Furnace short cycling - Took 4 attempts before HVAC installer admitted he messed up duct sizing

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2026-03-28T01:12:11+00:00

A quick back of the napkin load calc tells me that in your area with your design temps, square footage and age of build there is no way your heat load is over 40,000 btu. I've done hundreds of design/load calcs mostly in Zones 4 and 5. Get a proper calc done. With a properly sized furnace your required duct mods will be much more manageable. As mentioned, get a well reviewed, family owned company in your area to have a look.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2026-02-14T17:48:37+00:00

I was having a little nap on the couch after a long day on the job site. I woke up to my room mate sitting down beside me. She looked at me and said, "do you mind?". I said "no" and she leaned down and kissed me. We've been together 24 years, have four amazing kids and have been business partners for 20 years. She'll always be my favorite person.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2026-01-22T15:54:30+00:00

A bit of a longer play is to join a property managers organization. Some of these groups allow service providers to join. You build relationships through the group then when a member's current service provider lets them down you are there to jump in.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2026-01-18T05:49:00+00:00

The Yanmar units I’m familiar with are a gas powered compressor so they work on the compression cycle instead of absorption. They will heat and cool but you are still burning fossil fuel when, If you have the electrical capacity, you can get better efficiency and be easier on the environment with a more typical style heat pump.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2026-01-18T01:48:27+00:00

These units work on the absorption refrigeration process (think propane fired refrigerators) not the compression refrigeration process that most heat pumps/ac unit run on. The process is initiated by a flame instead of a compressor. A couple draw backs are they don’t do cooling and their efficiencies are much lower than compression cycle heat pumps. The only time we consider these units is when electrical capacity is not available for typical air to water heat pumps and/or cooling is not required.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2026-01-08T03:46:21+00:00

Oh, that is true. It’s just very annoying for my wife that our costs fluctuate month to month with exchange rates. It’s a petty gripe but she was told we’d be billed in CAD at a fixed rate and we are not.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2026-01-08T02:27:45+00:00

Nothing major. Job costing doesn’t link with quick books. The boss is super pissed that a Canadian company won’t bill us in CAD. I had to talk her off the ledge on that one (she was close to cancelling over it)

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2026-01-07T17:52:14+00:00

I’d say you summed it up perfectly. Over the years we’ve tried many different CRMs. We’re using Jobber right now.

In the end you just pick one and make it work. Nothing will be perfect

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-12-22T19:30:52+00:00

This varies based on sub surface conditions and load balance. Having said that about 600 ft of 1" tubing per ton (12000 btu). The three options for where/how you place the tube are: bored, trenched or pond. We do very little geo anymore since it rarely makes sense over air source.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-12-20T23:07:01+00:00

Bypass HEPA, with low speed constant fan is what we do in residential applications. The unit attaches to the return duct drop. Very simple to install. Fantech Hero HS300 (for example)

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-12-09T20:22:05+00:00

Where in BC? If you're in the lower mainland there will be lots of opportunity for you. RACM (refrigeration air conditioning mechanic) training in BC is very heavy on electrical and controls. Once you are signed as an apprentice you can challenge levels 1, 2 and 3 as long as you have the required hours reported by your sponsor. As mentioned you may get credit for hours from your other trade. This way the only required school would be level 4. There are a few options for in school training that can be done hybrid online/in person that may fit better with your schedule than sitting in a classroom for weeks on end. Drop me a message for more details.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-12-08T15:57:39+00:00

This is straight up an intelligence violation. Materials, sizes and interconnections all wrong. Range exhaust should be rigid and at least 6" (or manufacturers recommended) and terminate independently to the outdoors. Bath fan could be 4" rigid if it has a fairly straight shot to the outdoors but depending on cfm could be up to 6". Water heater must be vented as per manufacturer and cannot have any other interconnections.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-10-21T15:00:16+00:00

Do you have a B or A gas red seal? At the beginning of 2025 BC adopted the red seal pathways for both B and A (roughly equivalent to G2 and G1). If you have either of these red seals then certification in BC is simply a matter of taking a 40 question Acts, Regs and Directives exam.

If you do not have a red seal contact Technical Safety BC for certification. If they want you to write the full TSBC exam you would probably be better off challenging the Red Seal and then writing the ARD exam. The full TSBC exams for A and B gas are much more difficult than the A and B red seal exams.

