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New HVAC Install Problems
I just had two new Daikin FIT split systems installed and for the most part, I'm very happy. However, on the last day of a 3-day replacement, the techs seemed to be rushing things a little. I'm sure part of the reason was to meet their project schedule, but the other part was to ensure that my family had AC over the weekend.
I need to preface this post by saying that I'm borderline OCD, so keep that in mind when viewing my concerns. Before I talk to my HVAC installer I want to make sure I'm not being too picky. That said, here are my concerns.
2nd FLOOR FURNACE
Overall the install looks really clean to me. The ONLY concern I have is with the custom-made return box. As you can see from the attached photos, the box didn't fit properly so the HVAC tech literally beat it into shape with a rubber hammer. While there doesn't appear to be any leaks, it just looks sloppy to me.
CONDENSERS
Again, I felt the install looked pretty clean aside from a few minor things.
- The 220V AC powerlines are loose and not secured to the supply lines, like is the case with our mini-split. In my opinion, this creates a tripping hazard.
- On one of the condensers the insulation goes all the way up to the unit. On the second one, it's short. Conversely, on the first condenser, the metal housing is burned.
- And finally, the quick disconnects are not aligned and the one on the right is slightly skewed.
Normally, I wouldn't care much about some of these things, but when you pay as much for two HVAC split systems as a good used car I tend to get a little more critical. Please let me know your thoughts. The quick disconnects and the burned metal housing are probably a little too picky, but to be fair I wanted to get a consensus before I said anything to my HVAC company.
Thanks!
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Thinking the sealtite/liquidtite from the disconnect switches should follow the lineset more like your ductless unit, to me anyway looks kind of funky. I would support the auxiliary drain line to the right of the coupling ( PVC drain ) maybe one or two foot to the right of that coupling to prevent sagging if your attic gets hot.
Shouldn’t be to hard to get those two outdoor disconnect switch to line up. Lift one slightly lower other slightly. You can try lightly scrubbing that burn mark with a wet scotch brite pad, may get some of the burn mark off. Again lightly scrubbing with a wet pad.
Thinking I would have put the driers indoor, ( to late now thou ) for a cleaner look and not a fan of the 3/8” 90 degree brazed elbow, ( photo with the arrow pointing to tripping hazard on closest unit ) would have hand bent a piece of soft drawn tubing piece of 3/8” tubing, again thinking a cleaner look, but again to late now.
They can install a small piece of armaflex tubing in that small area, it’s not like it’s going to help performance but if it bothers you ask them to do that. Thinking you paid a premium price and your not asking for anything outrageous, yes they can clean up that sheetmetal where the bend is, looks like they did that to remove the access panel for the furnace.
Thinking I would turn the armaflex insulation 180 degree on the 1st unit photo ( tripping hazard photo ) so the tape part is facing down where it goes into the residence.
Again hopefully you registered every piece of equipment, including the coil as Daikin gives outstanding manufacturers warranty once registered.
Did they do any type of start up/commissioning report on your system such as checking static pressures, final field refrigerant charge, amprege draws of motors and compressor, temperature rise across HX, CFM set up, etc.etc. are within manufacturers specifications. They should leave a report with the equipment IMO.
Thinking I would have came down with a straight sealtite/liquidtite connector at the electrical hookup and came down then followed the lineset to the outdoor disconnect vs the 90 degree sealtite/liquidtite ( photo that says “missing insulation” ) that looks like a tripping hazard, but hey,... that’s me..
I guess you did not go with those other lifts, as those are standard vibration eliminators pads. Nothing wrong with them, but over time thinking they will deteriorate somewhat.
I give up where’s the other furnace? Thinking your satisfied with that part as you did not post anything about it?
Now all you got to do is get rid of that grass growth next to the wall ( tripping hazard photo ) ...
Last edited by Bazooka Joe; 05-12-2021 at 07:20 PM.
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I give you the R/A can but this? 
