Update: The new furnace was installed today. A little delayed—the original date for delivery and installation was Monday, but in this cold and snow, things got a little backed up. No problem; the shimmed repairs made by the repair technician held long enough.
They will have to come back, as the new furnace’s thermostat needs to be ordered (delivery delays, again, due to weather). But when it arrives, they will come out and install that too. In the interim, they made sure that the old one will work.
It took a while to compete the whole job—about seven hours, I’d guess, and a chunk of that was with no heat at all. But I do have a gas fireplace, so I had that going, and was able to stay warm and get some work done on my computer with the fireplace a few feet away. The technicians kept me informed of how things were going (generally, pretty much as expected), and answered all my questions when I had some.
But everything is fine now. The house is warm, the new furnace is working, and I am one toasty and happy guy.
When we moved into the new place (built in 1920) a few years ago, one of the first things we did was replace the old furnace, which was still working but well past its life expectancy.
The new furnace works fine except when it gets exceptionally cold (for this area anyway, which means highs below 20F and lows near or below zero). 59F downstairs is a bit chilly.
The furnace guy made a few adjustments but says we will probably need to rearrange/rebuild ductwork to make the system provide adequate heat in frigid weather, which sounds like lots of fun and $$.
I did the same thing a few years ago, only for me to turn on my new A/C and discover (a) a growing dark patch on my living room ceiling pretty much directly below it, and (b) when I turned it off, quite a bit of water made its way to the bottom of the furnace’s air intake vent (located well below the furnace). Yes, it’s been fixed, and the ceiling has held out so far. I also noticed that the area with the dark spot was painted more recently than the rest of the ceiling, so I have a feeling I am not the first occupant of the house to have something like this happen.
Sounds like your condensate drain is getting plugged, probably with algae. Common event, and you can probably figure out how to clean it yourself. The other thing you can do is to put a catch pan under the unit where the water leaks, and then put a water alarm in that pan to alert you that the drain needs cleaning.
I have mini splits to keep the finished basement comfortable. They’re about 10 year old Carrier XPower. They came with the house.
Last year they started shutting down when the outside temps got below about 30F. Called a guy, said it needed cleaning, and off he went. Since it didn’t get especially cold after that, we were satisfied.
This year, they started shutting down whenever temps get below about 45. I did a little digging and the error code means either mismatched pressures (likely a leak issue) or fan not turning. Can I point out that’s an odd combo of meanings for E1?
Anyway, called a local, well regarded place. They sent a guy who was a complete tool. Without even looking at it (and his “diagnosis” visit was $95) he told me:
First I have to clean it. That’ll be a few hundred bucks.
Then I can pull all the refrigerant and weigh it to see if any is lost. That’ll be a few hundred bucks. (And, y’know, I’m not an HVAC tech, but in the old days you’d put gauges on the system and that would tell you a lot; does that really not work anymore?)
Then I can search for leaks. I’ll have to make holes in walls. That’ll be a few hundred bucks.
Then I can fix the leaks. That’ll be a few hundred bucks.
Oh, and I’ll probably have to spend a few hours on the phone with Carrier tech support. I have to bill for that time (Aren’t YOU tech support?)
By the way, do you have the manuals?
I told him to leave.
Seriously, are repair people even a thing anymore?
(and if someone knows an ACTUAL tech in the Boston area I’d love to hear about it)
My 16 year old mini split died from a failed bearing on the fan. I pulled the fan and found it was easy to take apart to change the bearings. I found them at a local skateboard shop! Cost me only a couple of bucks to fix. I did a post about back then. So check that out.