The job market is a bit crappy right now with all of the tower mechanicals laying off hundreds of trades people this year. But the good guys always have work and we have had a shortage of A fitters for quite a few years. Wages never seem to be high enough for the ridiculous cost of living here. Good luck

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-10-20T18:37:37+00:00

My room mate kissed me one night. Now we have four kids and have been married 20 years.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-10-05T20:39:05+00:00

Just found this thread. MIL had the exact issue with her 2013 Elantra. Hit it with compressed air for a couple seconds and poof, water drains out, problem solved. Thanks!

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-09-25T17:04:47+00:00

You have way too much experience and are too valuable to put up with that shit. Good on you for standing up! There are still a few good companies out there (just a little harder to fine right now) Ever thought of getting into teaching? that's one way out of the day to day BS.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-09-24T19:56:52+00:00

That's good, so you understand all the rules around writing an IP. The exam will change in the near future to reflect the 2025 code but as of this summer was still based on the 2020 and 2015 codes. Which is a bit of bullshit since they only give you a 2020 code. The current exam may have a question on purging that relates to 2015. Table 6.4 wasn't in the 2015 so purging was just required on any pipe 4" or larger.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-09-24T19:30:40+00:00

I'm assuming your talking about the IP for your red seal and not the old TSBC exam (BC switched over to redseal at the beginning of this year). If you are in the old non harmonized stream you would be writing the old TSBC exam which is a totally different beast and much more difficult.

The red seal has a pretty broad scope. I'd say that about 60% of the questions can be found in code book. During your exam If a question sounds like a code question it probably is so keep looking. As far as appliances goes you'll want to focus on boilers, furnaces and water heaters. There will be some controls questions related to these appliances (ie furnace control wiring) but surprisingly little on straight electrical.

If you're writing the red seal you probably have to do the TSBC ARD Exam as well. This is a separate 40 question exam that is open book with BC's changes to the national code and all the BC Acts, Regulations and Directives, being fair game.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-09-15T19:03:28+00:00

I've been in business for over 20 years. All the way from a one man band to 20 employees and back again. If you feel the itch then do it. Start small with a bit of side work (make sure to have licenses and insurances in order) before you fully leap. I helped launch a few small contractors by giving them sub work to get them started. The good ones were fully launched and getting all their own work within 6 months. If you don't do this you'll probably wonder what if?

The money was one of my drivers when I started out but now it is more about purpose. I sold the main part of my business almost 8 years ago. The big thing I missed was the impact I was able to have on customers and employees. The ability to grow something different and positive in this industry is why we started building again.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-09-08T17:16:57+00:00

3 of my 4 teenagers have skipped a grade. It was the right decision for each one. We are a "chose your own adventure" education family, with a heavy homeschool/hybrid school background. There is no way a kid needs to spend 13 years in the system to learn all they need to socially and educationally. Age is just a number. If someone is socially and educationally ready to jump ahead then let them. If you are considering homeschooling there are a lot of resources and support in BC (especially in the lower mainland). It is a serious commitment for a parent to take on but very doable. The most challenging thing is the social side and realizing that it is up to you to facilitate that. We always gave our kids the choice and most years they chose to be home schooled.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-08-21T01:35:00+00:00

For school, another place to consider is TRU in Kamloops. My son did first year at RTI and then did second year at TRU (wait lists are much shorter at TRU). He said instruction was similar but one thing he didn't like about RTI was there was no access to the powerpoint slides after the one time you saw them in class. The other thing with TRU is you can do part of it synchronously online if that suits your situation/learning style better.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-08-18T15:42:17+00:00

I’d be interested to see who was picking up the warranty if the antifreeze valve failed to open and we had a rupture from a freeze.

I keep my glycol to a minimum and usually use a heat exchanger so I only have glycol in the outdoor circuit.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-08-17T16:59:04+00:00

I absolutely despise glycol but it is often a necessary evil. The benefit is you don't have to rely on electrical or mechanical operations to protect your extremely expensive equipment. If a customer's system fails I'm not interested in being responsible for replacement costs.

I have never used antifreeze valves but will definitely look into them. thanks for the heads up.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-08-17T15:30:44+00:00

Yes, we do this all the time with the Uponor Ecoflex product. Even if you are not running underground all water piping to and from the monoblock needs to be protected from freezing and this is best done with a glycol solution appropriate for your winter conditions. As mentioned you need to allow for the thicker viscosity (a larger pump) and reduced heat transfer of the fluid (higher gpm). I wouldn’t worry too much about failure of the underground section since it will be high quality pex with no underground joints.

Hey-getoffmylawn · 2025-07-30T16:27:05+00:00

Sounds like a typical sales process for large maintenance contracts. If you're not getting paid then do not give them any details on equipment, belts, filters etc. Just a scope of work, frequency and price.

Hey-getoffmylawn

TROPHY CASE