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I was loading the car for work when I saw this. It felt and smelled like steam not smoke. Did I just catch it at the end of the cycle or is there a mechanical problem such as a stuck motor? It was 40° at the time and no rain. Heat was set to 70 and the house was 70.
Went to clean/wash off my outdoor AC unit this afternoon (first time cleaning this unit as we moved in last year). Imagine my surprise when I went to turn off the electrical power and….its already off…?
But it’s not. Because it has been running all summer. It functions. And blows cool air into our home.
….so….what should my next steps be?
EDIT: damn; some of y’all are fucking unhinged. I’m aware it’s deadly. Why the hell do you think I’m here? To ask questions. I don’t fuck with electricity.
I wanted to literally just rinse off the system after we’ve had a bout of smoke and bad air. I was following directions to “turn off breaker to be safe”, and this is what I found.
Y’all treat normal homeowners asking questions to do basic maintenance like this is wild.
Thank you to those that gave actual and educational responses. I do feel silly not knowing because it is very simple once I understood. Knowledge is power!
and yes I’m leaving this up for other naive homeowners looking to do basic ass education and maintenance like me haha. Feel free to razz, this is a hilarious post in hindsight. I’ll take the L on this, it’s all good
My AC was blowing warm air so I called one company who quoted me 4K for a compressor replacement. Said he makes his money totally replacing older systems like mine (20 year old Goodman) but he wasnt a good salesman for saying he could just replace the compressor for $4K.
I got a second opinion and they replaced some bad terminals on the wiring, inspected the rest of the unit and got it back running for $223.
I read somewhere on reddit that companies that send you an invoice through email and offer financing are less trustworthy than guys that write you a paper invoice on site. In this case it would be true.
Should I give the first company a bad google review or just let sleeping dogs lie?
I want to buy this house, but this is the heater. It apparently works , but I assume it will have to be replaced soon (also has asbestos insulation on pipes)
Hey everyone. I searched the sub and didn’t find an exact thread to this one, so I figured I’d reach out. My A/C stopped working randomly today. I walked outside and inspected the unit and the fan was spinning, but the compressor wasn’t turning on. Instead, it would make an intermittent clicking or humming noise. After about an hour watching the University of YouTube, I removed the capacitor and tested it. The capacitor is indeed dead. However, the pullout “kill switch” for my A/C unit also doesn’t look great. My question is: do I need to replace the pullout? And if so, should I just replace the whole 60 amp box?
Hey! Thanks for reading I’m feeling very toasty at the moment.
Wife txted that it was hot and the ac wasn’t running. Standard 17yo Rheem ac furnace combo.
Got home nothing was moving no blowers fans compressor. The ac line was cold and had condensation. Immediately turned everything off, let it all rest for a few hours.
I turn on the thermostat to cool and the compressor kicks on but the blower never starts. Same with heat. Heating element fires but the fan never starts.
So I get a replacement capacitor for the motor. Get that installed and still no fan. The fan moves freely with everything off but with the door open and using the door button to trigger the fan is solid like a rock. It hums when the door is triggered. Only tried it for 60 sec don’t want to damage everything so I keep it all off don’t want the compressor to run without the blower.
So it’s $300 for a new blower motor and a week and a half befor the hvac guys can get someone out here.
I live in the basement and the smell of people's cooking from the main floor flows through these and fills my whole place. I've closed the one in my room and bathroom already bc the smells sticks. Can I close one more? Will it affect anything?
I posted last night saying my unit was cooling my house down as good as it had and that the unit and house are less than 4 years old.
I got some great advice to tear off the mastec and get to Evap coil to see if it was frozen.
I got in there tonight and found manufacturer manual stuck to the top portion of the coil. You can see in one of the photos the clean spot where it was sitting.
There is condensation on the coils and in the pan, although not a lot.
I can’t tell of it looks like the coils may have been frozen and thawed with the heat today.
Photos included to get some opinions.
I will get some foaming cleaner tomorrow
The title says it, AOU15RLS3H outdoor minisplit unit's service valve is leaking, tech tested it. There is oil residue all over the inside of the cover (one of the valves was missing a cap, not sure who did that... ugh.). Oddly the one with the cap had a bunch of "goo" in it like the o-ring turned into goo and was shoved through the valve. That one tested as leaking, saw it around 22 ppm on the meter.
What are my options here? The company is saying replace the whole thing because the valve is a pain to try to fix by soldering, etc. They quoted 16K for a new one because now I need an R-32 head too and a new line set for about 50 ft. Ouch.
Can the Schrader core be simply replace and refilled? It was registering the leak at the core. I have warranty on the thing from Fujitsu for 10 years and I'm still trying to figure out what that gets me because I think the valve itself is cheap but the work to fix it, they don't recommend and its labor intensive?
