September Banter 2020

[RDM]

24 minutes ago, mappy said:

hey thanks! so we had the whole furnace/ac unit replaced in winter of 2014, so its still fairly new. my understanding is its the coil inside.  I did notice that there was a lot of ice build up outside on the unit, at the junction where the hose connects to the unit itself before running into the house. was a solid block of ice around that junction area. the leak the guy fixed the first time was inside. I also noticed a weird whistle coming from the inside unit tuesday afternoon when it broke again, which Mr Map said was because of the busted coil. 

other than that, i dont know much else. Mr Map was dealing with the HVAC guy the last two days while I was on school duty. 

Mappy - a 2014 unit is still considered new, so you should not be having leaking coil issues.  Was the ice on the line outside the house near the compressor?  (the compressor section is the large boxy looking component outside the house with a large fan on it that comes on with the AC).  If there's ice on one of the freon lines outside the house, that's not a good sign.  It means the evaporation point of the freon has shifted from the evaporation coil inside the air handler (where you want it to be) to a point down the low pressure line.  Was the ice present on that line before the technician added freon the other day?  If not, and the ice only developed after he added freon to the system he may have over charged the system.  

Is there any ice on the freon lines where they exit from the air handler?  Any sign of ice on the air handler itself?  If so, the coil may be frozen with ice.   Check the condensate drain inside the air handler (in the basement?).  If the condensate drain clogs up, the water fills the condensate tray under the coil until the water touches the coil.  Once the water level gets to the coil, the condensate quickly turns to ice and the ice level migrates up the coil until the entire coil and condensate tray is one solid block of ice.  This can happen fairly quickly with a clogged drain.  If there's no air flow from the registers around the house, that's because no air can get through the evaporator coil due to the ice. 

If the condensate drain is clogged, the technician should have zeroed in on this during the inspection.  Was there any water laying on the floor in the area around the air handler?  If so, that was water that overflowed the condensate drain and/or ice that thawed from the coil.  Be careful, with an electrically charged air handler, water laying around is a potential shock risk.   With the clogged drain there's no place for the water to escape.  Clogged condensate drains happen rather frequently.  On houses with 2 or more HVAC zones, there's often an air handler in the attic.  These air handlers are installed on top of a large tray that is used to catch overflow condensate when the drain clogs.  There's a float switch in the tray that shuts off the air handler to prevent the overflow tray from filling up and running over, which would damage drywall in the ceiling etc.  I only raise this because I'm not sure where your HVAC unit inside the house is located.  

If the condensate drain is clogged, you may be able to fix it yourself.  Turn off the AC at the breaker panel.  There will be two breakers - one for the outside AC compressor and a separate breaker for the air handler.  Open the side access panel/s to air handler near where the two freon lines go in and out of the air handler.  If the coil is iced up, that should be easily noticed.  Need to let the ice thaw in order to find the drain in the condensate tray and unclog it.  The ice could go down the condensate drain hose too, which can take a while to thaw.  

Look for a piece of 3/4 or 1" diameter PVC pipe exiting the air handler IVO the two freon lines.  This is your condensate drain.  It likely runs to a drain in the floor nearby or to a small pump that pumps the condensate water to a drain someplace else.  If there is a drain in the floor, see if there's water coming out.  If there's a small pump, check to see if it is working properly (just pour some water in it - the condensate pumps are auto on/off).

Hope this helps too.      

[RDM]

1 hour ago, mappy said:

while on the topic of cars, my aunt posted this picture of her and i on FB. no idea what car it is, but the pic is from the mid-80s. i was so cute and sassy

Looks like a Mazda 323 or 626 coupe.  

[mappy]

7 minutes ago, RDM said:

Mappy - a 2014 unit is still considered new, so you should not be having leaking coil issues.  Was the ice on the line outside the house near the compressor?  (the compressor section is the large boxy looking component outside the house with a large fan on it that comes on with the AC).  If there's ice on one of the freon lines outside the house, that's not a good sign.  It means the evaporation point of the freon has shifted from the evaporation coil inside the air handler (where you want it to be) to a point down the low pressure line.  Was the ice present on that line before the technician added freon the other day?  If not, and the ice only developed after he added freon to the system he may have over charged the system.  

