Looking for an HVAC specialist to answer a question I have.

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I would also add in general, its harder to cool than it is to heat. Especially in this weather.

Every living thing in your home is producing heat (pets, people) every time you cook or turn on the oven, you generate heat, heck even lights produce heat.
 
So initially the yearly maintenance guy came, Not sure what he measured or what he actually did, he was outside, I did see he used my hose to wash the ac unit on the outside, he did have some panel off a bunch of electrical stuff was there, not sure if or what he hooked up to that, I did not see if he hooked up any gauges to measure level of gas.

once in the house he took my brand new filter and put it in even though my old one was is only 6 months in use, it’s a 5 inch filter it’s not dirty…
and that was it
i did tell him my concerns, but he said he only does maintenance and he is not a Tech, but he will make an appointment for a tech to come out and address my concerns

Tech came out, came into house, I told him about what is going on, he asked where is the thermostat, showed him, he looked at the settings, said this is your problem, it was was set to ac overcool max, he turned that off and stormed out of house, I told him that is not the problem, but he left.

so 2-3 days now I have left it as he set it and the bloody AC still runs 3-5 hours to drop a degree

just this afternoon, tstat is set for 24degrees, it hit 24.5, ac turned on, it started at 2:30, it turned off at 4:30, it takes 2 hours to drop a half degree

there is something wrong, at least in my mind….maybe I am wrong and I am nuts….
 
Some perspective maybe. Like the smartphone I don't have AC in my house (honestly I'm not a luddite) and it's 82 degrees in here.
Not minding it much, at least not enough to turn on a fan.
 
bigpoppa - I agree, however for example I am the only one in the house and in the basement, dog is upstairs alone, it a small Pomeranian, all lights are off no one is cooking etc and the thing just ran for 2 hours to drop a half degree.

most nights it runs at night everyone is upstairs sleeping, tstat is downstairs, and again it runs 3-5 hours to drop a degree

this is what I don’t understand

i should have icicles in the house…..lol
 
timtune said:
Some perspective maybe. Like the smartphone I don't have AC in my house (honestly I'm not a luddite) and it's 82 degrees in here.
Not minding it much, at least not enough to turn on a fan.
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You are at 27 degrees, I am only trying to keep it at 24, so it’s not like I am trying to make an igloo in the house
.
 
GateKeeper said:
So initially the yearly maintenance guy came, Not sure what he measured or what he actually did, he was outside, I did see he used my hose to wash the ac unit on the outside, he did have some panel off a bunch of electrical stuff was there, not sure if or what he hooked up to that, I did not see if he hooked up any gauges to measure level of gas.

once in the house he took my brand new filter and put it in even though my old one was is only 6 months in use, it’s a 5 inch filter it’s not dirty…
and that was it
i did tell him my concerns, but he said he only does maintenance and he is not a Tech, but he will make an appointment for a tech to come out and address my concerns

Tech came out, came into house, I told him about what is going on, he asked where is the thermostat, showed him, he looked at the settings, said this is your problem, it was was set to ac overcool max, he turned that off and stormed out of house, I told him that is not the problem, but he left.

so 2-3 days now I have left it as he set it and the bloody AC still runs 3-5 hours to drop a degree

just this afternoon, tstat is set for 24degrees, it hit 24.5, ac turned on, it started at 2:30, it turned off at 4:30, it takes 2 hours to drop a half degree

there is something wrong, at least in my mind….maybe I am wrong and I am nuts….
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Grr. Back to the siding thread of it's so hard to find someone that gives a crap. Even harder to find someone that gives a crap and is competent. My furnace install had them reuse an undersized boot (elbow) going into the furnace and blocking off ~20% of the filter area because that was easier. No measurements taken of anything. Grr. I ended up buying my own manometer (carb board wasn't sensitive enough) so I can mess around with SP. I will make up a new return drop and boot once things open up and I can buy some sheet metal easily. I haven't decided whether to pickup a combustion analyzer or just clock the meter and call it good enough. I don't know why I bother paying anyone. They all bleeping suck. Stupid ticket to hang on the gas pipe. How come mouth breathers can hang the ticket and I can't? Honestly, they looked for bubbles. That was the extent of their commissioning. Mine even had bad bearing in the inducer fan at install and the tech said it was normal so I had to bump it up the chain to get a new fan for the new furnace.

If I were you, I would want someone to actually check superheat (and/or subcool) and properly commission the bleeping system. I don't want someone just blindly dumping in a few pounds to make me shut up.
 
Thanks everyone for your input, greatly appreciated

going to call them back, and politely DEMAND it gets looked at and fixed…or as it was mentioned last year “if it don’t work, we will come out and remove everything and I am free to get anyone else in to install something”, and it just might come to this.

.
 
If it is possible - have a look under each vent in the house to make sure the ducting is secure and not pointing some other direction.
Do you feel sufficient air pressure if you place your hand over each vent across the house?

