HVACR VIDEOS HOUSE PROJECT PART 1

[@awesomestuff9715]

saying "i'll fix that" and then never actually fixing it is too relatable lol

[@bradwilmot5066]

I do agree that a minisplit in the office would be a good idea (having done the same myself for my computer gear, it made all the difference in the world). Luke is wandering around going "Who is dad talking to?"

[@arthurhartwick7974]

Get a merv 1 fiberglass filter

[@sqike001ton]

yea alot of IT types have been recommending them to there companies home office workers a friends wife has benefited it lower there electric bill and saved on there heating oil bill over the winter of 20-21 she is able to lower the temps in the house and keep her office where she wants it

[@petersmart1999]

It would be a good choice overall,air handler,ducted system,and wall or floor mounts for the rest!

[@maxwellochieng5329]

@@sqike001ton kudos💪👍

[@mountain177]

Well Chris, if you "really" want to go extreme. Put a temp sensor in each room and add zone dampers to direct the cooling air where needed, and then automate it all with some sort of home automation. For fresh air, i like the idea of adding an economizer behind those exterior louvers. At least, thats what I'd do. But i like complicated things like that.

[@ljv2094]

BRYANT/CARRIER does a pretty good job in modulating air damper you just need to over size the duct work....but I think that'll be overkill in my opinion. If I where him if he where to have space in his attic I would locate it in the attic more room for improvement in ductwork especially

[@Brad.W]

@@ljv2094 I wouldn't take a Bryant/Carrier system if someone gave it to me for free. In my area HVAC contractors run from Bryant/Carrier as well as Rheem/Ruud they all only deal in American Standard/Trane, Heil, Bosch, as well as a few other companies I'm not familiar with. Last year whenever I was looking to upgrade my 25-year-old system I had about 9 different companies come out to give me estimates and every single one of them told me that both Carrier or Rheem brands are usually garbage builder grade systems unless you like replacing parts every year their quality control recently is garbage and the HVAC community where I live all are saying that they will not use them because they are known to have problems directly from the manufacturer you get what you pay for. Personally I wound up with a 2 stage American Standard Gold 18 heat pump system with a matching full variable speed air handler I'm slightly oversized at 5 tons but since it is a two-stage system it rarely runs in that second stage except in the hottest months of the summer which sounds like what this guy needs to do. If I was him I would get rid of that single stage crap and put get either a variable speed or two stage system with a variable speed blower that will solve his short cycling almost instantly at least it did for me..

[@gelo1238]

I was thinking about that too

[@Heatherder]

@@Brad.W not only do most manufacturers use the same parts, and not only is Carrier one of the better, not worse, brands, but Heil literally belongs to Carrier. You have no idea what you’re talking about lmao.

[@hvacslayer2929]

@@Brad.W Lol okay

[@chickmagpunk]

It would be sweet to see a HVACR tech go hog wild and put in a really fancy but reliable system. Something I could in future refer back to when I get a house and want to get an ultimate setup 😊 Thanks for doing this Chris, looking forward to the OCD HVACR install haha

[@svenweihusen57]

What I was thinking is a geothermal system. You can sink cages under your lawn where you get your heat from in the winter and can dump heat in the summer. You don't need a lot of heating but you always have something like 12°C of earth temperature which is making a cooling system incredible efficient. And you get totally rid of the outside unit plus fans etc.

[@merlinbrother1177]

Real person, real house. Shows you one of us

[@wyrdlg]

Hell - so nice to see a normal families house like many of live in.

[@mtcruse]

I'm glad to see that someone else, and a professional at that, weighs down their filter with something that doesn't belong in that air handler. I use a big flat rock.

[@tjhanlonjr]

My house was built in 1923 I know the pains brother I had everything done and my heat bill and electric bill went down by 43% what you are doing is gonna help u keep going I'm enjoying watching thank you.

[@shadowdemon7770]

I went all mini split in my home (4 bed 2 bath) I Took two, 4 zone mini split and installed them my self. It was crazy how much money I saved. I don't cool the entire home at night, just the two rooms where my wife and I, and my daughter sleep. The other two rooms and the rest of the house don't run. In the summer it can get hot, but these mini splits work so well that my rooms can go from 90° in door, to 76 in less than 10min, no kidding!. I love them cause it cut my power bill in half, not having to cool rooms that no one's even in, is great! Good luck on your project

[@Richie_7777]

Two ideas: Daikin Fit- inverter with communicating in and outdoor plus additional options such as indoor air monitor, fresh air, etc. Bosch-inverter HP. I’ve worked on both sides wholesale and install. Feel free to reach out. I’ll try to shot you a mail too. Enjoy your content, educational without fluff. Have a lot of respect for you. Wish the world has more people like you. Thanks.

[@joshuaobelenusable]

I'm glad you showed your flaws, we are all human, we all have them. "I will get around to fixing that, you dont have to remind me every 6 months about it!" I still have a big gap in my sliding glass door, along with jalousie windows in the basement, plus a leaky coil from an undersized central return pulling in cold air from under the tub, freezing the coil. Heck, we have one building still running an old Pulse furnace! It's amazing how we put off our own projects when we get busy...

[@icandreamstream]

I did the same thing with the mini split in my office and it’s been amazing. Highly efficient and 100% worth it. I now set the house to 80-82 when no one’s home and keep my office cool with the mini split and save a lot.

