thunder04

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I'm having my HVAC system replaced this week. Today is day one of the project. New 97% efficiency furnace, 16 SEER A/C system, and new duct work. As a bonus, I'm also having the attic insulation brought up to today's standard (which I think is R-40?).

Here are before pics:




Current 80% efficient furnace original to the house (1993):



Current 10 SEER A/C Compressor installed in 1999:



When you pop your head though the attic access, this is what you are greeted with:





There's no way my rear-end can squeeze through that mess. Thankfully they're going to fix this with improved duct work.



I have two air returns. One in the hallway and one in the master bedroom. The master bedroom return is the type that houses a filter, but the return in the hallway is not. The current furnace has a spot for a filter inside the blower box (which is a pain in the butt), but this is something I've been meaning to fix since I bought the house but never got around to it. They're going to fix it for me.

More to come as work is completed. They estimate the new system won't be up and running until sometime Wednesday. They're going to give us electric heaters to use while we have no central heat, but it's going to be a cold couple of nights...at least to California standards .

thunder04

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Furnace is gone:



Furnace parts:



Ducting and additional parts (it looks like the TSX gets to sleep outside for a couple nites )



HOLYCRAPTHISISTHENEWCONDENSOR:

thunder04

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Not a whole lot to show for today. Most of the work was in the attic. Here's what I can show...

The return ducting coming together:



New hall register:



New larger master bath register:



Old master bath register for comparison (the long piece on top of the skylight cover on the right):



New very cool thermostat:



Pad for the new condenser:



Return hole in new furnace:

dallison

great pics and upgrade. We just did ours 2 years ago and it's a 15 seer. We're planning on selling in about 4 years, so this will really help. Most of the houses in our neighborhood still have their original 10 year old units, so if we sell at the same time this might help to sell.

thunder04

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^ Have you noticed a difference on your utility bill?

I'm hoping I'll notice a few dollars, but I'm not counting on it all that much. Knowing my luck the rates will increase to make up for any potential savings . What I am more looking forward to is a more evenly heated and cooled house and a system that can handle the hottest days and the coldest nights. My old system did OK, but on days over 100 degrees the A/C would never shut off. It'd maintain the 78 degrees I asked of it, but it had to work really hard. The old furnace was over-sized, so it heated the place no problem .

Something I'll have to do research on is the humidity control. I have no clue what ideal humidity is. Do I even need to control humidity??

thunder04

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And it's done!







I don't have any after picture of the attic (too lazy right now), but the access is still a pain. I guess if I really want to wall mount my rear speakers I'll need to learn how to get myself in there, or maybe move the attic access to a bedroom closet . The insulation guys were in and out in an hour and a half or so, and there's definitely more insulation up there!

The crew who installed the HVAC system spent most of today looking for and sealing leaks within the system. They were able to bring the duct leakage down to 2% which is amazing. most of that was probably in the painters tape they used to cover my ducts for the leakage test.

In San Joaquin county the furnace must be hardwired and not connected via an outlet like in the picture. The inspector passed them anyway (and commented on the quality of the install), but they fixed it after he left.

The house heats much more evenly now. The master bedroom is still a tad cold (like maybe a degree or two...you have to be paying attention to notice the temperature change), but it's a huge improvement from the 5 degree temperature difference with the old system.

I'll need to get used to this HE furnace. It's much different in how it operates. The whole multi-stage thing and variable speed blower is really cool!

All in all, I'm happy. But now, I have to pay for it.

chill_dog

Looks and sounds like a HUGE improvement! It's amazing what almost 20 years in technology can do for you.

Gfaze

Nice, how much did that cost if you don't mind me asking? My house was built in 1994 and it's pretty much the same system you had. The furnace looks identical to mine.

thunder04

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Roughly $10,970 after a ~$1,950 grant from CHF (definitely look into it). I had the work done through SolarCity's Energy Efficiency group (they handled the CHF part of the process too) and they did an awesome job.

I can already tell that it's a major improvement. With the added attic insulation the house's heat loss is definitely slower. I turned the thermostat down from 70 to 65 at 9:30, and as of now (11:52) it's still 69 degrees inside with an outside temp of 44 degrees. With the new system the house heats nice and evenly. When the system is maintaining a constant temperature I don't even notice the system cycle.

I can't wait for summer to see how the A/C side of the system performs .