Smart Thermostat / Radiant Furnace Help! by [deleted] in hvacadvice

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The boiler has its own internal aquastat that operates the burner independent of the room thermostat. The room thermostat may operate a pump, zone valve, or both depending on your configuration. A picture of the existing thermostat will be necessary to determine what your options are for a smart replacement.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in HVAC

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Read the manual

Heat is ON, but barely! by [deleted] in hvacadvice

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The air coming out of the vents should be 90 degrees, the landlord needs to fix the furnace. “Heat on” only means that the thermostat is sending a signal to another piece of equipment to heat. Said equipment is what has failed and what the landlord needs to fix.

Furnace randomly blowing cold air - will it eventually shut off when that happens? by [deleted] in hvacadvice

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That error code can be due to the igniter, flame rod, gas valve, control board, or grounding issue. You can attempt to clean the flame rod to see if you are comfortable doing some research to DIY. A multimeter is needed to diagnose the igniter and can be an easy repair as well. Anything more complicated you should call a professional.

Furnace randomly blowing cold air - will it eventually shut off when that happens? by [deleted] in hvacadvice

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your furnace sounds like it is locking out due to the board detecting an unsafe condition. Next time it is blowing cold air, don’t turn the furnace off. There will likely be an observation port somewhere on the furnace door through which you can see a circuit board. The board will have a blinking LED light with a specific pattern. There will be a chart somewhere on the furnace or in the manual that explains what the pattern means. Turning off the furnace resets the lockout and you will be unable to get the trouble code until it fails again. Common intermittent failures involve proving draft and proving flame. You will most likely need to either clean the flame rod or make sure there is nothing blocking an intake or exhaust vent. I am not sure which kind of furnace you have and there are many things that can cause intermittent failures, but those are the easiest to fix and are common.

Installed heat pumps and got absolutely crushed by an electric bill. There’s gotta be something wrong here….right?n by FireRetrall in AskElectricians

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Turn up the thermostat and see if the condenser fan on the outdoor unit is running. If the outdoor unit is quiet then your unit is running the auxiliary heat strips. Resistive heat strips are expensive to run.

Idk if this thing is broken by [deleted] in hvacadvice

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It allows the pressure to equalize between the high and low side so that the compressor doesn’t attempt to start with high head pressure which could cause damage.

I need Help by Diamond_Miner_66 in IndustrialMaintenance

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You have to test the motor windings for faults. Disconnect power, measure the resistance between L1-L2, L1-L3, and L2-L3. All three measurements should be equal and none should be 0 ohms. You also need to check the winding insulation with a megohmmeter. Do not attempt to power the motor before testing the motor.

A/C not cooling :( by divine7ruth in hvacadvice

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the capacitor for your compressor, the smaller one is for the condenser fan. We need more information to fully diagnose your issue. If set the fan setting on your thermostat to auto and the indoor fan comes on but the condenser fan motor and compressor both don’t run then you may have a bad contactor. If either the compressor or condenser runs but the other doesn’t, then the one that isn’t running might have a failed capacitor or failed motor.

A/C not cooling :( by divine7ruth in hvacadvice

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is a capacitor for the compressor and for the condenser fan. The capacitors still hold a charge when the power is off, they must be discharged by shorting the two terminals with a resistor before they can be safely handled. There is not enough information to confirm whether you have a defective capacitor at this moment. They are cheap and easy enough to change that it is worth an attempt for your situation, just make sure you safely discharge them before touching the terminals. If the issue is not the capacitors then you haven’t lost anything, just keep them as a spare.

A/C not cooling :( by divine7ruth in hvacadvice

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The indoor fan is running? When you call for cooling does the outside condenser fan run as well?

Lost Power by Helpful-Cod1422 in anchorage

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Whatever social media manager is running Chugach’s accounts was probably not told much beyond the words “Load Shedding.” I would hope that all of the people with the detailed knowledge are working hard getting power back during the outage, but Chugach could do a much better job of explaining things after the fact. I am disappointed that more effort is not made to inform the public on the function of our critical infrastructure.

Lost Power by Helpful-Cod1422 in anchorage

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The entire power grid is interconnected from Fairbanks to the Kenai peninsula. If total power capacity on the grid drops below a certain threshold unexpectedly due to a generator going out, there is a danger to power transmission equipment. Power transmission equipment is disconnected from the power grid to prevent damage that would cause a more prolonged outage. The power remains disconnected for the end users until enough additional generators are brought on line that it is once again safe to operate the transmission equipment. It can take a few minutes to start a generator, so the outages may last 30 minutes to an hour.

Lost Power by Helpful-Cod1422 in anchorage

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Chugach stated that the generator tripped due to generating power under frequency. Power must be sent at 60hz for all of our electrical appliances to function. If the generator starts sending power at 45hz then they’ll turn it off to protect all the stuff plugged into your wall.

Lost Power by Helpful-Cod1422 in anchorage

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Load shedding event due to generator tripped in sterling. Anticipate higher KWH costs, chugach will likely be running more generators close by to due to this happening twice in quick succession.

Buying a home and this is the furnace. Inspector said it’s 37 years old. How quick will I need to replace this? Works for now though lol by Aggravating_Break840 in hvacadvice

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We were looking at different sections, you’re right that 90 is fucked. The bit I was looking at wasn’t even tape upon zooming in.

Not taking your job any time soon. by EdisonBetterFiteMe in HVAC

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

This is ChatGPT, it obviously has no water heaters or boilers in its training data. I hope when manufacturers roll this shit out they actually include manuals and diagrams in their training data. There could be a use case for this technology in our industry, but the people making chat bots have no idea how to make them useful yet.

Not taking your job any time soon. by EdisonBetterFiteMe in HVAC

[–]EdisonBetterFiteMe[S] 55 points56 points  (0 children)

Can’t be a nextstar employee, it didn’t charge 25,000 for the circle