__________________________________________________ _______________________
“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards" ~ Vernon Law
"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts." ~ John Wooden
"When the teachers become unteachable we're all in trouble" ~ Mr. Bill
"Remember "Pro" is only a name, it's not always a mindset determined to do everything correctly" ~ Mr. Bill
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Dang,... ran out of time,...if you really want a even cleaner look, run your thermostat wires inside a dedicated sealtite/liquidtite like what they did on the ductless unit...
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Those disconnects don’t meet the 36” clearance minimum
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Originally Posted by
pecmsg
Those disconnects don’t meet the 36” clearance minimum
Must be a VA thing, you can mount them side by side down yonder in Houston, we do it all the time, no inspection issues here.
__________________________________________________ _______________________
“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards" ~ Vernon Law
"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts." ~ John Wooden
"When the teachers become unteachable we're all in trouble" ~ Mr. Bill
"Remember "Pro" is only a name, it's not always a mindset determined to do everything correctly" ~ Mr. Bill
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Originally Posted by
Mr Bill
Must be a VA thing, you can mount them side by side down yonder in Houston, we do it all the time, no inspection issues here.
NEC Requires 36” clearance for service. This includes condensers.
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Originally Posted by
pecmsg
NEC Requires 36” clearance for service. This includes condensers.
You should call down here and inform our inspectors of this. 
__________________________________________________ _______________________
“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards" ~ Vernon Law
"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts." ~ John Wooden
"When the teachers become unteachable we're all in trouble" ~ Mr. Bill
"Remember "Pro" is only a name, it's not always a mindset determined to do everything correctly" ~ Mr. Bill
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Post Likes - 1 Likes, 0 Dislikes
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__________________________________________________ _______________________
“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards" ~ Vernon Law
"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts." ~ John Wooden
"When the teachers become unteachable we're all in trouble" ~ Mr. Bill
"Remember "Pro" is only a name, it's not always a mindset determined to do everything correctly" ~ Mr. Bill
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Originally Posted by
Mr Bill
Can’t you just mount those disconnect 36” apart and go around the corner continuing where there is no units to meet code? Hmmm, Maybe not,...think they have to be within site of the condensing unit?
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Originally Posted by
Bazooka Joe
Can’t you just mount those disconnect 36” apart and go around the corner continuing where there is no units to meet code? Hmmm, Maybe not,...think they have to be within site of the condensing unit?
__________________________________________________ _______________________
“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards" ~ Vernon Law
"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts." ~ John Wooden
"When the teachers become unteachable we're all in trouble" ~ Mr. Bill
"Remember "Pro" is only a name, it's not always a mindset determined to do everything correctly" ~ Mr. Bill
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Originally Posted by
Mr Bill
You should call down here and inform our inspectors of this.
Hay
Wrong is Wrong!
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It doesn't take any OCD to agree with every fault you pointed out with this job - and more that you didn't besides.
Oh wait; maybe EYE have it! I hadn't thought of that. <g>
If they aligned the two disconnects with the old one they might have barely enough slack to install the flexible conduit properly.
PHM
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Originally Posted by
kcrossley
I just had two new Daikin FIT split systems installed and for the most part, I'm very happy. However, on the last day of a 3-day replacement, the techs seemed to be rushing things a little. I'm sure part of the reason was to meet their project schedule, but the other part was to ensure that my family had AC over the weekend.
I need to preface this post by saying that I'm borderline OCD, so keep that in mind when viewing my concerns. Before I talk to my HVAC installer I want to make sure I'm not being too picky. That said, here are my concerns.
2nd FLOOR FURNACE
Overall the install looks really clean to me. The ONLY concern I have is with the custom-made return box. As you can see from the attached photos, the box didn't fit properly so the HVAC tech literally beat it into shape with a rubber hammer. While there doesn't appear to be any leaks, it just looks sloppy to me.
CONDENSERS
Again, I felt the install looked pretty clean aside from a few minor things.