Is there any ice on the freon lines where they exit from the air handler?  Any sign of ice on the air handler itself?  If so, the coil may be frozen with ice.   Check the condensate drain inside the air handler (in the basement?).  If the condensate drain clogs up, the water fills the condensate tray under the coil until the water touches the coil.  Once the water level gets to the coil, the condensate quickly turns to ice and the ice level migrates up the coil until the entire coil and condensate tray is one solid block of ice.  This can happen fairly quickly with a clogged drain.  If there's no air flow from the registers around the house, that's because no air can get through the evaporator coil due to the ice. 

If the condensate drain is clogged, the technician should have zeroed in on this during the inspection.  Was there any water laying on the floor in the area around the air handler?  If so, that was water that overflowed the condensate drain and/or ice that thawed from the coil.  Be careful, with an electrically charged air handler, water laying around is a potential shock risk.   With the clogged drain there's no place for the water to escape.  Clogged condensate drains happen rather frequently.  On houses with 2 or more HVAC zones, there's often an air handler in the attic.  These air handlers are installed on top of a large tray that is used to catch overflow condensate when the drain clogs.  There's a float switch in the tray that shuts off the air handler to prevent the overflow tray from filling up and running over, which would damage drywall in the ceiling etc.  I only raise this because I'm not sure where your HVAC unit inside the house is located.  

If the condensate drain is clogged, you may be able to fix it yourself.  Turn off the AC at the breaker panel.  There will be two breakers - one for the outside AC compressor and a separate breaker for the air handler.  Open the side access panel/s to air handler near where the two freon lines go in and out of the air handler.  If the coil is iced up, that should be easily noticed.  Need to let the ice thaw in order to find the drain in the condensate tray and unclog it.  The ice could go down the condensate drain hose too, which can take a while to thaw.  

Look for a piece of 3/4 or 1" diameter PVC pipe exiting the air handler IVO the two freon lines.  This is your condensate drain.  It likely runs to a drain in the floor nearby or to a small pump that pumps the condensate water to a drain someplace else.  If there is a drain in the floor, see if there's water coming out.  If there's a small pump, check to see if it is working properly (just pour some water in it - the condensate pumps are auto on/off).

Hope this helps too.      

you've said a lot of things that i have no idea about hahahaha

The ice build up was on the immediate junction that exits the compressor unit to the hose that runs to the house. The hose and outside compressor unit was not frozen, just that one connector junction thingie (lol).

I did not notice any leak inside, wet basement floor or anything. 

I do appreciate all the information you've given me though! 

[MN Transplant]

2 hours ago, CAPE said:

29 - 9

19 - 0

NFL starts tonight. Those are baseball scores from yesterday.

Saw a tweet that said that the 29-9 was the first "new" final score (a scorigami) in MLB since 1999.  Conversely, 3-2 has happened 11,976 times.

[H2O]

1 hour ago, mappy said:

while on the topic of cars, my aunt posted this picture of her and i on FB. no idea what car it is, but the pic is from the mid-80s. i was so cute and sassy

i think you have the same hair style then as you do now. 

 

[mappy]

5 minutes ago, H2O said:

i think you have the same hair style then as you do now. 

 

Ha! Its still unruly, yes. especially in this humid house 

[RDM]

41 minutes ago, mappy said:

you've said a lot of things that i have no idea about hahahaha

The ice build up was on the immediate junction that exits the compressor unit to the hose that runs to the house. The hose and outside compressor unit was not frozen, just that one connector junction thingie (lol).

I did not notice any leak inside, wet basement floor or anything. 

I do appreciate all the information you've given me though! 

You're very welcome.  This HVAC stuff can be complicated, but isn't bad when you get it figured out.  Hopefully the technician working on your system is on top of his game so you and your family can rest comfortably soon w/o worry.  

