Bought new house 3 years ago, have 5 ton 2 zone system, 1750 sqft down and 450 up. The system, although it ran continuously from mid morning until 8ish at night to keep at 74f up and down setting, it would at least keep it there as long as outside never got over 90 outside. Once it got to 91, a 2 degree rise inside, and of course the system never shut off until 9ish at night. Once it got to 96 outside, up stairs struggle to stay at mid 80's and down low 80's. I complained to builder and HVAC contractor from week #2 of moving in. They would come out and tell me that the system was only good for a 20 degree diff in ambient... OK, its 82 down and 85 up inside, its 96 outside... by my math, I am only getting 14 at best and system will not shut off for 13-14 hours to ever get to a 74 set point. Last year, same thing. Tech comes out, says same thing the other did, charge is a little low, not enough to really make a difference and was about to leave... I insisted he check further. He decide to check volume at registers, all were in 60cfm range until he got to the last one... 0 ( zero ). went up stairs and found the duct was never connected to the register boot. connected it and it did some better ( but before I could finally convince the HVAC contractor to yet again send someone out to check for the same / ongoing complaint, it had started cooling off into 80's for fall onset. It has done pretty decent in the 80's. This year, it just got hot beyond belief. Getting 10-12 degree drop from outside temp on best of days. Tech comes out on 88* day, says system little low, added .5 lb R410A. System was already doing decent before adding as again, in the 80's or below, all seemed ok, but system did not cycle on/off during day until in got in low 80's as the day's high. 3 days later, we are back at 93 outside, 82 down, 85 up. I called and voiced my unhappiness. Tech showed up 30 minutes later, connected outside, said subcooling/superheat were way out of whack... told him all techs said they were always off, but moved on. He went up to inside unit in attic, came back down and said evap coil was cracked, would need replacing, oil in drip tray. Office order replacement ( under warranty ) and the first tech came back to install. as he disconnect the small / hot line, there was no orifice or sometimes called piston in place. Watched him as he removed line, it did not fall and the prior tech did not touch the line. This tech asked me if the other had, I stated no, was here the whole time, he had only opened the panel and looked inside at coil, resealed it. He then asked if I had removed it... 'Really? If I had, I would not have had any way to recharge the system, high or low, there would be NO refrigerant for you to have found'. He insisted that I or someone removed it as without it, the system would NEVER work right... "duh, how many times have I had y'all out and for how long?' Although he stated he saw no evidence that the coil was cracked, removed a full charge from system to replace the coil, he went ahead and replaced it ( with an orifice in place ). Within an hour of his putting it back in service, the downstairs recovered from 79f and up 85f to both at 74 setpoint on a 94 outside temp within an hour, NEVER had it worked that well. Again, just days prior it took 8 hours for up to come from 85 to 74 and 4.5 for down to come from 80 to 74... now, for the question... does this all seem feasible that all my woes ( other than the unconnected duct ) were caused by the orifice never having been in place for all of the 3 years? Just looking for a ' I see the light now' moment. Thanks in advance for your time to read and answer post... JT
itsajustme
If you did not have a piston in the piston assembly that would be a big issue, a 5-ton on a little over a 2000 sq. ft. home? It should cool down quickly. I would be surprised if the thing even runs long enough to address the humidity when the weather cools some.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks so much to you all for responding.
Mr. Bill.
Although the system ran more than not the way it was, humidity level inside hovers between 45 to 50% now vs mid to high 50's before. Perhaps running more efficiently is reason for RH to have dropped some since the fix. ? Here in the area, outside mid-day RH runs in the 70-90% range almost all summer, figure 45-50% inside is not too bad. ?
Doug1111 & Beenthere,
I moved here from out of state 3 years ago and bought the house 45 days from construction completion. So much of the build was already completed or lined out / set in stone, I was not able to chose much of what went into it. I would have asked for a different system to begin with and a higher seer rating. I rather pay a set more amount now than a unknown more amount later ( cost of more efficient system vs ever increasing utility rates ). yea, next time I have a problem, it will have to be another HVAC outfit, the owner of the outfit that installed and has been sending out techs told me she is done with me and my system.
Mr. Bill.
Although the system ran more than not the way it was, humidity level inside hovers between 45 to 50% now vs mid to high 50's before. Perhaps running more efficiently is reason for RH to have dropped some since the fix. ? Here in the area, outside mid-day RH runs in the 70-90% range almost all summer, figure 45-50% inside is not too bad. ?
Doug1111 & Beenthere,
I moved here from out of state 3 years ago and bought the house 45 days from construction completion. So much of the build was already completed or lined out / set in stone, I was not able to chose much of what went into it. I would have asked for a different system to begin with and a higher seer rating. I rather pay a set more amount now than a unknown more amount later ( cost of more efficient system vs ever increasing utility rates ). yea, next time I have a problem, it will have to be another HVAC outfit, the owner of the outfit that installed and has been sending out techs told me she is done with me and my system.
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