[@davidciciora]

It's crazy how similar you setup was exactly how mine is...oversized by a whole bunch. I got a new AC and I had no idea on any HVAC terms or anything...I started having the same issues you stated and the oversized AC that I got fleeced by is exactly why I started watching your videos...now I feel like I know more about HVAC stuff than I ever need to. My main way of fixing this right now is to use the Ecobee to set the Cool Differential Temp up about a full degree...it helps with the short cycling and humidity a lot. I am saving to replace my (new) system again now armed with a lot more knowledge thanks to you and youtube to make an informed purchase in the future...

[@NewLineFarms]

I am just a simple farmer and while I can't give you any real knowledgeable input I do want to take the time and thank you for sharing these videos I have learned so much about so many different things and look forward to learning more keep up the great work

[@dennishamilton772]

That old wood trunk looks cool. The storage system of yesteryear:)

[@watermanone7567]

In your area humidity may not be an issue, however, where it is an issue you need to have longer run times to dry out the air, so use smaller equipment. Also short cycling is very hard on AC units as you know. In addition in humid areas if you use oversized equipment and it short cycles, it makes the house feel like a refrigerator, it cools so fast that the humitity is still in the house. This is why some people hate AC. I had a house with high velocity AC in it and really liked it. Thanks

[@cvr24]

The Ecobee thermostat can activate the dehumidification cycle in the furnace/blower, which is simply slowing the fan down by 15 to 25% to allow more condensation to come off the cooling coil with slower airflow. It is a real game changer for home comfort because getting the humidity down has a huge impact on perceived comfort (refer to ASHRAE 55)

[@watermanone7567]

@@cvr24 Correct, however, you need to be cautious of freezing the coil. I would install a freestat on the coil if using this method. Thanks

[@theberrybest]

I got crazy with my house. Put everything in the attic. Individual, dampered ducting to each room. Returns run into the bedrooms with the hottest load. Main 16" return in the center of the home. Bar type registers and return boxes. 5" filter at the furnace. Full plenums on each end. Nest thermostat system. New insulation in the attic, and walls. Not the blown in stuff either. Filter dryer at the coil. Etc..... It took several weekends to complete. It was a pain in the ass install, but glad I did it. No more comfort issues. You can't even hear if my system is on, or off. Good luck. Looking forward to your project.

[@snoopyjc]

I got the spray foam and blown-in insulation and it saved me a bunch on my heating and cooling bills!

[@thewatchersofthewood3530]

I love the super high R-Value of the spray foam and the ease of the installers putting it in but worry about VOC and off gassing down the road. I have seen that CBC special where the installer made a mistake on the mix and they had to rip the whole roof off! My buddy just did blow in and fiberglass bats in his 1900's house and it mad a huge difference too. He was going to do foam but could not find a company that could do it.

[@Tylerxy]

Heat pump Mitsu inverter system. For building science stuff, look at some of the videos by Matt Risinger. He had a lot of good stuff on really sealing his house up and fresh air delivery. For the computer room, consider getting an enclosed rack and venting it out. That's how you would do it in a data center.

[@herbbenson6884]

This is going to be fun. Thanks for inviting us into your home and for bringing us along on this interesting adventure. Best of luck with the outcome.

[@semidvdcdt8433]

Loved it. Been in my home for 12 years. Got a 12k btu heatpump. Finally changing it for a 18k . Plus, first owner was a master electrician and put most of the lights switches upside down. Been " lowering" the dimmer switch down to get more light for 12 years. It does irritates with accumaltion of small things. Great vids as always

[@Novalight2550]

This sounds like fun. Please do document it all. It'll be entertaining to watch and learn from the little things while also helping give you that little push to complete these little fix-up projects that have been on the back burner for a while.

[@Silentusc2011]

Checkout Daikin VRV Heat Pump system. Got one installed 2 years ago and I love the performance. One of the best features is the variable speed compressor and fans, in the evenings when the temps start to cool down the unit will run very efficiently and quiet.

[@AfterDark33]

Something that I feel like you would definitely benefit from is having multiple air returns. With a hall and rooms set up like you do, the further you get away from that central return, the worse circulation you are gonna have, even with the amount of supply ducts. With that said, I don’t know if you would need returns in every room, but having two or three spaced throughout would help rooms like your office get the circulation they need to stay cool.

[@jochemsluis8834]

Inverter is your go to for comfort and energy. The short/rapid cycling is hard on contactors ,start gear and your constant inrush currant. Go the whole way and do ground source heatpump design. Most energy efficient as uses the ground for the exchange which doesn't really change all year round. On most we get 4:1 ratio and doesn't matter if freezing outside or a scorcher the ground stays the same temp in the ground.

[@johnamendola5758]

I put a Bosch 20 seer inverted heat pump in my house and have had it in for about two years and it is an absolute great system. I think you’ve be very impressed by it. It’s right up your alley.

[@seepoowoop]

I saw one recently and they’re crazy efficient

[@kathrynwhitby9799]

Hi Chris, Here in the UK (mostly colder) the general principles are geared towards energy efficiency, so domestic a/c is not common. Instead gas central heating using radiators is the norm, with a Gov recommendation to keep the heating set to 19-20*C. Standard construction practices are; double glazing (two panes of glass), roof insulation to a minimum of 6 inches (Rockwool is a good product), wall insulation where possible - we mostly have brick wall construction, so not every home can have that, and LED lightbulbs. Draughtproof door and window seals are a "must" too. UK homes are also less open plan between the kitchen and living rooms, with the kitchen having an extraction hood over the cooking hob to remove steam and fumes to the outside. Having those window blinds are good for preventing solar gain during the day. Finally, as for the noise issue, try some cheap foam ear-plugs to see if they can help you adjust ready for when you change your unit. PS, don't go for spray foam in your attic, try to get some multi-layer foil insulation (google it) to line the inside under the shingles/tiles instead.

