Routine Heat Pump Maintenance

I had a new Trane heat pump installed late last Summer.  I had gotten tired of basic brands failing to the point of needing replacement every 5-8 years.  Somewhat painfully expensive, but it was about the best available (quiet, efficient and should last 12-15 years).

I am a bit slack on maintenance.  

So, funny story!  The installer called me and said it was due for "Fall" maintenance.  They said they sent a post card and I hadn't responded.  And that it had to be scheduled by the following week or I would miss out on this year.

Well, statements like that immediately raise red flags in my mind.  Sounded like spam.  So I checked my files and found the company that called was the installer (I had forgotten their name) and the phone number did match the one on the installation record.  

So I called, expecting they wanted to schedule a maintenance visit for next October.  I could understand that they wanted to make sure the heat pump kept running during the 5 year warranty.  So, OK, I can write a visit for next October on my calendar..

Turns out that they have a different definition of "Fall" than I do.  So a confusing conversation ensued.  I'll repeat it as best I can...

Company:  We need to schedule a Fall maintenance visit.  It's included in your purchase.

Me:  OK, when?  (I'll accept a free maintenance visit)

Company:  Monday.

Me:  Monday when?

Company:  Next week.

Me:  For "Fall" maintenance?

Company:  Yes.

Me: But Fall is 8 months away!

Company:  Yes, but if we don't schedule it now, we close the books next week!

   --------

OK, to shorten the confusion, I'll mention that they live with Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer maintenance schedules.  So in company lingo, they just say Fall and Spring.  I finally figured out they were talking about Last Fall and This Winter!  LOL!

So of course I scheduled a visit.  The guy who came did a good job (so far as I can tell).  Blew out some dust, tightened some screws, hooked up some equipment that (as I asked him to explain for future understanding) tested air-flow, temperature input/output, and internal electrical connections, etc.

Everything was working fine.  😍

But there was a slight problem left over from the installation.  The installer disconnected my self-installed humidifier.  I don't know why, but it was deliberate because he installed a sheet metal patch over the hole where the control was and left the wires hanging.  

I'll be kind, and assume he meant to reinstall it after he had the basic system instaalled and test.  But the fact remains that he didn't.  And I had been struggling to understand the circuit diagrams in order to reconnect the wires and replace the control dial.  And failed.  A picture is worth a 1,000 words but a circuit diagram is useless to me.  

So since I had a guy here, I asked if he could just connect the wires easily.   I mean, it was their company that disconnected them.  And I apologized in advance if humidifiers weren't his problem.  He said he knew all about them and looked at the wires and parts.  Took the cover back off the inside air blower.  Looked for where the humidity-detector should attach.  

Couldn't reattach it with what he had.  System is 240 volts, and the humidity-detector is 120, so it needs an adapter.  Plus "spade-joints" (a kind of wire terminator plug on - yeah I don't know those either).  Well, his maintenance kit doesn't come with those.  

I am scheduled for Spring/Summer maintenance in June.  He said to remind the Company then, that I need those.  OK.

The good news is that this has been a damp Winter and the humidifier wasn't needed much (in past pre-humidifier years, my lips cracked, the cat were static-shocked during petting, and I could turn on my bedside fluorescent light by just touching the metal base).  And I had an old single room humidifier in the bedroom set up again.  So an easy Winter.

So I got through Winter anyway, even with the central air one not working.  But I sure intend to make sure they get it rewired properly at the Spring/Summer maintenance visit!

I am still cracking up over the confusing phone call scheduling yesterday's visit...  You have to accept the strange conversations in life sometimes.

New Heat Pump

Trane came and replaced the heat pump friday!  Since they were schedulaed to arrive between 7-8 AM, I had to get up at 6 AM to be dressed, fed and ready for strangers.  Which also meant feeding the cats, herding them into the bedroom the day, and cleaning the litterboxes.  Naturally, they were late (but only by 30 minutes).  Which was OK because I barely finished breakfast.