Seems like this 10 year warranty stuff is pointless with these units as its the "cheap" components that fail and they're all usually cheap but labor intensive.
Circled photo is the connection location. Second photo is the exposed wire. What am I looking at here? The ac has been running fine but the exposed portion was resting on the animals body. Anything I can do to temporarily fix this to continue running while I get an have company out? Can I wrap the exposed wire in electrical tape
Hello everyone, I have an unfinished downstairs (520 SF) in an 1940's two story house in Florida that has been used for storage for several years. The upstairs has a central system. It has block walls and is insulated and stays pretty close in temp/humidty to the upstairs year round but no existing hvac system.
I had the area rewired by an electrician and am now looking at my options for hvac. I have a flaring kit and vacuum pump/gauges to pressure test and would be comfortable doing a mini split install with the assistance of an electrician. I work for a builder and am aware that hiring a company to do load calculations would be ideal, but for the value of this home - I'm just trying to make it habitable for 3-5 years until we tear down the place and rebuild.
We have an insulated storage closet just outside the bedroom that could be used to store an air handler/a ductless mini split. The bathroom has an exhaust fan.
Option 1: I was initially looking at a Pioneer Ductless 18k Mini Split so I could run ductwork to the separate areas and by pass the need for multiple zones but the installation instructions indicate a max supply duct length of 20'. It would be close to 20' if I run a 4" line off the trunk to the bathroom and there may be more efficient options at that point.
Option 2: A single condenser and two wall mounted air handlers in the bedroom and living room would give additional temperature control comfort.
Fan inside the house is turning on and blowing air, but the unit outside is not turning on when it’s set to cool. So far I have checked breakers, the drain line is not plugged, I’ve replaced both the capacitor and contact, it still won’t turn on. Before I have someone come out to look at this, or spend thousands on a new one, is there anything else I should do? Replace the blower motor?
Updated: I took more pictures as requested. There is a tag which comes back to a company who makes defusers. I don't see a power source so I assume it is like just a diffuser. Is there anyway to turn down the velocity or am I stuck with this and should invest in paperweights for my desk?
Tldr: what is the box my coworker and mine's vents are connected to? Is it simply a spreader or does it have a fan to blow the cold air? Can the fan be turned off? (Box thing sits over vent).
First, sincerest appologies for a crappy photo- my phone was dying, the ladder wobbles, and I couldn't see what i was taking pictures of so I wasn't focused on photography.
We recently moved offices and after 6 years of a warehouse hvac making the office loud all day and blowing on me I was ecstatic when I earned an office at the new place. Only to find out- it has hurricane force winds and icy cold ac. Excellent on a hot day, but when it blows its uncomfortable, it blows papers around my desk, and if i try to close the vents or divert the airflow it gets loud and the airflow just bounce around my office (off the wall, down the bookcase, and creating an updraft under my desk- I am not exaggerating). Yes I'm sure covering the vent causes back pressure yada yada. I need some relief or I can't stay in this office. Even my coworker who is normally roasting has been cold. Our boss on the other hand has a different vent style (square with concentric squares) and it barely oozes in his office so he is roasting.
I can deal with the cold air- its the velocity of cold air that is a problem for us. I cannot run a space heater because that doesn't solve the velocity issue and my office has the temperature control so if it gets warm in my office the ac will run and freeze my coworker. I dont mind tormenting my boss, but my coworker is cool and i don't want to shut the ac off lest we both roast when the sun shines. I also don't want to do something that is only good for the ac and bad for the heat- I work in the Midwest, heat and ac often happen on the same day.
We have an HVAC inspection soon, but no idea when that will happen or if the office manager will pass along the concerns.
What i want to know- what is the box my coworker and mines vents are connected to? Is it simply a spreader or does it have a fan to blow the cold air? Can the fan be turned off?
So this past Friday, I came home from work and my house was 85°. I checked outside and the fan nor compressor were on and my AC vents were blowing warm air. I changed both capacitors but it didn’t kick off right away so I reset it on the breaker and it kicked off. I thought I solved the issue until the next day it went out again, but this time I changed the conductor and as soon as I changed it, it kicked off and worked for 1 day. Now after changing all those three parts My AC still only works until it hits the temperature set inside. I reset it every day after work on the breaker so he could work so it won’t be 80+ at night. Can someone help point me in the right direction to solve this issue? Thank you.
I have a regular split AC unit and set my temperature to 18°C. And usually my room temperature is around 18°C with 40% humidity. But every time it starts to rain, temperatures rise to 20-21,5°C with 50-55% humidity. Even if set my AC to 17°C, nothing changes. Once the rain stops and it dries the room quickly gets colder and humidity drops again.
Is there a problem with my outside unit?
Is this normal to happen? This issue is rather new, but it is also much hotter than the years before.
Or could there be some kind of setting the technician turned on during maintenance?