[@longhornchris5919]

Just to add that while the U.K. isn’t an air conditioning market for the most part, here in the south east (inside the M25) it’s getting to be one. Myself and several neighbours have put in mini splits - working from home has pushed many to bite the bullet on this. In central London, it’s getting to be an essential to sell, certainly at the mid-to-high end of the property ladder.

[@james42519]

easy fix for lights could be led lights. they have flood light type that can screw in or can change the cans for the flat led ones they have now. they have color ones too if you want to have smart lights can control with phone and stuff too.

[@tcstom1243]

Good air flow is key. Properly sized duct work, properly insulated duct work, properly installed duct work. Accurate load calculations is a must. Proper supply and return air grills, with correct placement in space. Metal ducts are best, insulated outside. Fiberglass will work also and keep costs lower. Go over all joints with mastic sealant for both metal and fiberglass ducts. Take a look at Bosch units. Inverter heat pumps. High tech. Very good. Also consider an attic exhaust fan if you have enough make up air for the fan and attic space. They work wonders in hot attics. A.C. runs more efficiently also. Good luck with your project.

[@TusBel]

You and your family have waited for a very longtime; give them a real treat- go extreme. You have the skills to deal with any outcomes

[@JeremyJohnson79]

Not crazy at all and you and your house are completely normal. I love that you did this pre-walk through. Looking forward to this series of videos.

[@Rich_123]

Set your thermostat temp differential to 1.5° for longer cycles. I run 1.5° for cooling and 2.0° for heating on my ecobee. Get a CO2 meter for the common area of your house to determine if you actually need a lot or a little fresh air. I can single handedly fill my house with CO2 to 1000ppm if I don't open a window or two.

[@erikrobles5727]

I live in Az if you open a window in the summer while the Ac is running that area or room in the house get really warm

[@prettycureforever7102]

Why do all that work ? 4ton is way too big for a house 2 or a 2.5 would work for him

[@matthewgregory8218]

What about a Goodman system they seem very good or a carrier system.

[@matthewgregory8218]

And are you guys getting down LED pots for the house ?

[@zacharyloewke6366]

Cool project! I do very high end residential installs up in Seattle. I've been installing a lot of the communicating Trane Tam series systems. They can be easily zoned if you wanted to and the heat pumps are very quiet and easy to work on. We often integrate the ductwork and controls with Lifebreath HRV systems to provide a consistent and efficient source of fresh air. Something like that combined with a tighter building would probably be great for your situation. The Mitsubishi ducted mini splits are also fantastic. Really compact and flexible.

[@flyinghigh5531]

Try a daikin, Mitsubishi, vrv with a branch box. Up to 8 ports. You can run a air handler and multiple ductless off one system. Even a cassette style in the ceiling,floor mount , ducted mini zones. There are a lot of options!

[@A.Navarre]

Carrier minisplit heatpump with a fan coil inside and 24v interface kit. Keep the eco bee. You get the inverter system with the efficiency and high seer ratings for a fraction of the cost of say an infinity system. I just installed this in my home with a furnace for back up heat.

[@Mike-zd9qz]

The mini-splits have a seer from 17 - 30 and the outside units are light enough to hang on a wood wall. They're also very quiet inside and out. I'm not in the AC business, but love your videos. I can remember when I first started watching; a micron gauge, what the hell is that. Well now I know. Thanks

[@joerone6082]

Trane xv20i with zoning. I installed one in my parents house in Lake Havasu. The temperature in the house is a constant 74 degrees. Quiet, reliable, and energy efficient. Compressor coast’s right along at 50% or less the majority of the time, I also recommend doing a manual J calculation on your house before you choose system size. It will size your system correctly.

[@russellmurphy3835]

Use a zoned approach. Place returns in every room. This allows for your high btu office and garage room. I installed solar screens on all my windows and storm doors. This greatly reduced my electrical consumption. These are all just suggestions that I found beneficial in my home. I live in Texas with high humidity and heat. This summer I had three months of 100+ degree days. I also use a heat pump. Let me know what you think. I truly appreciate and enjoy your videos.

[@Georges3DPrinters]

1:26 If you could move coil and furnace up a ways I see a solution. I can already see that you should increase size of return and I would move up the door and cut it shorter or replace it with correct size, cut out existing to reframe for next width return.

[@Georges3DPrinters]

Wow, no space! Time to renovate the cabinet and move ceiling up.

[@Georges3DPrinters]

15:05 omg! lmfao! I pretty much did this exact same thing for my living room and cut into the laundry room. I totally understand 😆

[@webluke]

Nice video series. I have a Red Fox Lab about the same age, and I approve of your dog's name ;D I put a hole in my wall in a similar way running doorbell wire the bit pulled into the sheetrock, but I just patched the small hole, still need to paint it. I put a mini-split in my office when we moved in. I basically learned how to do it by watching your and others' videos. After I install my solar system, I plan on putting in a few more mini-splits to heat and cool our house over propane and swamp coolers. Having the mini-split above me with 2 computers running and working from home as a software developer, has really helped me not be uncomfortable when it's 100F out in the Western Colorado deserts.

[@doctorcrankenstein349]

Glad you put out another video, nice to see some residential stuff

[@riakata]

If you get an inverter based system you can oversize it all you want and in reality you should calculate the worst case heating and cooling load (take into account extreme outside ambient conditions) and size a unit larger than that. If you go for fresh air exchange while an ERV/HRV would recover some heat/cooling you would also have to take that into account. Having an indepent dehumidifier and humidifer on the whole house circuit would also improve indoor comfort.