First, they disassembled the indoor part.

And removed it...

Then removed the outside unit.

I tried not to bother them too much.  I know contractors hate that.  But these guys were pretty friendly and I did have a few questions along the way.  So I showed up quietly every 30 minutes or so mostly just to observe the progress.

And because of a friend's bad experience once, I glanced around to make sure none of my more "interesting" tools or equipment was missing.  Me friend had some serious theft while his house was being renovated (he got it all back because the thief was really stupid).  They did borrow one of my tools, but it was back on the rack before they left.

But I love to watch things being done.  I usually learn something useful...  Knowing what the inside of enclosed equipment looks like has allowed me to fix a few things myself for free.  For example, once the old unit started leaking water on the basement floor, and I had seen a water collection tray that looked kind of flimsy.  But I knew where it was inside.  So I remove that sheet metal panel, found a loose bracket and re-leveled the tray tightly.  👍

So they finally got to the part about installing the new outside unit.  Which seemed to take forever (but without them seeming to be doing anything with it), so I went out to take a look while they were busy inside.  

There was some noise that worried me, but it turned out to be some equipment that was temporarily attached.  I think it was either a power pack to run the equipment diagnostics before they hooked it up to the house current, or while they were hooking it up to the house circuit box OR it was pumping coolant into the system.  I didn't bother them about it; they were still working.

Whatever it was, it got turned off and detached eventually.  Because they only attached the outside electric cables after they detached it, I'm guessing it was a temporary power supply for testing purposes.

So here is the new outside unit.  It's big.  The old one reached my waist; this thing reaches my shoulder.  And it has a cover to prevent rain/snow/sleet.  The previous unit had a separate electric thaw system.  Because of the size, the ventilation slots around the casing reduce heat build-up in Summer.  

Everything about this unit suggests better operation and long life.  I think I am going to be happy for a long time.  

The last thing they did was install a new thermostat.  My previous one was digital, but only like a clock is digital.  That display showed all the choices and had about 4 manual buttons.  Easy to change from heating to cooling, change the temperature target, and control the fan.

The new one looked more like a smartphone app.  I can even control it with a smartphone if I want to (I don't).  And it is programmable (which doesn't work well for my rather unsheduled life).  But when I had the guy show me how it worked, it was actually simple to control manually.  In non-programmable mode, it is just a touch screen instead of manual buttons (whew). 

Touch the screen and it wakes up.  I can touch "heating/cooling" to change that, up/down arrows for changing the target temperature, and "fan" allows 3 choices (on when "unit is on", on all the time, or a 10 minute on/off cycle).  There are other touch choices, but those are for programmable scheduling mode and I have no need for that.

I should explain that.  I've mentioned I keep an irregular schedule.  I just sleep when I'm tired (or bored).  Sometimes I go to bed at 10 PM, sometimes I go to bed at 2 AM, and sometimes I just stay up all night.  No way can I program the thermostat for that.

Back when I had a regular office job, I had a fancy programmable thermostat.  And I should mention that (year-round) I kept the house at 76F daytime and 68F nightime weekdays.  Kept it 72F daytime on weekends.  And that worked (the thermostat allowed you to choose days).

Now that I'm retired, it's 72 and 68 everyday (I sleep better a bit cool).  But as I said, the hours are regular anymore.  So non-scheduled works for me. 

So here are the results after 2 days...

The Trane unit works better than any York or Ruud unit I have ever had!  It cools and heats quickly.  The previous unit took 4 hours to cool the house 4 degrees F.  This one takes 30 minutes either heating or cooling.

It is unbelievably quiet!  The previous unit made some noise even when new that I could hear in the bedroom at night (the outside unit is right under my bedroom window).  It was mostly just fan noise at first, but by the end it sounded like motorcycles driving up and down the street.  

