I wouldn't try it on a new system, but if it's low again, it's worth a shot:
EasySeal Direct Inject

There will always be an option out there for 22. There are too many systems out there that they need to keep going. At least long enough so that you won't have to worry about it before you need to replace. They don't mfr it anymore, but there are replacements that are successful, and everything that comes out of existing systems is reclaimed and resold.

Downstairs unit you can check... delta T across the coil should be 20. If so, it's doing everything it can do.

 

That sucks. We had our upstairs unit stop cooling 2 weeks ago. Got lucky & it was just the fan motor on the outside unit, was still under warranty, so we were just out for $300 labor for a weekend svc call.

 

Looking good Jason.

Keeping the house at 72 I live in Cali where we think anything over 85 is hot and the air goes on, but I keep my A/C at 76-78.

 

72 my girlfriend would prefer it to be 68 in the house all day long.

 

So ran my two tests on back to back days with temps outside that were as identical as you can get with weather.

Day 1 - upstairs set to 70, downstairs set to 70, door at the top of the steps was closer seperating the two spaces. Max outside temp recorded by thermostat was 94 degrees but that is pulling from who knows what weather service. Accuweather for my zip code that day registered 96F feels like 107F. The downstairs high temp during the day got to 73 degrees. The upstairs high temp for the day was 74. Still trying to figure out if that is because my AC can't keep up or the overall R value of products used in my home letting in too much heat/not keeping the cold in well enough.

Downstairs


Upstairs



Day 2 - upstairs set to 70, downstairs set to 70, door at the top of the steps was open to allow airflow. With the upstairs door open the down stairs temp only got up to 72 with the increased air coming down from the second floor. The upstairs temp also only got to 73. So it seems like with the door open air is cirulating better overall I guess. However, I wish I had a third day to test so I could shut the door upstairs and let that area get a lot warmer. Just trying to figure out a balance between cooling cost and cooling efficiency.

Downstairs
​​​​​​​

Upstairs
​​​​​​​


Regardless though of either choice which seems too close to really matter the HVAC starts running at like noon and doesn't shut off again till the late evening. That is partly cause at 10pm the downstairs is set to go to 68 since that is where the master is.

My parents place about 20 miles away that I have been monitoring as well which is a mostly brick house instead of fiber cement board the units kick on twice an hour for 10-15min and are able to keep the temp. It is set to 77 though while no one is there this week so it isn't a great comparisson.

 

what is your return air temp vs. your supply air temp? That will tell the rest of the story.

 

Checking using what? Just like a basic instant read thermometer?

 

whatever will work

 

if it's not around 20 degrees delta, you're not at capacity

 

So you are saying the temperature coming out of my vents should be 20 degrees colder than what is being pulled through the return?

 

Rule of thumb, yeah. If everything is working correctly.

 

So I have been planning a project for a long time for audio and TV out at my firepit. In the spring and fall I like to do as much outside living as possible. The full plan consists of 2-4 speakers and a 50in TV. The receiver for all of this will be housed in my shed which is not all that far away from my firepit. This is also the source of my electric. The audio will come from a Google Chromecast audio hooked into the receiver. I knocked off the first small piece of it last night but it will still probably be a long time till the whole thing is finished. I needed a shelf for the audio receiver to sit on so took some scraps I had laying around and built one.

Location for the shelf with power already right below it.


Used some scraps I had from a pallet I tore apart.


I picked up a 1/4in thick 2x2ft square of plywood at Lowe's cause turns out I don't have any plywood around the house and then trimmed it to size. The shelf is 19 D x 21 WD with 7in of clearance above. Just enough for a receiver but not enough to hopefully be in the way in the shed. Still deciding if I need to add an additional support or not for it.




This isn't the final receiver I will be using as still waiting for my dad to bring it down from PA next time he comes. It will be an old Denon that has 60w per channel. This Bose outdoor amp though works really well if anyone is looking for an idea to power outdoor speakers. You can pick them up on ebay for less then $100 and they are 2 ch amp with 100w per channel. Going to use this one to put speakers on my deck and mount it up in the attic/roof. The amps have audio sensing so you can just hook a chromecast audio up to it and when you start playing something to it it comes out of power save mode. For the time being I have taken my Bose 251 speakers out of my garage and will probably mount them out there for this year. I eventually plan to go with Definitive Technology AW6500s. Two will go at the fire pit and two will go on my back deck. That should be enough coverage to fill the backyard and probably annoying my neighbors too.


Only thing left to at least get the speakers working is to figure out how I want to do the speaker wires into the shed. Trying to decide if I drill a hole and put them up through the the roof overhang and then caulk the hole shut or do I buy a bunch of conduit and run it under ground and drill a hole up through the bottom of the shed for the conduit.


As much as I want to get the TV done for this fall I am not sure it will be in the budget or time frame of my schedule.

 

I love this...
you always do everything so well and think it through.

 

Awesome work man. That shelf will be more than strong enough to hold up a receiver. IMO, I'd run the wires from the top rather than conduit from the bottom.