[@coltx5542]

I am a diagnostic technician for residential and light commercial work in Pittsburgh PA. I would recommend trane xv20i heat pump with tam9 air handler. My ballpark depending on amount of windows in the house and square footage would recommend a 3 ton. Inverter technology would help considerably with your semi vaulted ceilings. I would definitely move it into the attic. Tam9 air handler is insulated and polycarbonate. Great for hotter than average attics. Would definitely blow in insulation at a minimum in the attic if not spray foam roof joists.

[@gammerr82]

All that good idea. The more the balance the better.

[@thewatchersofthewood3530]

I would definitely go for an Inverter mini split. I installed Mitsubishi MUZ Hyper Heat mini split on an indoor basement office and workshop that has no windows. It has been a game changer for the middle of summer and deep into winter the office is always perfect temp, even have the interface for a Nest thermostat so I can remotely control it. I looked at Fujitsu and a few other but the 30seer of the MUZ and extreme cold weather performance sealed the deal. I also like that it's nearly silent and has automatic air sweeps. Cant praise it enough.

[@eggman9713]

Hyper heat is probably not necessary for his climate. I have the non hyper-heat MXZ in my house and it cranks out loads of heat down into the 30s, although one of my zones has electric auxiliary heat (we replaced a similar system and just went back in with it to save install cost). But my office zone does not have aux heat and it is plenty even into the low temps.

[@thewatchersofthewood3530]

@@eggman9713 Oh yes, the Hyper Heat is not needed where he is but I will say those models usually have the highest SEER of the model line. I also like that they have pan heaters so when you do have several cold days or a big winter storm you can run all the time on heat pump alone. We had a big winter freeze with ice storms last year and my heat pump kept clear even with loads of snow and Ice all over and around it.

[@eggman9713]

@@thewatchersofthewood3530 The base pan heater is also an optional accessory on the normal MXZ unit. My system has it installed since my dealer just does that for this region since we do have cold winters but not insanely cold. You need to make sure it's enabled on the control board once it's installed. It can be set to always operate when outside is 38F or lower, or to only operate if it's below that temperature AND in heating mode. You can choose to save some energy ( it is a 150W constant heater after all) when it's not actually running, but I run it only on outside temp. Mitsubishi is in the process of consolidating some of their larger (3-5 ton) M-series multi-zone units with the S-series City Multi into the Smart Multi unit that can be used with either system's fan coils and controls. They also improved them so the SEER rating is identical or very close whether you choose hyper heat or not on the Smart Multi units. The one thing about the hyper heat is that it isn't available in 5 ton because of how those units are constructed.

[@thewatchersofthewood3530]

@@eggman9713 Oh I should look into the heater. I know it's running in the winter but it may be on more than it should be. Where is the setting for that? Does this MXZ have programming software or it it all though the remote and special presses and counting the blinking lights?

[@eggman9713]

@@thewatchersofthewood3530 For the base heater setting, it should just be a dip switch setting in the outdoor unit. Mine is a 4 ton double-stack unit from 2020, I am not sure if it's the same on the single stack units. There has also been a new generation of units released this year so it may be different now. You would have to get hold of the service manual for it. All of the outdoor unit settings on mine are dip switches. The indoor unit settings vary. Some of them are dip switches, some of them are jumpers that are either intact or cut, and some of them are "mode settings" or "request codes" you set through a Mitsubishi thermostat. There are a lot of variables there.

[@johnbirdsong4054]

I would look into the LG or Diakin systems. They both offer a AHU with electric heat and utilize a high efficiency mini split condenser. With you having mild winters compared to some the electric heat would be true emergency heat for you. They work great and are very quiet when installed properly. I would also say encapsulating your attic will be as big a help as replacing the equipment. You can also buy covers for the can light so you can insulate them and prevent that heat transfer.

[@PeteGaughenbaugh1]

The Bosch 20 seer stuff is nice equipment. I like that they only have 2 sizes, up to 3 ton and 3 to 5 ton. For fresh air we like an ERV. Matt Risinger (The Build Show on YT) has a couple of great videos on high performance home HVAC.

[@johnshapira8986]

Have a Bosch in my house, install them at our work too. Fantastic systems. No complaints. I mean they break but everything does, but I hardly see any issues with them if installed properly and taken care of.

[@playchild666]

The mini spilt would be a great idea for the office. Go for the extreme. Looking at the future. From a fan in Barbados in the Caribbean. God bless.

[@tmacgee1234]

Nice looking forward to seeing the process. I put 2 fujitsy ducted minisplits , multiple in my house. I chose low static for my place and it is night vs day difference in energy costs. Its been 5 years so far and no problems. Just a maintenance every year and filters changes. But an attic fan will help take a load off the house if you choose not to insulate. Your ductwork realistically has to be changed based off what I saw so a new design specifically for low static is the way to go.

[@scotts4125]

Attic fans have been show to be problematic. Not sure if it was Matt R. but someone did a video on it. It ends of sucking the conditioned air out through the attic.

[@hmrody]

This is great! I am going to learn along with you! I did some math on ROI by increasing SEER in my area (Huntsville, AL), and found the numbers interesting... This is going to be fun! Best!

[@hmrody]

Additionally, I have a 4 ton Gibson (Nordyne) AC and a gas furnace in a 2497 sq ft house (housing is way cheaper here than in CA). I haven't actually measured CFM's and static pressures, and before I do anything, I will, but one of my considerations, is to move up to a 2 in pleated filter taking into consideration MERV ratings and pressure drop. My current filter is 24X30X1. I'll have to do a bunch of calculations. I am always super careful about airflow. I have observed a lot of people putting almost HEPA rated filters in a residential setting, and as you know, that the proverbial "stake in the heart" of a system. Like you, I didn't build this house, and I have no idea if the HVAC was done properly, but, i am going to find out. Best!

