Heating and air conditioning - Re: Variable Speed Blower Barely Runs on AC Settings

Author

Re: Variable Speed Blower Barely Runs on AC Settings - Goodman Gaspack PGJ042100

Bob Pietrangelo

2005-07-24, 9:13 pm

The 11th word in your post including your greeting and all of the numbers
included. Why do you think putting 5 tons of flex duct to your existing
poorly designed duct work would change anything. Sounds like your
contractor is an idiot. THe VS ircuit board determines the speed of your VS
motor. It sounds like your motor and head are find. It's the brain not
telling everything else to work properly. Why in the world would you buy
goodman anyway.

I competed against a contractor the other day, I quoted 3 systems 13-17
SEER, but the mother-in-law wanted her son to use her contractor so he came
out and said my prices were outrageous. He quoted them 2 thirds of my price
(for my 13 SEER) to install a Goodman 12 seer system. HE is a retired
service tech who does installs on the side, he used to install Lennox but
lost his dealership oweing Lennox $40,000. He told them Lennox is really
horrible equipment and you get a much bettr deal with Goodman. Where is
this guy going to be in the upcoming years to service this equipment. Why
is he selling the lowest form of equipment known to the industry. Maybe
thats all he can buy now that he ripped everyone else off.

We sold them a Geo thermal system for 26,000

--
Bob Pietrangelo
bobp3@comcast.net
bob@comfort-solution.biz
www.comfort-solution.biz
On Time or Your Service Call is FREE
Preventive Maintenance Specialist

"Derek Mark Edding" <dreq@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:HZ6Ee.2826$6f.1880@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
> Hi Folks,
>
> It looks like our 3 yo 12 seer Goodman combined AC/heat outdoor unit has
> an installation problem. The compressor works great, but the variable
> speed blower barely spins. When set to heat it blows just fine - very
> powerfully. But set on AC, it feels like someone's waving a newspaper.
>
> According to the HVAC Tech who visited this week, the refrigerant is
> fully charged and the temperature measures 55 degrees F at the output
> vents, 82-83 at the two intake vents.
>
> Our digital thermostat shows that the compressor is running between 12
> and 14 hours a day. We've had temperatures in the nineties for the last
> three weeks, and this system is running hard enough to power a
> whole-house refrigerator. We keep the thermostat at 78-79, but the best
> it can do is four degrees above that.
>
> The 12 seer unit is a replacement the original Goodman Comfortmaker
> gaspack. When our installer removed the old one, he remarked that the
> intake and output hoses were too small, and had been reduced in size to
> 12 inches which did not meet building code.
>
> To the best of my knowledge, all of the homes in our neighborhood were
> equipped this way. The original builder installed systems were
> inefficient but functioned adequately. The replacement unit is
> physically much larger, but at 3.5 tons is probably the same capacity
> (we have no records for the original unit).
>
> He removed the original "main trunk" of the ducting under the house -
> plenum? Manifold? And replaced it with a much larger one that had 18"
> pipes running to the outdoor gaspack. There was no change other than
that.
>
> After installing and powering on the new system in August three years
> ago, we had the same problem we have now. The variable speed fan barely
> ran when set to AC, but ran powerfully when set to heat. Our installer
> had not installed this model before and had to consult with Goodman
> repeatedly to fix the problem. He replaced the variable speed blower
> unit, but this did not fix it.
>
> What eventually did make a difference was this: he said that there was
> an Air Mass Detector built into the variable speed blower, which is like
> a humidity detector. He said that the air flow returning to the unit
> was not sufficient, and this detector was keeping the fan from ramping
> up to its full speed. He pointed to the intake duct inside the unit and
> said that there was (and here my memory is sketchy) something like an
> air flow restrictor, that he had needed to adjust to increase the
> velocity of the air returning to the unit.
>
> After he made this change, the blower began functioning normally and we
> had decent cooling. However, this was towards the end of the Summer.
> We had to call him back again last Summer for a similar problem, which
> he said was "just needed a few pounds of refrigerant".
>
> That brings us to this year, where we have unusually high heat and
> humidity and again, the blower is back to barely running. The HVAC tech
> who visited this week said that the unit appeared to be fully
> operational and was not reporting any failure codes. He said he would
> need to send an expert to examine our installation and determine if it
> needs to be redone.
>
> If anyone has any clues that might help us get this unit to run properly
> I'd be very grateful. The fellow who did our installation did an
> excellent job of taking care of our old system for ten years, but he
> seems out of his depth with its replacement.
>
> Thanks,
>
> -dreq

Noon-Air

2005-07-25, 11:21 am

"Derek Mark Edding" <dreq@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:md6Fe.16796$aY6.5344@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
> Bob Pietrangelo wrote:
>
> Because the first one worked fine for seventeen years?

That doesn't make it right.

With all of the advances in technology, and increased efficiencies,
*everything* has to be done right or it just won't work.

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