AC/Heat Pump System

The original system, built somewhere around 1995-ish was a 10 SEER system, not very efficient by today's standards.   It was located in a hall closet that I wanted to reclaim so the new system is being moved to the deck above the middle entry hall.

Before demolition

During demolition

The fact that the previous occupants did not regularly install effective air filters left the A-coil clogged with dust, animal hair, and who knows what else, all contributing to even less efficiency.  It must have stank too because I found a scented candle in the air intake cavity.  And finally, given the extremely poor insulation up in the ceiling, the fact that the house leaked like a sieve nearly EVERYWHERE,  you have the makings of an expensive year round heating and cooling nightmare!!

I ripped it all out!

I'm determined to rectify that because like others, I want comfort and I want efficiency and lower bills moving forward hence the spray foam insulation sealing ALL sources of air leakage and an entirely new system with fresh ducts.

The new system....
As mentioned in a prior post, the system being installed is a 15 SEER 3-ton AC/heat pump system by Carrier.  I was blown away by how big the external condensing unit is.  Compared to the old system, it's massive.  Now I like 'big' as much as the next guy but, I don't know, this seems too big.  But the installers assure me it's good.

Mama bear, baby bear

The internal unit, the air handler, is about the same size as any other other unit.  It's designed to either stand up or lay horizontal which is the option I wanted given it was going up on the systems deck behind the fireplace.  I semi-sort expected them to just throw the unit up there, hook it up, and be done.  But they actually hung it from the ceiling joists up in the cupola.

The tool box is for height and balance

The supply end and hang strap.

Hanging it gives it height for drainage.  There's  a drain pan and two drain lines, a primary leading to the laundry drain pipe and a back up leading to the outside should the primary become clogged for whatever reason.  Jorge, one of the installers told me that if I should see water dripping out of the outside drain line that's an indicator of problems and to check it out.

The other benefit of hanging it is that it minimizes noise transmission through the deck floor.  Now it has only 4 straps through which any noise and vibrations through the structure of the house are minimized.  Later in the day they installed the supply plenum.

The white stuff seals the connectors

The supply plenum has seven connectors, two large ones for each side of the great room, three smaller ones for each of the three bedrooms, and two even smaller ones for each of the bathrooms.  All seams in the plenum are sealed with some sort of mastic type sealer, and trust me, you can sure get high off that stuff if you breathe in hard enough!  They knocked off for the day after applying it.  I can't blame them.  It was pretty potent!