- The 220V AC powerlines are loose and not secured to the supply lines, like is the case with our mini-split. In my opinion, this creates a tripping hazard.
- On one of the condensers the insulation goes all the way up to the unit. On the second one, it's short. Conversely, on the first condenser, the metal housing is burned.
- And finally, the quick disconnects are not aligned and the one on the right is slightly skewed.
Normally, I wouldn't care much about some of these things, but when you pay as much for two HVAC split systems as a good used car I tend to get a little more critical. Please let me know your thoughts. The quick disconnects and the burned metal housing are probably a little too picky, but to be fair I wanted to get a consensus before I said anything to my HVAC company.
Thanks!
PHM
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When faced with the choice between changing one's mind, and proving that there is no need to do so, most tend to get busy on the proof.
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Originally Posted by
Bazooka Joe
Again hopefully you registered every piece of equipment, including the coil as Daikin gives outstanding manufacturer's warranty once registered.
Did they do any type of start-up/commissioning report on your system such as checking static pressures, final field refrigerant charge, amperage draws of motors and compressor, temperature rise across HX, CFM set up, etc. are within manufacturers specifications. They should leave a report with the equipment IMO.
I guess you did not go with those other lifts, as those are standard vibration eliminator pads. Nothing wrong with them, but over time thinking they will deteriorate somewhat.
I give up where’s the other furnace? Thinking you're satisfied with that part as you did not post anything about it?
Hi Bazooka Joe. Thanks for your review. I'll address most of these problems with my HVAC installer. To answer a few of your questions, the installer registered all of the equipment for me. I don't know if that's standard practice with them or not, but I'll probably confirm the registrations with Daikin, just to be safe. They did not leave a startup report with the equipment, but they did confirm that everything was operating properly before they left. Unfortunately, they ordered the wrong Hef-T-Foot supports, so we had to use the standard vibration pads—which ultimately saved me $200. The first-floor furnace looks good to me, which is why I didn't post any photos.
As soon as the problems I've shown are addressed, I'll be sure to post a photo gallery of the entire HVAC system, including both furnaces. I'll probably include both before and after photos.
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Originally Posted by
Bazooka Joe
Dang,... ran out of time,...if you really want a even cleaner look, run your thermostat wires inside a dedicated sealtite/liquidtite like what they did on the ductless unit...
Yeah, I agree. I didn't even notice that they had done that with the mini-split. BTW, the same HVAC company installed the mini-split in 2007, but it was an older tech, who is no longer with the company.
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Originally Posted by
Poodle Head Mikey
It doesn't take any OCD to agree with every fault you pointed out with this job - and more that you didn't besides.
Oh wait; maybe EYE have it! I hadn't thought of that. <g>
If they aligned the two disconnects with the old one they might have barely enough slack to install the flexible conduit properly.
PHM
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I think the reason they installed the flexible conduit like it's shown was because it came in a pre-cut length, which included the wiring. I seem to recall the package saying the cables were 6' in length. When they installed the mini-split, they cut the flexible conduit to size on the job. You noted that there were a few things I missed. I'm curious, what else do you feel is a problem?
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The front of the return plenum should have been simply cut shorter to butt against the furnace. And it still should be sealed to the furnace to prevent return leakage.
The sealtite is ran sloppily.
The insulation not being up against the unit is okay. It does make it easier to check system operation when they want to take a super heat reading.
The disconnects could be better but sometimes you end up with slightly being out of alignment disconnects by accident. They can be mounted side by side no violation of code. But, they are suppose to be accessible without having to touch the equipment they are connected to. And it looks like yours can be. Just not as easy as just walking to the side of the equipment.
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I currently owe this HVAC company a lot of money, but I want to be fair. Should I withhold the entire payment until all of these repairs are made or simply hold back a token amount—say $1,000? I don't want to be a jerk. I just want to make sure the repairs get done in a timely fashion.
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They could have easily used this, cut to fit instead of the 6’ whip for a neater look..
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/s...51O2Q9FMDnjfYg
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