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Phone (717) 545-4067 Fax 610-340-2354
Tips on Buying & Having Air Conditioning Installed
Tips on Buying and Having A Hot Water Boiler Installed
Tips on Buying, and Having Central Air Conditioning Installed
1. Don't use a contractor who wants to size your cooling equipment solely on the Square foot of your home. The practice should be to size to your needs according to the guidelines of Air Conditioning Contractors of America's Manual J. This is called a heat gain calculation. This is the proper and most accurate way of sizing air conditioning equipment to achieve the most comfort, and lowest operation costs. A unit too large will cost more up front, increase operation cost ,and have a shorter life then a properly sized unit. When buying air conditioning Bigger is not Better!
2. Don't be tempted by the lowest bidder. Ask the contractor for references from satisfied customers. Be willing to pay for the time to have the central air conditioning installed properly . Don't have the job sized properly and lose all the efficiency in a poor installation.
3. Check for duct leaks and crushed ductwork. All air leaks should be sealed with a good quality duct sealant (not duct tape).
4. Buy a high efficiency air conditioning unit. The minimum manufactures can produce now is 12 SEER. The higher the SEER number the more efficient the operation will be. Most manufacturers will offer a better warranty with the higher SEER models.
5. If you are replacing an existing unit it must all be replaced. Do not try to match up a new outdoor unit with old indoor unit or vice versa. The higher SEER new unit, will have reduced efficiency, and may encounter operational problems if added to older equipment. These days of mismatching equipment are gone with the newer refrigerants
6. Install for ease of maintenance. Make sure there is access to clean the indoor coil. The air filter must be serviced periodically, so it must be able to be removed easily for inspection and/or cleaning, or replacement.
7. Place the outdoor unit on the north or east side of the house if possible, out of direct sunlight. If the unit must be placed on the south or west side try to place it in as much shade as possible. Leave at least 12" for airflow on all sides, and a minimum of 6 feet above (follow manufacturers instructions). Keep the area free of shrubbery and debris.
8. When mowing grass make sure not to discharge grass clippings into the outdoor unit.
9. When installing the outdoor unit allow good water drainage away from unit and do not allow the pad the unit sits on to touch the structure. If the pad is in contact with the building the vibration will carry to the indoors.
Go to Installation Check sheet
Manual J
Manual J is the manual which explains the way a heat gain should be done. Originally it was done by measuring the room sizes, window sizes, determining the direction the exposed wall and windows were facing, insulation values and other information. The contractor would mathematically calculate all the values and use charts to determine the heat gain for the structure. Today the measurements still need to be taken but all the calculations are done by computer. This takes the human error out as long as the measuring was done properly.
Bigger is not Better
Over sized air conditioners run up the electric bill. The long run cycles operate cheaper then shot cycles. Over sized air conditioning equipment can cover up other problems such as leaky ducts, improper refrigerant charge, dirty filters and coils which may lead to costly repairs later. Over sized air conditioners cost more to buy and they don't last as long. Over sized equipment makes your house clammy. Too large a unit cannot remove the humidity properly but will cool the air. The house feels cool when first entered but when moving around you can feel the humidity. Over sized unit move more air and could be noisier then expected.
SEER
This stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating. This is how air conditioning units are rated so all manufacturers are rated the same. The equal rating on heating equipment would be the AFUE rating.
Increase Operation Cost
The cost of operation will be increased by the unit short cycling. This is when the unit starts and runs for short periods of time then shuts off again. This is caused by the unit cooling down the house too rapidly and satisfying the the thermostat on temperature but not removing enough humidity or latent heat. This will increase maintenance costs and shorten the life of the equipment. The electric needed to start motors and compressor is 2-3 times the electric required to run them
Tips on Buying and Having a Hot Water Boiler Installed
1. Don't use a contractor who wants to size solely on the square foot method, Same size as the old unit or amount of baseboard or radiation in your home. These units were more then likely over sized when installed due to the common sizing practices then. Would you buy clothing or carpeting without know what size you needed. Today most homes have been upgraded with new windows, doors and/or insulation . The proper way of sizing a new hot water boiler is to use Manual J. This is called a Heat Loss Calculation. This is the proper and most accurate to determine the size of the hot water boiler to achieve the most comfort and lowest operational costs. When buying a hot water boiler bigger is not better.
2. Don't be tempted by the lowest bidder. Ask the contractor for references from satisfied customers. Be willing to pay for the time and material to have the hot water boiler installed properly. Don't have the job sized properly and get a poor installation. Fuel saving is as much the efficiency of the boiler as the system and near boiler piping.
3. Check the manufacturers AFUE ratings. The higher the rating the more efficient the boiler will be. When making comparisons make sure you are comparing AFUE to AFUE and not AFUE to Burner efficiency or Combustion Efficiency. When comparing AFUE all equipment is tested the same and equals out the playing field.
