I am new here and unsure if my post is "forum-friendly" or not so please, let me know...
I have been having an on going Heat Pump issue for 3 years, this marks the third winter that we're using space heaters and paying $600 electric bills because our Heat Pump doesn't work properly or at all.
Here is the Cliff Notes version of what has happened.
We bought a Townhouse in October 2006, the Realtor suggested a home warranty and gave us several company names to look at. We selected American Home Shield and paid for one year in advance.
Five months later, our Heat Pump performance degraded so we called AHS and requested a service call. AHS dispatched an HVAC contractor that came out and determined the compressor was failing. We had a 13 year old Lennox system that was covered under the warranty so AHS approved the repair. AHS was to send the contractor the replacement compressor and this was to take 3 weeks. Well the contractor received the part, made an appointment with me to come by the house but when he arrived and compared the new one to the old one, it was discovered the new part did not match the old one and so he could not install it. He contacted AHS and they sent him another part. He came back out, installed it and by now, the weather was warming up so we didn't use the system again until the following winter. My wife and I do not like A/C so we turned it on only when company was over and the system seemed to work on those few occasions.
Well, it is winter again and we renewed our AHS contract which was a good thing because a few months later, in the same month as last year, the Heat Pump performance degraded to the point of being just an electrical waste to have it running. It would be 35 degrees outside, the thermostat set to 72 degrees and the house staying at 58 degrees. Anyway, back to what happened.
We call AHS again, they once more dispatch the same contractor and now he determined the "TXV" was not compatible with the new compressor. He put in a service request to replace the entire system, inside and out, Heat Pump & Air Handler. AHS approves the repair and sends him the new Payne equipment. He comes out, installs it and the unit isn't producing any heat but rather making a "stepped on the cat's tail" noise which he says will go away once the system equals out. He said the temperature will go up once it equals out. Well, my wife and I are too cold to stay in the house so we stay at a hotel for 2 days only to return to some very angry neighbors.
It turns out, for the last 48 hours the new unit was generating a lot of noise and the metal lines protruding from the outside unit that extend to the inside Air Handler were vibrating and that vibration was severe enough to be felt inside the structure of the house. Since it is a Townhouse, we share a common wall with our neighbor, it was that same wall being vibrated and is the same wall my neighbors master bedroom uses. It kept him up at night and he was not shy about telling me.
I call AHS again so they dispatch this same contractor who stops by, determines it is over charged and vents the freon to the atmosphere for about 30 seconds. he says this will fix it and leaves. Well it didn't so he came by a second time and vented it again for about the same amount of time.
the system still did not work, still made noises and still vibrated so when I called AHS again, I requested they send a different contractor. They obliged my request and the contractor they sent came out, connected some guages as well as other HVAC tools and he found the system over charged 18lbs. No, that is not a typo, he evacuated 18lbs 10oz. He then pulled it to a vacuum for 30 minutes and recharged it with 6lbs 8oz. The readings were as follows:
Before Evac:
75 suction, 18 superheat
275 liquid & climbing 30 degrees subcool
After Evac:
70 suction 14 superheat
180 liquid 12 degrees subcool
Those readings are from his service invoice. The unit seemed to work but as it was last year, the weather was warming so we couldn't tell if it would work when the temps outside were dead of winter cold. It is now this winter and we're again without heat. We chose not to renew the AHS contract since we didn't have good luck with the one service call we had in with them. I was forced to look for an HVAC contractor myself and a friend suggested ServiceMagic.com so I asked them for a recommendation. The contractor they suggested came out, and found several things out of order, the larger of the two metal tubes coming from the Heat Pump has a valve of some kind that can be turned with an allen key, this valve is leaking. It has a cap over it that contains the leak but the valve itself is not sealing, there was an unused 30amp wire from the old heat strip that was just shoved into the ceiling, live with nothing protecting the open ends, there was no rec/dryer filter in the line set and the heat strip was not connected.
He added the rec/dryer, connected the strip heat and secured the live wire after turning off the breaker switch. He checked the valve at the base of the Heat Pump that connects to the thin metal tube connecting to the Air Handler but it was ok. So far, he has no idea why the larger of the two metal lines only gets room temperature warm, not hot like each and every one of my neighbors units. Even when it was 18 degrees outside, my neighbors units large metal line was hot, hot enough you couldn't grab it. Mine, luke warm.
He measured the temps of a neighbors line and mine, 148 vs 87.
At this point, we still have no heat and no idea what is wrong or if this unit can even be repaired. Anyone with some thoughts as to what we should do or suggest to this currect HVAC contractor?
