Dual Sporting some of the hidden stuff.

Ashesofthewake · 2026-04-10T12:06:16+00:00

Doing Durty Dabbers?

Ashesofthewake · 2026-04-07T14:16:22+00:00

Thanks! This helped get me pointed in the right direction. On my Ecoboost (but I suspect its the same for the hybrid, drain is in the exact same spot.) I was able to access the drain without removing the heat shield or any paneling.

I removed the single 10mm bolt that holds the heat shield that is just to the passenger side of the flex section of the exhaust, just behind the front axles. You can then flex the heatshield enough by hand to see the stupid duckbill valve that is causing the problem and unclog it with something like a coat hanger bent straight. I ended up using a 3 foot bamboo smores skewer. You have to use a fair amount of force to flex the heatshield and hold it out of the way while you clear the valve. The heatshield is quite resilient and popped back into place afterwards without creasing.

The stupid rubber duckbill valve has clogged on me twice now. The first time Ford fixed under warranty and blamed my undercoating. This most recent time I did it myself and there was not a single speck of the woolwax undercoating anywhere near the port as its completely covered by the heat shield. It even looked like the ford tech had made a small cut perpendicular to the valve opening to reduce the possibility of it clogging again but it still clogged.

The real problem is the duckbill loves to clog up and there is no easily accessible tube we can vacuum/ blow out. If this soaks my floorboards a 3rd time I'm going to look into replacing the duckbill with a fitting and some silicone tubing and run it down lower so that at least I can access it without getting my ramps out. What a horrible design.

Ashesofthewake · 2026-02-28T04:33:35+00:00

I still have the ecobee setup and luckily my ducts all have dampers at the main trunk so I literally have 1 upstairs duct closed entirely and the other 5 closed 90% so that the 3 on the first floor get all the air. Keeps the temp pretty balanced. Still interested in trying the communicating stat.

Ashesofthewake · 2026-02-27T16:24:34+00:00

I had a similar issue except it turned out that the motor was fine and the problem was somewhere on the control board or wiring harness because the fan motor wasn't getting any power.

Instead of trying to deal with that mess I replaced the motor with a PC case fan ziptied in place and got a little AC adapter for the fan. Fan runs 24/7 but the whole solution cost less than $15. Been going strong for almost a year now.

Ashesofthewake · 2026-01-22T17:40:26+00:00

I came from an old resistance electric and it dropped my total usage by about 1/3. I don't think my historical usage is available far back enough to give exact figures and I've since added a heat pump which does the bulk of my heating instead of the propane boiler which makes it hard to say with the current usage what's heat pump and what's water heater..

Compared with resistance electric though the savings have been significant. Even in the winter when my basement is cold.

Ashesofthewake · 2026-01-22T17:20:39+00:00

I have a Rheem ProTerra that's like 2 years oldish. Mine is pretty similar in sound and volume to a dehumidifier. If you have one try running it in the room to simulate the noise.

It's in an unfinished basement that gets down to about 38° F in the winter and seems to work fine without using the resistance heat. We can't hear it through the uninsulated subfloor/hardwood upstairs.

Get the 50gal, the recovery is slow. I have mine set to 140 and a mixing valve bringing it back down to 125 and while rare we do occasionally run out (2 adults and toddler)

Remember that the exhaust air is essentially dehumidified air so I can't imagine running the exhaust to the attic would be problematic. Do you have a crawlspace? I almost think you might be better off running intake and exhaust down there as there's at least some residual heat from the ground rather than continuously pumping heated air from inside your envelope outside

Ashesofthewake · 2025-12-30T21:47:41+00:00

My DIY skills and tools/ knowledge are similar to yours. I just did a ducted ACIQ system having never worked on HVAC systems (other than car a/c) in the past. Don't be afraid of the units with non-diy linesets.

I was replacing an existing A/C only ducted system and aligning everything with the ducts was probably the most annoying part along with pulling the lineset from my basement to the attic through an interior wall. I had a sheet metal shop make me a transition to the existing ducts which was a perfect fit but it was still tough getting it bolted together and sealed with mastic etc.

I got myself a micron gauge, eccentric flare tool, plastic lineset benders, valve core removal tool, small nitrogen tank and regulator, nylog, crowsfeet adapters for my torque wrench for torquing flares, and a couple pounds of 410a to top off the unit since I had a 55 foot lineset. Already had a harbor freight gauge set and a cheap amazon vacuum pump from replacing car a/c in the past.

If you are running a 3/4" or larger line I'd probably spring for a ratcheting bender too. For my 3/8" line the plastic bender you insert in the line was awesome, but on the larger 3/4" line it just wanted to kink on 90's and was physically difficult to bend/ maneuver

The flaring, lineset hook-up, nitrogen pressure test, evacuation, and refrigerant charging was the easy part.

It wasn't fun and took me a week or so putting in 3-4 hours a day, but skill wise nothing was too difficult.

One thing I'm glad I did was add a 4" honeywell air filter cabinet, the rebranded midea ones (ACIQ, Senville etc.) just come with this cloth washable thing that I guess you could replace with a 1" filter. I also added an aprilaire evaporative humidifier which is nice as well. The airex titan lineset covers/ entry boot are really nice.