[@HVACguy813]

Honestly a Bosch Inverter, or a ducted mini split for the whole house would be cool. Aprilaire has great filtration, Arzel has a great residential economizer system, I think the apco uv lights actually might help with something. Encapsulating your attic might be a good idea, definitely recommend consulting someone, I’ve heard horror stories about it if done wrong.

[@elladomisteriosodelaislawoodoo]

My house is literally worse and hvac is a nightmare to deal with. First the house was built in the 40s so proper insulation was not even a thing and it stands on a crawl space. Some windows are double pane but some are still the old aluminium frame. It was originally built with a swamp cooler but before we moved in hvac was installed and a 20 year old used york package unit was installed and highly doubt the ducts are insulated. Also the roof has dark shingles plus the bakersfield heat makes that poor york unit to run continuously and results in extremely high electric bills and that hits us hard being a somewhat low income family so to "temporarly solve" that problem we installed a window swamp cooler and use it when it gets really hot and when its cool use the central unit. Since the house is a rental we cant really do nothing about it but even if we owned that house its going to be a long and expensive list of things to fix. As always i enjoy your videos and it has been good help for me since i will join the hvac trade later on.

[@tristonjamesyoung]

Go extreme and I like watching your videos. Keep up the good work.

[@PATRICK-zj9xb]

Hi there, First off, great idea, looking forward to what you do! I have a attic mounted package, but I redid the attic, which is tiny, about 5 ft height... vents on both ends, and temp wise in summer, 140 - 150 decrees. BRUTAL!! I had it all foamed, temp up there is now air temp... what a change, laid plywood on entire floor, insulated under it, and hung the unit from the roof. I ran double 2"X4" X 10' each side to hang the unit from, that distributed the load nicely! All those tiny leaks add up real fast, the mini split idea for the office is spot on! I'm looking forward to this series!!

[@aaronharrison7729]

If you are thinking of heat pump and spray foaming go all out and put in duel fuel with an iQ drive communicating system with inverter compresor 2 stage cooling 2 stage heat pump with 2 stage of gas. 18 or 19 seer with Honeywell EVR.

[@craigs5212]

I don't have the c-clamp but I wedged a board between the bottom of the blower and top of the filter to keep it from lifting. It initially had a 1/4" bent wire bail to hold down the filter, it never worked and was a PITA. My heat only unit is also oversized, got the blower on low to keep the noise down. For heating it's nice to be over sized, when you start to shiver it will nuke the chill in a couple of minutes. Normally don't need much heat or AC in the SF bay area. Finally decided to add AC to my office a couple years ago, I put in a 8K mini-split, was a great solution -- super quite, cools fast easy install $1k to install. Since I only needed it a few times a year $700 was very reasonable. A year later I put one in the bedroom.

[@Hvaceveryday]

Hi man been a viewer and sub for a little over a year now. Love this video series! I’m in residential HVAC in KY. Just a thought but I have put in a lot of the Bosch IDS 2.0 heat pumps. They are one of the best. Another idea is Allied makes a new lynx series inverter heat pump. I have put in a lot of Ducane Lynx branded equipment. Look into that one. It won the design award this year. Algorithms in the board will match up to about any furnace or air handler and save energy.

[@ericd9744]

I recently ripped a leaking Goodman system out of my Oklahoma house. Went with a Trane XV18 heat pump but also a 95% propane furnace due to winter storms in this area and my wish for redundancy. It’s a fantastic system and had been super efficient. Having the ability to switch between heat options in the winter was a little more up front but has been a big win. The variable speed system makes summer comfort levels great. We are on a 5 ton system but have 2,800 sq/ft, high ceilings and a heavy sun load. Cut my power consumption in half with this system.

[@ericd9744]

Forgot to mention I use the Room IQ function with remote sensors through a 850xl thermostat. Very similar to the ecobee functionality with room sensors.

[@Arides2010]

I am somewhat thrilled to see where this journey takes you. Will be sending an email with a suggestion in a bit.

[@nickolascreely7713]

Video is just Awesome! I work at United and love your videos, love the shout out. Arcoaire is just carrier equip with a different name.

[@coltx5542]

Senville makes a great 120 volt ductless model for your office to help support additional load from computers but it's cheap and is a wall mount unit.

[@JULESRULES9969]

We have a solar panel tied into a mini split and then a big unit for the rest of the home. If the power ever goes out we still have a few hours of battery and cold air with the mini so we can make it through any hot nights without a generator.

[@jimsergi]

Go big, it is all about the show in life, a happy wife happy life

[@SeanFix]

I think an ERV would suite your needs perfectly. That along with the attic encapsulation you were talking about and I would do a two stage ecm heat pump and you should be off to the races. Mini-split would probably be good for the office as well unless you install a bypass above the door.

[@guyhulscher6857]

Sprayfosm the attic, Bosch heat pump, ahu? Which ever you prefer, dump more air in the office, split for the converted garage. Those are my opinions. If you wanted do a arzell soning system for each room zoning.dont know how well it'd work with the wild return though.

[@jeramymann5397]

Really looking forward to this series!!!

[@clerklierbrush0869]

As a fellow hvac guy I also like ecobee. Easy to get in test mode which is really important on newer high efficiency systems.

[@chairez7113]

Can go with a zoned system, either with inverter or 2 stage central unit, you might need modulating dampers at the new supply plenum or power close single step and run thermostat wire to specific rooms to control the temp, downside of mini split with zones or vrf, if there is a leak on refrigerant, it might take a good time to find it, depends if all areas of the home are zoned with mini split..