Our dad installed our first central air conditioner himself in our home in 1968.  House was built in 1880 w/o any duct work to the upstairs at all.  Until dad installed the central system the only heat that got upstairs in the winter was via the stairwell (and it got cold in Ohio in the 60's).  Prior to 68, we only had one AC unit in the living room window and a second in our parent's bedroom.  Can relate to some earlier comments from others about sweating through summer.  haha.  Will never forget the first time dad turned on the new central AC for the first time in his life.  That AC unit worked reliably without being touched until it finally gave up 2 years ago.  50 years of service is not bad.  

[mappy]

1 minute ago, RDM said:

You're very welcome.  This HVAC stuff can be complicated, but isn't bad when you get it figured out.  Hopefully the technician working on your system is on top of his game so you and your family can rest comfortably soon w/o worry.  

Our dad installed our first central air conditioner himself in our home in 1968.  House was built in 1880 w/o any duct work to the upstairs at all.  Until dad installed the central system the only heat that got upstairs in the winter was via the stairwell (and it got cold in Ohio in the 60's).  Prior to 68, we only had one AC unit in the living room window and a second in our parent's bedroom.  Can relate to some earlier comments from others about sweating through summer.  haha.  Will never forget the first time dad turned on the new central AC for the first time in his life.  That AC unit worked reliably without being touched until it finally gave up 2 years ago.  50 years of service is not bad.  

He was very apologetic yesterday when he returned to see what else was wrong. Nice guy, and he's been really open answering questions Mr Map had. While I wish he had looked a bit more after finding a loose flange and refrigerant leak, its possible the coil issue wasn't an issue until after the leak. So who knows. It will get fixed and we will be comfy in the house again. But in the future, if we have issues, I'm messaging you first!  

[toolsheds]

2 minutes ago, mappy said:

But in the future, if we have issues,

If you have more issues in the future, I have a guy up north who I've used and seems to be honest and relatively inexpensive.  If it comes to that, PM me and I can get you his contact info. 

[mappy]

20 minutes ago, toolsheds said:

If you have more issues in the future, I have a guy up north who I've used and seems to be honest and relatively inexpensive.  If it comes to that, PM me and I can get you his contact info. 

Thank you!!

[Mrs.J]

11 hours ago, RDM said:

That's hilarious.  My parents bought our "Shove-It" in Nov 75 just after they went on sale.  The 76 model year was the first year of production.  Didn't even have AC as an option until later.  So our AC was the windows.  Fortunately, my dad insisted on getting the "larger" engine - the 1.6L compared to the standard 1.4L, which was an even worse dog to drive.

Remember having to carry a baseball bat behind the driver's seat all the way through HS and then part way through college (until I rolled it).  The starter had a dead spot and had to routinely open the hood and bang the handle of the bat on the starter to "bump" it through to start it.  Suspect there's some other old timers out there that know what I mean by "bumping a starter".   

I was lucky when I rolled the Chevette - didn't get hurt but totaled the car.  Was not sorry to see it go though.  The 71 Caprice 2 door hard top my dad picked up as a replacement for $150 ran like a scalded cat, had a front bench and even had working AC.  Couldn't put anything in the trunk though because the rear fenders were so rusted out anything in the trunk was likely to fall out.  

Yea we had our Chevette in the 80's. My mom had to stop driving it because she got clutch knee. She moved to a Olds Delta 88 Diesel. My sister and I still got a raw deal as we had to ride on the hump in the back and it had a bench seat in the front. So one of us dealt with the hump and the other in the middle up front. Took it on our first road trip to FL down 75. Was lucky though as it was the first car we ever had that my parents splurged on AC. And got great gas millage being a diesel. 

[RDM]

10 minutes ago, Mrs.J said:

Yea we had our Chevette in the 80's. My mom had to stop driving it because she got clutch knee. She moved to a Olds Delta 88 Diesel. My sister and I still got a raw deal as we had to ride on the hump in the back and it had a bench seat in the front. So one of us dealt with the hump and the other in the middle up front. Took it on our first road trip to FL down 75. Was lucky though as it was the first car we ever had that my parents splurged on AC. And got great gas millage being a diesel. 