 

The only reason I considered conduit is it would get hem out of eye site and hide them underground. Otherwise for me it really doesn't matter where they go. I guess it could increase the life of the wire with being out of the sun as well. Would be a lot more work though to put about 30ft worth of it in the ground.

 

I'd go up too...
you don't want to create a drip line for water intrusion either...keep it high, keep it tight. Use your caulk as often as possible.

 

Cool little project, I've always wanted to run some speakers and TV outside, just been too lazy

 

in more ways than one...

 

i know its more work, but i'd go underground... it's only 30 ft you could probably rip up quickly if it's just dirt... maybe use a gas powered tiller?

i'm only against overhead because they are exposed and i have dumb birds that will just sit on the wire...

 

if birds come rest on your wife, caulk them too.

 

i got the damn squirrels being all squirrely too...

 

Damn lot of caulk talk in here.

Right now my power wire for my fire pit lights it run from the roof edge fo the shed cause there is an outlet on the outside there and it was easy. If I do conduit I could do two one for audio/video and a second for a power fire. I would not want to do them together for interference. It will be adding a bit of complexity to the install but it is probably the right way to do it. That being said I am not sure it would be very hard to redo the wires at a later date either.

 

Don't forget the boner caulk

 

I like a tight seal..

 

I totally misunderstood what you were asking. I thought you were hanging the speakers from the outside of your house and was totally confused at why you'd run a conduit up the side of your house.

You're right, go with a LV conduit for speaker and a HV conduit for power. The advantage of this is you can easily pull wire back and forth with the conduit in place. Just make sure you leave extra space in the conduit.

 

RIght now the power wire for my lights is just an extension cord that comes off an outlet on the outside of my shed. It jumps from 3 trees to get to the tree that the lights start at. I would be mounting the speakers to two of the trees around the fire pit because one it will be easier that putting in posts and two because it will look more natural which I am trying to keep.





The original and still thinking of following that path as it cuts down on the cost but I know it probably is the best longterm solution.

Going to take some measurements tonight and see how much conduit I would really need.

 

that looks legit, bro...
don't want to rewire that properly cause then people will know you might have some sense and probably a nice tv inside to steal. with it hanging out like that I'm picturing a CRT 32" for the living room.

 

You can also do some rock look alike speakers if you want to hide them more and not mount up in a tree.

 

you conduit....

 

I worry how well the sound stage will be from there and also if they would fill with dirt on the grills from dust blowing around. Still considering them cause the Klipsch ones are pretty highly rated and about the same price as the Def Tech AW6500.

 

You're outdoors, in the middle of some trees sitting on camp chairs around a home made firepit and you're worried about sound stage? I'd just do the rock speakers to hide them, not for the sound quality. Klipsch ones are great and I'm almost positive they are properly rated for dust/water ingress.

 

it's the reason i moved away from a dedicated sound system for the back patio and just use two JBL Charge 3 speakers synced together... B/T tech has come a far way and i just bring it inside when done...

 

I had been doing the bluetooth thing but I hate taking it out every time and by the fire it isn't the loudest really with a large group of people. I really would rather just be able to go out and select firepit speakers as a chromecast device and the music play there. The rock speakers probably do make a good bit of sense as long as I can get the conduit run and not hit too many tree roots. The speakers also will help cause TV spakers are useless today so they will be good ot have for the game audio.

With higher end outdoor speakers you can build a fairly decent soundstage. Obviously won't be perfect as an indoor room but I have heard some friends outdoor setups that sound really good. They even make ported outdoor in ground subwoofer kits which make a suprising amount of base in an outdoor space which isn't enclosed.

 

I just realized the problem.
You have too much time on your hands!

 

I have a problem of having too many interests and liking to always have some sort of project going on. Lack of something has given me some extra time but when I need even more time to work on projects I just end up taking it out of my sleep time usually.

Been trying to figure out if I make my TV install permenant with concrete posts or somehow build it and make it moveable. Also deciding between cedar and pressure treated lumber for it.

 

moveable for sure...
with the sun and angles and reflections, you want to be able to position that bitch wherever you want.
You aren't lacking anything, man...

 

movable arm for sure...

 

Oh I will be putting it on a moveable arm for sure but I am going to build some sort of cabinet to enclose it in so it isn't just put in the weather. Didn't think bolting a moveable arm straight to a tree would be a good idea.

Was thinking something like this but not as deep and only the top half where the TV would be would open up. Then mounting the movable arm inside of it. The question would be do I build that around two 4x4 posts I concrete into the ground or build the bottom base out of composite decking with some sort of feet I can use to level it with so that if I want it can be somewhat moveable to a different location.



Fairly Similar to this actually




Other options would just be to conrete in two 4x4 posts about 4ft part and actually build a slatboard wall. Then mount an enclosure similar to this onto the wall.



Whatever option will be fairly big cause looking at 49-55in TVs. Whatever I put out there will need to be a fairly bright TV since it won't be under a roof. If will have a decent amount of tree shade though.

 

Then there is this idea but I need to figure out some plans to build one and see how much a TV lift costs