[@WarpRadio]

There is an old saying: "The Cobbler's family has no shoes on their feet"; one would THINK that of all systems featured on these videos, that YOURS would be the "flagship" of them all! (but, MY broadcast console certainly isn't the flagship of my product either!) You still do excellent work nonetheless. Keep up the great work! :)

[@bryandierken8794]

I work in the desert and we have been installing some dual fuel heat pumps Carrier infinity systems have worked well so far .

[@shapedstones]

Bosch IDS 2.0 inverter system. With mini split unit for the garage space and office potentially. Move system to attic. Returns in each room, replace that single pane in the bathroom. Spray foam the attic where ductwork will go. I'd leave it at that. No need for zoned system, fireplace damper could be addressed, but heat rises and shouldn't be too big of a problem unless your house has negative pressure which is a possibility

[@chriswilson7138]

I just did a whole home performance focused changeout on my 55 year old 2300 sqft house in Dallas, TX about 6 months ago but I am still not done. I removed all attic blown insulation and spent a few weekends using canned foam to seal all gaps and cracks in the attic floor. The attic floor air sealing is done but I didn't have time to install the radiant barrier before the summer, so I just put down about 8" of attic insulation to get us through the hot summer (this is so I can get back to attic crawling this winter without swimming in insulation). If you are concerned about the can lights causing infiltration, consider converting them to LED (if you haven't done so already) and using foil tape to close off all the ventilation holes on the interior of the can since they are not needed with LED's. I did this and caulked around the drywall and can connection behind the trim. It is not a perfect solution for the can lights, but it would help with the infiltration for sure (it all adds up and it looks like you have a lot of can lights). I had a 20 year old unmatched system that was 3.5 tons cooling and 100k BTU 80% furnace stuck in a closet just like yours (I even did the same thing with the filter by holding it down with something heavy). The closet was next to the living room and it was impossible to watch TV when it kicked on. I changed it out with a dual fuel 2-speed system and put it in my attic to create more space in the home. I converted the old HVAC closet to a storm shelter because it was central to the house (we were grazed by a Tornado about 3 years ago and realized we did not have an adequate shelter). I chose 2 speed mainly because most parts for 2 speed equipment (contactors, capacitors, etc) are easier to come by and are stocked at most supply houses vs. inverter equipment (i loved the concept of inverter equipment until the parts shortage hit). A more traditional system had a better chance of same day repair vs. an inverter system. I will say having the equipment in the attic is nice but the heat gain on the equipment is fairly considerable, so consider real radiant barrier (not the paint). I wanted to spray foam the attic but budget and low slope made me concerned that the job would not be done well for what I was going to have to pay for. I did full Manual J, D and S & did a blower door "test in" before the changeout and air sealing (I got 6.6 ACH50, which is really good for a 50+ year old home). I have a lot of computer equipment in my office as well and decided to do a dedicated wall mini split for that room and it was a GREAT decision. We added the 3 ton 2-speed heat pump and 60k furnace for the rest of the house and it was able to keep up with beyond design conditions in Winter and this Summer even with lower than designed attic insulation (the system ran a lot sometimes but 80% of the time its in low speed but once I double the attic insulation at the end of the project, I expect much better performance). I also added a Santa Fe Ultra98 ventilating dehumidifier because I needed ventilation and dehumidification. You probably dont need a dehu but an ERV sounds like a good idea. I used a dedicated Aprilaire 16x25 MERV 16 filter cabinet for my outside air ventilation and panned both sides of the cabinet to connect between my outside air duct and dehumidifier air input. It is overkill but it allows much better filtration of outside air that likely will last at least a year between filter changes vs. the MERV 13 filter on the dehu (ERV filters are not great and have to be changed often due to their size). We control everything with the ecobee 4 thermostat an it works really well together (I LOVE the advanced installation settings on the ecobee, so you can truly customize staging). The inverter stats are proprietary and dont have the level of settings and control that the ecobee has. I still have more work to do before I am ready to do the blower door "test out". I hope to get that done in January/February time frame but I would expect a 30-40% improvement in air infiltration at a minimum (I would be extremely happy with a 4.5 ACH50, but anything below 5.5 would be good too). I am happy with my overall setup but if I were to do it again, I would have: -Done 1 or 2 short ducted central returns and just do short jumper ducts to the bedrooms that dumped into a living space: I decided to go with central returns and adding ducted returns in each bedroom. The amount of flex added by the returns for each bedroom in my small attic is atrocious and adds to the heat gains when the system turns on (I have close to 100ft of 8" or 10" R-8 ducts just for the bedroom returns, depending on the bedroom). It also has made my already tight attic much harder to crawl through. -Completely ripped out all existing ducts including my newish supply ductwork. Most of the flex that I had was about 6 years old but sized for the old system. I was being cheap and due to the flex duct shortage, thought I could reuse it and get it close to the Manual D design but I have spent more time than I should chasing airflow and balance issues. I think my current setup matches the Manual D by about 80%, but there are places where I cannot directly run ductwork due to obstruction or the fact that there is no more spare room to do so. It took me a few months to get everything working in an acceptable method and I still have 1 or 2 changes to make because I am not happy with how I had to route my ductwork through my very cramped attic. It would be much better if I didnt have so many return ducts all over the place fighting for limited space in the attic. -Used Isopropyl Alcohol on all hard duct connection joints & cabinet/plenum connections before applying tapes or mastics. The tapes in particular did not stick as well as it could have due to oil residues and I am sure they will start to unstick in the years to come. I may go back up and re-tape & mastic everything during the winter because it just didnt seem to stick well to everything. -Gone with the largest 4" filter cabinet possible for the HVAC filter. I went with an Aprilaire 16x25 to match my furnace width. I should have done the 20x25 cabinet and transitioned it into the furnace opening. This would have resulted in a little less pressure drop and longer filter life. -Insulated the filter cabinet box - It is not insulated, so it is exposed to 140 degrees of attic heat in the summer (about 3.2 sqft of uninsulated cabinet, but it adds heat gain/loss). I will probably get up there and do it one of these days because I cannot leave well enough alone. I think you have a solid plan here. Dr. Allison Bailes' Energy Vanguard Blog and Corbett & Grace Lunsford's Building Performance channel, and Steven Rardon's Channel are what heavily influenced my decisions on Building Performance approach to my house and HVAC system (both Dr. Bailes and Corbett's companies do Load Calcs if you want them to do one). I am sure you know all about them already but I wanted to share just in case. I thoroughly enjoy your content and the way you explain things and I look forward to following this project in particular.