4. After you have Comfort-Calc do your Heat Loss Calculation use these figures to determine which boiler size you need. After choosing a manufacturer look at their DOE Output ratings. Caution do not use the Input Ratings, this could make the unit to small. If the DOE BTU is between two boiler sizes go to the up to the next size. Never go down to the lower size. Example: You require 90,000 Btu's. the manufacturer offers a unit with a net rating of 77,000 and 105,000. You would use the 105,000 An exception to this is if you are close to the lower size and have multiple thermostats (zones), you can drop down to the smaller size.
5. You may want to consider an indirect water heater for domestic hot water instead of a domestic coil or direct fired water heater. This will give a more efficient operation and the boiler will be a cold start or on demand unit and save more fuel.
6. Have your circulators (pumps) moved to the supply (water leaving boiler) side rather then the return (water coming back) side of the boiler. If piped properly this will remove the air better, extend the life of the boiler, save fuel and reduce nuisance service calls to remove air in your heating system.
7. Make sure the water feeding into the boiler is being Fed in the supply side between the expansion tank and supply piping. This will keep the water pressure from going to high due to pressure differences when the circulator comes on. See examples Diaphragm Tank Non-Diaphragm Tank
8. If the hot water boiler is oil fired make sure the burner is combustion tested for the highest efficiency. This is done by testing the combustion flue gasses and fine tuning the oil burner. Make sure all the safety's are tested.
9. If the hot water boiler is gas fired make sure the gas pressures are tested and adjusted. Make sure all the safety's are tested.
10. Make sure the thermostat anticipator is set to coincide with the control requirements for a more accurate thermostat operation and avoid temperature override. This figure will be in the manufacturers manuals or can be tested with a meter to determine actual settings.
Go to gas or oil Boiler installation check sheet. (After it loads print it out)
Manual J
Manual J is the manual which explains the way a heat loss should be done. Originally it was done by measuring the room sizes, window sizes, determining the direction the exposed wall and windows were facing, insulation values and other information. The contractor would mathematically calculate all the values and use charts to determine the heat gain for the structure. Today the measurement still need to be taken but all the calculations are done by computer. This takes the human error out as long as the measuring was done properly.
Bigger is not Better
Fuel oil and gas boilers do not start at their peak efficiency. If the hot water boiler is over sized it may never run long enough to reach peak efficiency, which will only escalate your fuel bills! Over sized boilers will have larger maintenance bills and a shorter life do to short cycling. This is a condition of many cycles on and off instead of longer more efficient cycles. The numerous starting of the unit will shorten motor and control life and increase electric bills because it takes 2-3 times more electric to start a unit the to run a unit.
Indirect water Heating
An indirect water heater takes boiler water to a tank to make domestic hot water. The indirect water heaters are far better insulated then standard water heaters. Most of them are listed as somewhere around 1/2 degree per hour standby loss. The life expectancy is greater due to not having the great stress of the flame temperatures of a direct fired gas or oil water heater. One of the greatest savings is not being hooked to a chimney which has a natural draft which is siphoning heat 24 hours a day from the water heater. Most manufacturers offer better warranties on indirect water heaters then on direct fired water heaters.
AFUE
This stands for Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency. This rating is used for gas and oil hot water boilers and warm air furnaces. This is a figure lower then the combustion efficiency due to taking into account the chimney losses and jacket losses.
DOE Btu Rating
The DOE Btu rating stands for the Department of Energy and is the the rating after chimney losses. It does not count for piping and jacket losses which are in the structure.
Tips on Buying and Having a Warm Air Furnace Installed
1. Don't use a contractor who wants to size solely on the square foot method or replacing with same size warm air furnace that is already existing. These units were more then likely over sized when installed due to the common sizing practices back then. Would you buy clothing or carpeting without know what size you needed. Today most homes have been upgraded with new windows, doors and/or insulation updates. The proper way of sizing a new warm air furnace is to use Manual J. This is called a Heat Loss Calculation. This is the proper and most accurate to determine the size of the warm air furnace to achieve the most comfort and lowest operational costs. When buying a warm air furnace bigger is not better.
2. Don't be tempted by the lowest bidder. Ask the contractor for references from satisfied customers. Be willing to pay for the time and material to have the hot water boiler installed properly. Don't have the job sized properly and get a poor installation. The reduction of air leaks in a well installed system will come back many times in terms of dollar savings and comfort.
3. Check the manufacturers AFUE ratings. The higher the rating the more efficient the boiler will be. When making comparisons make sure you are comparing AFUE to AFUE and not AFUE to Burner efficiency or Combustion Efficiency.
4. After you have Comfort-Calc do your Heat Loss Calculation use these figures to determine which furnace size you need. After choosing a manufacturer look at their DOE BTU ratings. Caution do not use the Input Ratings, this will make the unit to small. If the NET BTU is between two furnace sizes go to the up to the next size. Never go down to the lower size. Example: You require 90,000 Btu's. the manufacturer offers a unit with a net rating of 87,000 and 105,000. You would use the 105,000
5. All manufactures have a temperature rise figure they want the furnace adjusted to. This figure is the amount of heat being picked up by the air passing through the furnace. If the blower speed is to slow not enough air will be passing through the furnace and it will get hotter then designed. If the air is moving to fast through the furnace will cool down too much and cause condensation in the furnace causing it to rust out faster. Make sure the contractor adjusts the blower speed to meet the specification.
