / engineer people said directly "this is how it's meant to be, don't leave the doors open". And I was like... but there's no air going in. Then, they said "no you have returns" - and I said - where are they? They then pointed to my vents which only blow air. And they pointed to that gap in the molding i the foyer (in the pic above) - but no air goes in there. (It's supposed to take in air but it doesn't - I have tried to get it to suck kleenex in, nothing is moving up there).

I can't find the model number anywhere. The only numbers I see are for the metal fabricated above the unit that has some kind of tracking number to my floor and my unit. It's supposed to be part of the "tranquility" line from Climate Master, but they did a lot of customization when this place was built. It has one label saying P10930446 but I goggled that & nothing came up. It says it meets "ASHRAE standard 90.1" Max time delay fuse 30 A. That's mostly it.

Why do you think the thermostat is operating so oddly? I have 2 little thermometer / sensors in my rooms and when the doors are open, the climate master thermostat is 4-5 degrees warmer. When the doors are closed, the thermostat is totally accurate. It's a climate master thermostat about 5 feet from the unit.

It's louder if I leave the doors open, but I don't really mind the noise - it's just like fan noise. Maybe they wanted to keep the noise down? I can't figure out why it is buried in there. There's a louvered door in front of my washer / dryer closet...but this is like hermetically sealed in there.

[pecmsg]

You need a contractor that understands duct design to inspect and advise!

For now i would leave the door chocked open a few inches!