[@frankigi]

Im especially excited to watch this series. I plan on buying a home and this is a great soup to nuts walk through.

[@andrewedis9907]

R22 is liquid gold right now 🤣🤣 Also cute doggo 🐕. You're right in thinking Inverter combined with addressing your "issues".

[@thewatchersofthewood3530]

Hahah yea, I got a sealed 30lb tank at an estate sale for like $20 last year. My buddy called me and asked it it was valuable and if he should buy it for me as I do HVAC work on the side. Deal!!!!

[@huntereakin4288]

If you want to go a little more extreme I would go with the inverter. You and your family will be happy and comfortable. Just have to make sure the ductwork is adequate and would definitely upsize the return. Encapsulating the attic would really be the cherry on top too lol. I only do Hvac but enjoy watching your vids and have learned a ton from them. Look forward to see what you do with the project.

[@pedrojardim1163]

Good staff Chris Beautiful house for hvacr tech

[@tracysellman1562]

Chris, may I suggest you look at a High Velocity HVAC system like Unico or Spacepak. I am a retired 30+ HVACR Master Tech, and we have installed about 10,000 units like these in many high end homes looking for the best of both worlds, low energy consumption and high effency in home ranging from 1 million to 90 Million dollar homes in Tucson and Phoenix Arizona. With temps hitting 125-130. I can tell you one thing we did a few energy surveys on these homes and found out that over 80% of them used about 3/4 of the power a typical stamped out cookie cutter standard track home, to maintain the same tepms but with a more cunfortable living enveriment. We had one home about 2500 SqFt that we retro fitted a custom designed system to, that went from electric bills of over $600 a month to under $200, we incorporated UV systems, and 5" Honeywell HEPA filter, with an overall system that was almost maitance free and silent. The home owners forgot that they even had a HVAC system, and said the change was well worth it and nothing short of Amazing. Just though I would chime in sinse you asked. Good luck brother, you will get it. and be amazed.

[@specialK_hvac]

Especially a good idea if he likes the white noise

[@tracysellman1562]

@@specialK_hvac If installed properly it has very little sound, you can install the 2-4 inch flex duct with S-bends and sound delinners to reduce noise.

[@electroluxlad]

I completely understand it because I’m a plumber by trade I watch your videos to learn something that maybe sometimes this can help me in the plumbing trade fixings simply issues but I completely agree because when I get home off work I don’t wanna do anything with my plumbing lol but sometimes I have to

[@RJMaker]

You're on the right track IMO. 1) Get a data base-line on the existing structure: Blower Door, Duct, Load, etc.. 2) With that data, Prioritize the biggest impact correction / changes with-in your budget. With that information, you can develop a game plan that you can balance between your needs and wants.

[@tylerwoodley3104]

Definitely would go with inverter heat pump like a Mitsubishi. I also would recommend encapsulating attic to bring into the condition space. Also would add a zehnder system or something similar for freash air.

[@drewsshoplife]

Let me start by saying im not an hvac professional just watch lots on KZbin but the The bosch ids 2.0 systems look interesting. From what i've seen on youtube mikey pipes loves them and they seem extremely efficient and very well built.

[@jstntowner11089]

I'm excited to see this project more than you know

[@safkidd]

Spray foam made an Enormous difference in my house! (way up in Canada) If you want comfort, SEAL IT UP!! Then make sure the ductwork matches the system (for noise) If you are thinking of a ducted mini split for the office, why not try a multi zone?

[@TheGgin]

Not sure what price breaks you get from your Carrier or ICP distributor, but they do offer a program that you can purchase equipment as owner of your company for a reduced price. I have installed 18 SEER 5 stage dual fuel (myself - probably overkill since it doesn't get cold in desert SW like you, but thought I try) and 26 SEER variable AC/furnace - pricey, but customer loves the fully variable Carrier. He wanted this because he has solar. I like my 5-stage...probably should have revamped ductwork, but was too lazy for myself 🙂 Looking forward to your progress!

[@mdpatton2]

I have a Trane XV 18i which is variable speed compressor and a variable speed evaporator a well. It’s awesome! It only runs the tonnage that is needed. My only complaint is I didn’t have a damper system built into it with controls in each room.

[@michaelgraziano8038]

Only two thoughts spring immediately to mind: (1) If you're spending the cash on an inverter system and going all out on high efficiency maybe invest in a power conditioner so your shitty, shitty CA power doesn't cost you a fortune in fried parts. (2) If you want fresh air exchange you probably want an ERV on the fresh air supply. Maybe not as much as we do here in the swamps of NY where opening the vents can make it rain indoors if you're not getting that humidity out of the air, but I gotta imagine it'll save you big on those 120-degree days.