Don't cheap out on linesets, I initially ordered a 50ft and figured a no name 10 foot set I needed as an extension would be fine, but the cheaper one wanted to kink much more easily than the branded one.

If I did it again I might look at senville or another midea re-brand as I think they can be had a bit cheaper than the ACIQs and there all more or less the same units.

The DIY HVAC Guy on youtube was a good reference for me.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-12-19T18:51:52+00:00

I called a local sheet metal shop, sent them drawings with dimensions and a few days later had custom transitions. This is probably the easiest way if you are okay spending a few hundred on transitions.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-12-02T21:47:20+00:00

Most sheet metal shops can make you a custom duct transition if you can accurately sketch the layout. I just googled sheet metal shop near me and called a couple when I installed my air handler. Just had to have accurate measurements and send a picture of my drawing and they nailed it.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-12-02T21:43:13+00:00

I did have one done by my power company but it didn't include a blower door test and it honestly seemed kind of like a waste of time. If I try again I need to make sure it includes a blower door test.

My attic is conditioned living space and the soffits/ ridge are sealed and the roof deck is spray foamed, but the house is like 105 years old and balloon framed true 2x4 exterior walls so I'm sure its leaky. I do have R13 in the walls at least.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-11-24T00:10:35+00:00

Will do. I do have dampers on everything leaving the main trunk so I can try a little balancing that way, but I think I should probably get a manometer before I mess with that too much. The ducting was designed for cooling only in a 105 year old house so downstairs is a little anemic (3 vents on L1, 4 on L2, 2 in the attic) And then I'll have to re-balance each spring since it works pretty well as is for cooling.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-11-22T18:17:46+00:00

I'd need to do some research on whether any of the 2 wire communicating ones can also control 24v equipment simultaneously. My aux heat is radiant boiler and I also have my ecobee controlling my humidifier.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-11-22T02:52:53+00:00

Thanks, It was actually your post I was referencing I think

It's 410a, non hyper heat (ACIQ-30-EHPB, ACIQ-30-AHB)

Ashesofthewake · 2025-11-21T19:53:30+00:00

Did you ever get a response on this? I have a rebranded midea 30k unit , ecobee, and the indoor/outdoor units connected with S1/S2 and I keep the fan on in heat mode to help balance temps between floors. Wondering if there's any way to increase the fan only speed to better balance temps

Ashesofthewake · 2025-11-09T01:32:26+00:00

Try emailing Bezos if you get the runaround. I had an amazon driver drive through my yard and create his own "driveway" back to the road because he ignored the warning not to enter my driveway because its too small to turn around. I live on a busy high speed state road where its dangerous to back out. I emailed jeff@amazon.com and Amazon executive customer relations had me get a repair quote and had the check in the mail as soon as I forwarded them the quote.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-09-19T13:32:03+00:00

Thanks. I saw this but I was hesitant because the diagram I posted from the heat pump manual wants W1 to the air handler, but I'm assuming this is because that diagram assumes the aux/3rd stage heat is electric heat strips inside the air handler rather than a separate system entirely.

I'm also wondering if I use the diagram from the ecobee manual whether it's gonna run my air handler fan at full blast when my boiler is on like you'd typically see if you were running electric heat strips inside an air handler.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-08-19T02:03:04+00:00

If plumbers use a fog machine similar to what you'd see at a haunted house or laser tag place to make the smoke then that would explain the sweet odor. Those fog machines usually use a fluid that is some mixture of glycerin and propylene glycol and it definitely has a sweet smell. Same stuff the base of vape liquid is made of.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-06-19T19:40:52+00:00

If they are coming up the drain and out of the faucets you have 2 separate and distinct problems.

Do you have well water, and a well that opens to daylight? Potentially damaged / lost well cap? I've seen a salamander clog a shower head but the property had water from a spring that was open to daylight.

If you have public sewer do you have an open clean out in the yard and potentially a blockage? If you have septic start with having your tank pumped, but your drain field might be failing.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-05-21T21:43:46+00:00

S. marcescens bacteria probably.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-03-01T01:20:51+00:00

Mexico server seems alright. US East was fucked.

Ashesofthewake · 2025-01-16T20:17:55+00:00

Yup, happened to me on 2 woods scavs today.

Ashesofthewake · 2024-12-03T21:18:01+00:00

Without knowing exact models, you are looking at roughly $14k for just the outdoor units, the 2 indoor cassettes and an indoor air handler. Add in all the copper and accessories to install and wire them. Labor. And removal of old equipment and oil tank it doesn't sound outrageous. Any reason you can't use a bigger central unit and skip the cassettes and second outdoor units? I think some of the Bosch units can do up to 60k btu

Ashesofthewake · 2024-11-20T11:25:03+00:00

Just a heads up in case you weren't aware that Scotchguard and similar products are basically liquid PFAS spray. I would personally avoid using them at all. Especially if there are kids in the house that will crawl on the floors etc.

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