I have been having an on going Heat Pump issue for 3 years, this marks the third winter that we're using space heaters and paying $600 electric bills because our Heat Pump doesn't work properly or at all.
Here is the Cliff Notes version of what has happened.
We bought a Townhouse in October 2006, the Realtor suggested a home warranty and gave us several company names to look at. We selected American Home Shield and paid for one year in advance.
Five months later, our Heat Pump performance degraded so we called AHS and requested a service call. AHS dispatched an HVAC contractor that came out and determined the compressor was failing. We had a 13 year old Lennox system that was covered under the warranty so AHS approved the repair. AHS was to send the contractor the replacement compressor and this was to take 3 weeks. Well the contractor received the part, made an appointment with me to come by the house but when he arrived and compared the new one to the old one, it was discovered the new part did not match the old one and so he could not install it. He contacted AHS and they sent him another part. He came back out, installed it and by now, the weather was warming up so we didn't use the system again until the following winter. My wife and I do not like A/C so we turned it on only when company was over and the system seemed to work on those few occasions.
Well, it is winter again and we renewed our AHS contract which was a good thing because a few months later, in the same month as last year, the Heat Pump performance degraded to the point of being just an electrical waste to have it running. It would be 35 degrees outside, the thermostat set to 72 degrees and the house staying at 58 degrees. Anyway, back to what happened.
We call AHS again, they once more dispatch the same contractor and now he determined the "TXV" was not compatible with the new compressor. He put in a service request to replace the entire system, inside and out, Heat Pump & Air Handler. AHS approves the repair and sends him the new Payne equipment. He comes out, installs it and the unit isn't producing any heat but rather making a "stepped on the cat's tail" noise which he says will go away once the system equals out. He said the temperature will go up once it equals out. Well, my wife and I are too cold to stay in the house so we stay at a hotel for 2 days only to return to some very angry neighbors.
It turns out, for the last 48 hours the new unit was generating a lot of noise and the metal lines protruding from the outside unit that extend to the inside Air Handler were vibrating and that vibration was severe enough to be felt inside the structure of the house. Since it is a Townhouse, we share a common wall with our neighbor, it was that same wall being vibrated and is the same wall my neighbors master bedroom uses. It kept him up at night and he was not shy about telling me.
I call AHS again so they dispatch this same contractor who stops by, determines it is over charged and vents the freon to the atmosphere for about 30 seconds. he says this will fix it and leaves. Well it didn't so he came by a second time and vented it again for about the same amount of time.
the system still did not work, still made noises and still vibrated so when I called AHS again, I requested they send a different contractor. They obliged my request and the contractor they sent came out, connected some guages as well as other HVAC tools and he found the system over charged 18lbs. No, that is not a typo, he evacuated 18lbs 10oz. He then pulled it to a vacuum for 30 minutes and recharged it with 6lbs 8oz. The readings were as follows:
Before Evac:
75 suction, 18 superheat
275 liquid & climbing 30 degrees subcool
After Evac:
70 suction 14 superheat
180 liquid 12 degrees subcool
Those readings are from his service invoice. The unit seemed to work but as it was last year, the weather was warming so we couldn't tell if it would work when the temps outside were dead of winter cold. It is now this winter and we're again without heat. We chose not to renew the AHS contract since we didn't have good luck with the one service call we had in with them. I was forced to look for an HVAC contractor myself and a friend suggested ServiceMagic.com so I asked them for a recommendation. The contractor they suggested came out, and found several things out of order, the larger of the two metal tubes coming from the Heat Pump has a valve of some kind that can be turned with an allen key, this valve is leaking. It has a cap over it that contains the leak but the valve itself is not sealing, there was an unused 30amp wire from the old heat strip that was just shoved into the ceiling, live with nothing protecting the open ends, there was no rec/dryer filter in the line set and the heat strip was not connected.
He added the rec/dryer, connected the strip heat and secured the live wire after turning off the breaker switch. He checked the valve at the base of the Heat Pump that connects to the thin metal tube connecting to the Air Handler but it was ok. So far, he has no idea why the larger of the two metal lines only gets room temperature warm, not hot like each and every one of my neighbors units. Even when it was 18 degrees outside, my neighbors units large metal line was hot, hot enough you couldn't grab it. Mine, luke warm.
He measured the temps of a neighbors line and mine, 148 vs 87.
At this point, we still have no heat and no idea what is wrong or if this unit can even be repaired. Anyone with some thoughts as to what we should do or suggest to this currect HVAC contractor?