Oh my - yet more memories.  My parents had an 80's Buick LeSabre diesel - think it was an 86.  Same platform and same failed diesel engine as in your parents Delta 88 diesel.  The GM 5.7 (350ci) diesel was a terrible engine.  GM took a standard gasoline engine and modified it to be a diesel.  It was fundamentally not able to withstand the added stresses of a diesel compared to a gasoline engine.  

After only a year or so, the diesel in my parent's Buick started making noises.  Dad took it to the dealer who was overwhelmed with recall related services on the engine at the time.  My dad, a P/T aircraft mechanic who learned the trade in the Korean War, took the internal/failed engine parts that GM replaced and measured the discrepancies with micrometers.  Went to arbitration with GM and was able to force GM to buy back the Buick.  

Can you imagine...  He showed up at arbitration board with a hard side briefcase.  The lawyers for GM expected the briefcase to contain notes etc.  When my dad opened it to reveal 8 connecting rods w/bad bearings, 8 wrist pins w/bad bearings, and an array of scoured/failed bronze journal bearings from the crank, the lawyers for GM slumped in their seats.  The arbitration board quickly ruled in favor of my dad.  He actually received nearly the full purchase price, minus some minor prorated fee.  When he passed away 2 years ago we found the briefcase of old parts from that Olds and the arbitration board.  

GM lost a load on that platform/engine combination and it left a sour taste on GM diesel products that still lingered for decades.    

 

 

[Vice-Regent]

55 minutes ago, Dr. Dews said:

Click on top right of screen, 3 bar icon...select account settings, then ignored users

[adelphi_sky]

Crazy weather. We get all the rain while the west coast torches. Literally.

[CAPE]

I am doubling my citra, and doubling my fun.

Oliver!

[WxUSAF]

Union Fest Beer is quite tasty. Tastes more like an authentic German Oktoberfest than DuClaw Mad Bishop which I had last night.

[CAPE]

1 minute ago, WxUSAF said:

Union Fest Beer is quite tasty. Tastes more like an authentic German Oktoberfest than DuClaw Mad Bishop which I had last night.

I have tried plenty of beers from DuClaw, and I gotta say, they mostly seem to miss the mark for me. Always mediocre for a given beer style. 

[nj2va]

1 hour ago, adelphi_sky said:

Crazy weather. We get all the rain while the west coast torches. Literally.

Let's hope we get high QPF totals when its 30 degrees in January.

[nw baltimore wx]

25 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

Union Fest Beer is quite tasty. Tastes more like an authentic German Oktoberfest than DuClaw Mad Bishop which I had last night.

Check out Manor Hills Oktoberfest.

[WxUSAF]

21 minutes ago, CAPE said:

I have tried plenty of beers from DuClaw, and I gotta say, they mostly seem to miss the mark for me. Always mediocre for a given beer style. 

I like their beers generally. Mad Bishop is good, it’s just not a real Oktoberfest.

[Ellinwood]

I was pinged last week

Y'all need some fresh emojis.

I should start posting again. Missed all of y'all that aren't regular Twitter peeps.

[mappy]

yay coil has been replaced! AC on!  

[H2O]

48 minutes ago, mappy said:

yay coil has been replaced! AC on!  

You didn't have your a/c on?  Why?  Weird. 

 

 

[mappy]

8 minutes ago, H2O said:

You didn't have your a/c on?  Why?  Weird. 

 

 

wanted to sweat out the quarantine pounds we've all put on

[H2O]

28 minutes ago, mappy said:

wanted to sweat out the quarantine pounds we've all put on

did it work?  Once you get the house cold then you can continue the weight loss by shivering calories away!!!  Double win!!

[nj2va]

3 hours ago, Ellinwood said:

I was pinged last week

Y'all need some fresh emojis.

I should start posting again. Missed all of y'all that aren't regular Twitter peeps.

Can't wait for your first map where my house is in the dreaded grey section of C-1" with mixing.

[RDM]

6 hours ago, mappy said:

yay coil has been replaced! AC on!  

Congratulations!  Care to share any details on what the fix was?  Curious...  

[JakkelWx]

Twitter thinks IPAs aren't real beer

[40westwx]

You all should learn to surf and chase swell.. the WW3 is kicking out some serious porn:

 

[40westwx]

Thats double overhead..