Nezil
Member
I purchased my current home almost exactly a year ago. Come to think of it, it really was actually a year ago exactly today!
During the initial purchase phase, I had the HVAC system checked because I felt having lived here for two and a half years (I purchased the rental property that I'd been living in from the landlord) that the system wasn't cooling efficiently enough.
The guy that came out to check the system initially claimed that the fan in the furnace had failed, then the capacitor that was on the fan, and in the end claimed that the furnace control panel needed replacing. At one point he put the fan back in the furnace and shorted something out that caused the capacitor that he'd replaced to get really hot... I pulled everything out after he'd left, fixed the short and put the original capacitor back in and the system has been working fine, at least as good as it ever has, ever since... The guy clearly didn't know what he was doing!
At the time, the previous owner did offer to pay for the control panel to be replaced ($1,000), but I said that a) there is nothing wrong with the control panel, and b) if that guy is going to be doing the work, I don't want him anywhere near the system.
Fast forward a year, and I decided to take another look at things, and maybe consider replacing or upgrading the cooling components.
I've looked up the details of the units; the compressor - Nordyne model FS3BA-030KA; and the coil, Nordyne model C3BA-036C-A. Initially I thought that these were a correctly matched pair, but this document: http://www.nortekhvac.com/Literature/a949a.pdf, states that the required orifice size for the 030 outdoor unit is 0.063, and the label on my coil says that it has an orifice of 0.067 - the size required for the 036KA 3.0ton outdoor unit.
I'm pretty handy, and after taking advice from others on this forum fitted my water softener, including sweating of 1-3/4 fittings from the main water line as it comes into my house. HVAC is completely new to me however, and I'm not sure how much of this can be tackled myself.
I'm particularly worried about calling someone out and paying for a consultation that may be as misguided as the guy that came during my purchase. At the very least, I'd like to know what I'm talking about so that I know whether to trust whoever comes out.
So I'm looking for advice, ideally some tests and checks that I could do myself by taking covers off the coil etc and taking measurements, to see if this oversized orifice is indeed the problem. It would be nice if I could just change to the correct size orifice, or upgrade the outdoor unit to a 3ton one to match, and then see my system efficiency improve dramatically.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Neil.
During the initial purchase phase, I had the HVAC system checked because I felt having lived here for two and a half years (I purchased the rental property that I'd been living in from the landlord) that the system wasn't cooling efficiently enough.
The guy that came out to check the system initially claimed that the fan in the furnace had failed, then the capacitor that was on the fan, and in the end claimed that the furnace control panel needed replacing. At one point he put the fan back in the furnace and shorted something out that caused the capacitor that he'd replaced to get really hot... I pulled everything out after he'd left, fixed the short and put the original capacitor back in and the system has been working fine, at least as good as it ever has, ever since... The guy clearly didn't know what he was doing!
At the time, the previous owner did offer to pay for the control panel to be replaced ($1,000), but I said that a) there is nothing wrong with the control panel, and b) if that guy is going to be doing the work, I don't want him anywhere near the system.
Fast forward a year, and I decided to take another look at things, and maybe consider replacing or upgrading the cooling components.
I've looked up the details of the units; the compressor - Nordyne model FS3BA-030KA; and the coil, Nordyne model C3BA-036C-A. Initially I thought that these were a correctly matched pair, but this document: http://www.nortekhvac.com/Literature/a949a.pdf, states that the required orifice size for the 030 outdoor unit is 0.063, and the label on my coil says that it has an orifice of 0.067 - the size required for the 036KA 3.0ton outdoor unit.
I'm pretty handy, and after taking advice from others on this forum fitted my water softener, including sweating of 1-3/4 fittings from the main water line as it comes into my house. HVAC is completely new to me however, and I'm not sure how much of this can be tackled myself.
I'm particularly worried about calling someone out and paying for a consultation that may be as misguided as the guy that came during my purchase. At the very least, I'd like to know what I'm talking about so that I know whether to trust whoever comes out.
So I'm looking for advice, ideally some tests and checks that I could do myself by taking covers off the coil etc and taking measurements, to see if this oversized orifice is indeed the problem. It would be nice if I could just change to the correct size orifice, or upgrade the outdoor unit to a 3ton one to match, and then see my system efficiency improve dramatically.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Neil.