[@DJEZNICK]

After being in the field all day doing work, the last thing I want to do when I get home is anything work related, so I relate to the holes in the wall and whatever else minor defects have been put off. Lol

[@philllsxga.7737]

I've watched a lot of your videos, you are great!! That install is a disaster there is no where near enough air flow for your furnace.. DO NOT USE FLEX DUCT! Use a duckulator for your ductwork sizing.. My house is 1500 sq. ft has a 60, 000 BTU single stage American standard and a two and a half ton Trane condenser and it heat's a cools awesome!! You can hardly hear the heating cycle running!! Put a return in every room.. Put another supply in your master bedroom.. add another supply in your living room.. and the short cycling I believe is because the thermostat is so close to the return.. And definitely use Trane or American standard... I'm standing by..

[@OzarkGenerations]

If considering a heat pump I suggest Bosch's IDS 2.0. They are inverter driven and great for lowering electric bills

[@smithno41]

Do a mini split for the office for sure. Having that room on it's own t-stat will make it comfortable even with the 2000 BTU computer load.

[@Thatplumberguy1995]

I have an Armstrong 20 seer inverter heat pump and a 97% modulating Armstrong furnace. It’s so fricken comfortable in my house 24/7 365. I went crazy with my install and it was 100% worth it. I heat and cool my 1600 sq ft house for a total of around 800$/year at 70 degrees year round. This is in Michigan by the way. Way different climate than you. But still it’s awesome. Just splurge on comfort is my advice. We do this for a living might as well have the top of the line stuff in our house.

[@tweake7175]

absolutely fantastic to see the whole home approach to this. i suspect a lot of decisions will come down to blower door testing, finding the air leaks and thermal camera work. those lights will be interesting. i highly recommend keeping the units inside the home, ie in the existing location if using ceiling insulation. in the attic if you lift the insulation to the roof line, and that will depend on how air tight the roof line is. inverter heatpump for sure and please ignore the comments that its ok to oversize inverters units, it doesn't work well. oversizing inverters effectively turns them into non-inverters. depending on blower door test results, balanced ventilation system would be good. many have bypasses in them that you can use as an economizer, but i don't think thats a big deal.

[@Tyler_5.4]

That filter having hair and dog hair is why I love in-celing conditioners. The pickups are in the ceiling which prevents it from picking up dirt and other stuff off the floor. The accessibility sucks, but you win some you lose some, and it also makes putting the pickups in the ceiling easier

[@JoeyLovesTrains]

1:36 are cycle times not normal? The ac at my house cycles all the time. Never really thought much of it, however it’s an R22 system, and we’re thinking about replacing it eventually. Not sure tho since I’m no the one making the big money decisions (this is my parents house)

[@liminalsunset]

Midea makes what appears to be a whole-house version of a mini-split which I think would be interesting. Typically, because the units modulate, they will always be "perfectly sized" to changing situations, and it'd be interesting to see how well these work. As an added benefit, most of these units are extremely quiet. Multi split systems of a similar design are becoming very common where I'm from and the one the neighbours have, the only times I've seen it running, the fan turns at something like 200-300 RPM at most, producing effectively zero audible noise above the ambient. The compressor is also fully enclosed in multiple layers of sound damping material inside a fully enclosed compartment, which effectively makes it silent. The primary disadvantage of systems like this are that unlike traditional North American equipment like is seen often on this channel, the components are usually non standard, and not interchangeable between units or systems. However, this can be seen as a benefit; a lot of the noise reduction is gained from electronic control, FRP fan blades with custom geometry optimized for high torque low RPM operation along with DC frequency inverters which are paired specifically for the motors and aren't available off the shelf. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYLZo3V9nNCnq6s

[@ntsecrets]

I have a midea clone concealed mini split and I love it, so quiet you can’t tell it’s on!

[@lopescorte104]

Are you talking about a multisplit system? Or a vrf system

[@liminalsunset]

@@lopescorte104 This is a VRF system, but it uses essentially the same outdoor hardware as a multisplit minus the valves. The indoor coil is a standard forced air fan coil type unit, but the fan is not only ECM but is modulated under the control of the VRF system

[@thewatchersofthewood3530]

Yes I am planning this exact concept for my house with Mitsubishi heat pumps next year. I did a MUZ in my basement office and its amazing. I think I will do a 3 zone unit for the upstairs bedrooms and a single zone for the main living area as the 4 zone is just a bit too big and not as efficient to cover the whole house. The 4 zone condenser is not the high seer as the 3 zone unfortunately.

[@Thatplumberguy1995]

@@lopescorte104 it’s essentially a ducted mini split.

[@timadang2880]

I would put mini split units in every room, as they are incredibly efficient. Maybe you could consider floor mounted mini split units. The benefit of individual room units is that, every room can have a different temperature. Greetings from Austria.

[@landonferguson7282]

The downsides to mini splits is the poor filtration.

[@misterhat5823]

They're also horribly expensive.

[@timadang2880]

@@misterhat5823 In most of Europe you can get a mini split for 200€.

[@RjsEpicAdventures]

Extreme set up will be epic and worth it make it look Insain !

[@craigspicer4296]

Like the content like always. I guilty of being a A/C mechanic and still one of my ducts is leak air and i know about it for two months lol. Thank you for sharing this project

[@joeyf504327]

simple is nice for cost effectiveness and reliability. Are inverter boards available in 10 years? But you get more fun with an inverter plus easy zoning for each room.

[@Mikton2509]

Looking forward to seeing how this series progresses. I personally would like to see you incorporate demand control ventilation, maybe through an ERV. The idea for the dedicated mini split for the office sounds like a solid plan as well.