6. If the warm air furnace has central air conditioning on it, the blower may need adjusted to a different speed then for heating.
7. If the warm air furnace is oil fired, make sure the burner is combustion tested for the highest efficiency. This is done by testing the combustion flue gasses and fine tuning the oil burner. Make sure all the safety's are tested.
8. If the warm air furnace is gas fired make sure the gas pressures are tested and adjusted. Make sure all the safety's are tested.
9. Make sure the thermostat anticipator if applicable is set to coincide with the control requirements for a more accurate thermostat operation and avoid temperature override. This figure will be in the manufacturers manuals or can be tested with a meter to determine actual settings.
Go to Gas or Oil warm air furnace installation check sheet (after it loads print it out)
Manual J
Manual J is the manual which explains the way a heat loss should be done. Originally it was done by measuring the room sizes, window sizes, determining the direction the exposed wall and windows were facing, insulation values and other information. The contractor would mathematically calculate all the values and use charts to determine the heat gain for the structure. Today the measurement still need to be taken but all the calculations are done by computer. This takes the human error out as long as the measuring was done properly.
Bigger is not Better
Fuel oil and gas boilers do not start at their peak efficiency. If the warm air furnace is over sized it may never run long enough to reach peak efficiency, which will only escalate your fuel bills! Over sized furnaces will have larger maintenance bills and a shorter life do to short cycling and heat exchanger condensation. This is a condition of many cycles on and off instead of longer more efficient cycles. The numerous starting of the unit will shorten motor and control life, and increase electric bills because it takes 2-3 times more electric to start a unit the to run a unit.
AFUE
This stands for Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency. This rating is used for gas and oil hot water boilers and warm air furnaces. This is a figure lower then the combustion efficiency due to taking into account the chimney losses and jacket losses.
Net Btu Rating
The DOE Btu rating is the actual btu's that can be to heat your home before jacket and duct loss. These losses are not considered since they are within the structure
Tips on Buying and Having a Steam Boiler Installed
1. Steam boilers are the only heating units that do not get sized by a heat loss calculation. They actually are sized by measuring all the radiation in the house and figuring the square feet of steam it will take to fill all the radiation and piping, then sizing the boiler from that information.
2. When you receive the square feet of steam figures you would go to the nearest boiler size to match you load but not less than your load. You will probably fall between two steam boiler ratings, go up to the closest size.
3. The steam systems are sized this way because if you do not produce enough steam to fill the system it will not heat. The warm air furnaces and hot water boilers need to be sized to the heat loss of the building. The end result is the same which is to allow the boiler to run long enough to be efficient. We do not want the steam boiler to short cycle either.
4. Of all the heating systems, the steam system is the least forgiving as far as the installation is concerned. It must be installed according to the manufacturers instructions. As the steam boilers get smaller the near boiler piping becomes part of the boiler. See proper steam boiler piping
5. It should be piped with black iron pipe, not copper tubing. This is due to the expansion rate of the two different materials. The second reason for not using copper is the steam will leach copper from the piping and end up back in the boiler. This will set up a galvanic reaction and start eating away the bottom of the boiler.
6. A hartford loop and equalizing loop should always be used. These items if piped properly will help avoid pipe banging and surging (water leaving the boiler) problems. Again follow manufacturers installation instructions carefully.
7. Always clean the boiler water of oils per the manufacturers instructions. Oil gets into the boiler from the machining and from cutting threads on the black iron pipe. The oil floats on top of the boiler water and will cause surging or priming. Cleaning the boiler water with or without chemicals will solve these problems. Note: The water in the Gage glass may look clean but it still needs cleaned.
8. If the steam boiler is oil fired it must be combustion tested with test equipment. The test of the flue gasses and fine tuning the oil burner will allow the burner to operated at it's peak efficiency.
9. If the steam boiler is gas fired make sure the gas pressure are checked and adjusted.
10. There is a control that will sense steam pressure and shut the burner down when the pressure reaches the maximum setting and restart the burner when the pressure drops to the minimum set point. The two readings are called the cut out and cut in settings. The cut in setting should be .5 psi and the cut out should be 2 psi. This means the burner will run till the steam pressure reaches 2.5 psi, and the burner shuts down. The steam in the system condenses back into water which will cause the pressure to drop. When the pressure control senses the pressure has dropped down to .5 psi it will start the burner and the cycle starts over again until the thermostat is satisfied. Setting the pressures to high will drastically increase the fuel bills. More systems today are operating on ounces of pressure instead of pounds of pressure.
11. Make sure all the steam vents work and there are no steam or water leaks in the entire system. Steam or water leaks will increase operation costs and shorten the life of the steam boiler.
12. Set the thermostat anticipator if applicable. Check Installation and Operation manual from the manufacturer
Go to Gas or Oil steam boiler installation check sheet (After it loads print it out)