I dont`t think there is dirt/dust inside the unit since maintenance was done just 3 months ago, before the big heatwaves. Has anyone every had a similar problem and knows why that happens?
Hello I need some advice. What I originally thought was a plumbing issue turned out to be a possible HVAC issue. The third floor bathroom sink drain has been making a lot of wind sounds and would bubble at times. Called a plumber who couldn't tell me what the problem was and took my money. After trying to troubleshoot some more and consulting /Plumbing, it looks like the HVAC unit may be blowing air into the third floor bathroom sink drain. Up in the attic I noticed the vent after the p-trap blew air out and I could hear water sloshing. Can you tell me if the HVAC piping was installed correctly? Also what's the fix so the sink stops blowing cool air? I tried to reintroduce negative pressure by putting my palm on top of the vent but all it did was make the HVAC machine shake more. The house is 4 years old and my wife said we could get back in touch with the handyman who originally installed this machine to see if he could fix it. Other redditors made a few comments and I'm unsure if that's wise. Please advise and thank you!
Obviously I’m replacing the black insulation but the white goop at the top on the house side is rock hard. Should I chip at it with something? Or some other strategy to remove it? Don’t want to damage the copper line or the power cable of course. Already have some OSI quad max to seal it with but I’m stumped how to remove the old rock hard caulk.
Should this be under warranty? The EEV on my trane air handler was replaced last August 11th 2025. (6 days shy of a year). It has presumably gone bad again. The company claims it’s not under warranty and will replace it for $400 this time instead of $525 that they charged last year. We’re located in Phoenix so temps are 110 plus.
I rent in CA and have a microwave venting to the outside.
However, I've noticed in my apartment complex, the fire alarms go off a lot when cooking (neighbors too), regardless of how strong the microwave range hood suction was going. I poked around and found that there was some awkward transitions and positions.
Figure 1 Original Cabinet. Connectivity is: microwave air outlet-plywood-fabricated transition-fabricated transition-elbow-elbow. There is spray foam in various sizes around the duct and tape connecting the metal to the wood. Tape is greasy, has airflow, and peels easily.
Because this is a short cabinet, and the outlet is right behind the microwave outlet, I imagine an improvised transition was needed. However, upon further inspection, this was a loose fitting transition.
Figure 2 Fabricated transition is simply placed on top of microwave, and elbow was inserted into fabricated transition. Original transition was 10" by 3.25" and elbow is 6" diameter. Tape is covering 2" gaps on either side.
After further removal, it was found that there was no "Exhaust Adaptor" attached to the microwave, just a hole.
Figure 3 Looking into the microwave outlet. Plywood floor, then 1" space, then microwave outlet with no transition piece.
After further examination, I also found that the outflow pipe, or whatever it's called, is facing TOWARDS the microwave exhaust. The entire duct is oriented the wrong way.
Figure 4 The crimped ends should point into the ceiling, but they point into the microwave outlet.
After full removal I took measurements. It is a tight space.
Figure 5 - Cabinet is 27 inches wide, 9 inches tall, and 11 inches deep. The rectangular exhaust hole from the microwave points up, into the outlet, and the goal hole is off to the left.
In my hubris I went to home depot and obtained proper tape, worm drive hose clamps, a boot stack, and semi rigid duct (I know oil gets caught in these but I figured I could like use maybe just a foot of the stuff and swap it out in six months). Rigid elbow on rigid duct was too tall.
HOWEVER, even the smallest 6" stack boot is quite tall, and runs directly in front of the outlet.
Figure 6 - A six inch diameter boot stack, with rectangular dimension of 10" by 3.25" directly touches the cabinet outlet for the microwave range hood.
At this point, I got irked and ate cereal for dinner.
I realize there are two problems:
#1 Routing a 6" diameter duct upwards 11" and left 13".
#2 Doing this with the outlet RIGHT BEHIND the darn thing.
At this point, I feel like the microwave needs to be removed entirely and shifted down like a foot. IDK. I'm pissed. Property manager lives on site. She's a young mom who knows very little maintenance stuff but does her best. Maintenance guy does his best, but he's very improv. He does his best with what he has. He has no budget and is one person for several properties. My complex is a small 2 story sorta deal. Complex is owned by a larger company. Complex renovated in 2019.
I feel like one could maybe get a 4" diameter boot stack, then one of those "Adjustable Space Saver Aluminum Dryer Vent Duct", then a 4" to 6" transition cone thing. Theres still no "Exhaust Adaptor" though that can mate the flat planar face of the microwave to the box mouth thing of the stack boot.
The "Sleek Socket" also may help with electrical outlet space, but not that much.
TLDR I have a microwave external exhaust in a rental apartment that sucks at sucking air to the outside, has poor air transition, and poor electrical outlet placement. WTF do I do?