GateKeeper said:
GateKeeper said:
i did tell him my concerns, but he said he only does maintenance and he is not a Tech, but he will make an appointment for a tech to come out and address my concerns...
Tech came out...said this is your problem, it was was set to ac overcool max, he turned that off and stormed out of house, I told him that is not the problem, but he left.
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I HATE techs like these with a passion.
If you are having a bad day either take the day off to deal with it yourself or leave it outside before you enter a customers house.

My general rule of thumb is that if someone is explaining something to you and it sounds like rocket science...you are being taken for a ride..

Most competent techs can easily dumb it down for the average customer to understand and thus make a decision.

One more thing I can suggest is to try and pick up a thermometer like this for your own use...should be around 15-25 bucks:
Uei-pdt650-foldable-pocket-thermometer.jpg


The ducting near your HVAC unit should have a few ports plugged by rubberish inserts that you can poke this into and monitor the temps.
So if you set it at 24C for e.g but do not see 24C being pushed out by the unit after 20-30 mins...it might help narrow down the problem to the unit itself.

I feel your pain...I cannot sleep in temps above 18C at night...hope you are able to get it resolved soon!
 
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POWERMAN said:
The ducting near your HVAC unit should have a few ports plugged by rubberish inserts that you can poke this into and monitor the temps.
So if you set it at 24C for e.g but do not see 24C being pushed out by the unit after 20-30 mins...it might help narrow down the problem to the unit itself.
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You're a funny guy. Have you actually seen test ports in a house before? I never have and I look at every one I see. Physical install and run.

House was up to 78 at 19:00 last night when I kicked a/c on. It was still running at 01:00 and hadnt got to 73 yet. At some point after that it satisfied.
 
Are these maintenance and tech people the same one's (company) who installed this unit? Did you pay for this recent service etc...I wouldn't have and would have told that person to FFoff and withhold any payment.
Maybe call a new company to help you deal with this.
 
GreyGhost said:
You're a funny guy. Have you actually seen test ports in a house before? I never have and I look at every one I see. Physical install and run.

House was up to 78 at 19:00 last night when I kicked a/c on. It was still running at 01:00 and hadnt got to 73 yet. At some point after that it satisfied.
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Strange - I have 4 of these ..2 located around 6 feet away from the unit and 2 right next to the ducting by the unit:

20210630_093300-jpg.5433


20210630_093326-jpg.5434



Maybe it is because I live in an older house?
sburns said:
Are these maintenance and tech people the same one's (company) who installed this unit? Did you pay for this recent service etc.
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This is what I did - used Enbridge to purchase the unit from and have them come by once a year to service/inspect it (usually just before winter) based on the maintenance plan in place.
 
POWERMAN said:
Strange - I have 4 of these ..2 located around 6 feet away from the unit and 2 right next to the ducting by the unit:

20210630_093300-jpg.5433


20210630_093326-jpg.5434



Maybe it is because I live in an older house?


This is what I did - used Enbridge to purchase the unit from and have them come by once a year to service/inspect it (usually just before winter) based on the maintenance plan in place.
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Amazing. I believed you that you had them, I was just shocked. Especially without specifically requesting someone to properly assess system performance.

EDIT:
How big are the holes? The plugs look big. Normally test ports are ~1/4". Holes 3/4" or so are often duct cleaning (feed in an air hose to flap around and bang dust loose).
 
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One thing I don't think anyone has mentioned is to check the "spread" that makes the A/C turn on and then off.

For example, if that spread is 3 degrees and you've got the temp at 24, then the A/C won't turn on until it reaches 27 (or could be 25.5 - can't recall if it's a plus/minus thing). And at that temp, the A/C will take forever to get the temp back to 24 (or 22.5 - again, can't recall if it goes the other way).

Set the spread to a lower # like 1 so the A/C kicks in more often but runs for less time.

That setting should be in the Ecobee manual and you'd think the tech looked at it but worth a check yourself.
 
GreyGhost said:
How big are the holes? The plugs look big. Normally test ports are ~1/4". Holes 3/4" or so are often duct cleaning (feed in an air hose to flap around and bang dust loose).
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It looks to be around 1-1/4 inch in diameter:

20210630_105750-jpg.5435


I wasn't aware they could feed those duct cleaning thing in there!

The tech usually plugs his thermometer into the plug itself when measuring:

20210630_105802-jpg.5436
 
Powerman - ducting looks secure, some of the vents have lower pressure, I think this is because of a longer run possibly. Yes I have one of those thermometers, I will try it myself and see what I get. Yes I have those same plugs in the duct work in the furnace room.

sburns - yes guys are from the same company equipment was purchased from, I was given 3 free maintenance calls, this was the first one I have used so far, and no cost to me

lbv - spread is 1.5 degrees, it’s a very small amount, this is why I don’t get why it takes the unit 3-5 hours to cool it back down, so if I call for 23 degrees and it hits 24.5 in the house it turns on, but it runs for 3-5 hours to get it back to 23…..and I have even set the fan to run automatically for 20 min cycles just to keep the air moving throughout the house, however this is annoying, listening to a damn fan running almost all the time.

cycling - I will have a look at your link, thanks
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