This Trane unit (an XL) is so quiet I didn't even think it was on.  But standing close to it, I could barely hear it when it was operating.  A kitchen temperate probe thermometer set into a floor vent says it sends out 54F air.  That's actually higher than the previous one (which did 44F when new), but it is more powerful (3.0 tons airflow to 1.5).

And it is extremely energy-efficient.  Before I chose to buy an XL Trane, I visited several websites that seemed to be either expert testers (like Consumer Reports) or non-brand-oriented sites created by experienced but independent heat pump repairmen.  

The general consensus was that the XL Trane should pay back the cost in electrical use and lack of repair costs in 10-12 years.  And since they also said the Trane unit should last 15-20 years, that almost suggests I get it and use it for free!  

The concept bothers me slightly.  There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.  But I have to admit that, if a piece of equipment uses only 75% of the electricity and lasts 2x as long, you have to be gaining something somewhere!  So, I am very pleased (even if it is just the ultra-quiet operation).  

But I have a gripe!  The Trane unit uses a different size air filter than the previous unit.  I like to order good-quality filters in bulk.  So I went to pull the new filter out.  I wanted to know the brand and MERV rating (thats the size of various pollutants it can filter).  I can't (without damaging it, I think).  It catches inside somewhere.

So before I have to replace it, I ordered a dozen the same size but MERV 11 rating and duration (3 months) I usually do from Amazon.  When they arrive, I will force the new one out to examine it.  If the new ones are also hard to put in and out, I will call the Trane company and suggest they didn't construct the filter slot well (it was manually shaped on site).  That could get awkward, so I sure hope the new ones fit easily.

But overall, this Trane is by far the best heat pump I've ever had.  But I'll know better about that in 10 years.  With luck, this will be my last heat pump.

Ooh, I have to mention this too.  My electric co-op sends users a $100 -150 check anytime they use less electricity than the same Quarter of the previous year.  And the new Quarter starts June 1st.  If the new Trane is as efficient as they (and neutral websites) claim, I'll get a nice bonus!

Waiting On Trane

I sure will be glad when the Trane heat pump installer arrives Friday morning.  This week hasn't been too bad.  It got up to 79 inside last Friday or Saturday and today.  Two exhaust fans and 2 open windows made it tolerable.  It seems weird when it is warmer inside than outside in May.  

Well, the physical house structure retains heat and takes a long time to cool.  I also have enough appliances that produce heat on their own, and I do cook dinner every day.  Plus, I had the whole house insulation improved some years ago so if heat/cool doesn't go out open windows or doors, it doesn't go out at all.  Normally a good thing, but not right now.

I've been lucky with the weather this week.  May can get pretty warm here, but it has stayed in the 70s daytime and gets down into the 50s at night.   So at least it isn't Mid-Summer, which is when my heat pumps usually fail.  Today and Thursday are forecast to stay cool, so that gets me to Installation Day.  Yay!

I'm prepared.  All the weeds around the current outdoor unit have been pulled up or cut down.  Everything with 5' of the indoor part has been moved away.  I've cleared off the workbench nearest the indoor part so the installer has some space to place tools.  I'll move the car out of the garage the night before so he has an easy direct route from his truck to the basement.  Everything but drinks and snacks and if he wants them, I have them!  😀

The Non-Joy Of Repairs - Resolution!

The current heat pump company was jerking me around a bit.  The Boss did call, but he was giving me conflicting information too.  So decided to consider a brand new company.  I tired of replacing these units every 8 or so years! 

I trust Consumer Reports, so I visited their website.  I was shocked.  The brand I have used for 30 years was near the bottom of the ratings chart.  It was listed as below average in virtually every category!  At the top were Trane and American Standard.  

Everything Consumer Report said about both was outstanding.  Most modern technology, quiet, efficient, long-lasting, etc.  Other good news from CR was that the energy and durability saving would pay for the unit in 12 years (less than the life-expectancy of the unit.  The bad news is that it is (of course) more expensive.  I've never heard of American Standard, so I called the local Trane dealer.  

A dealer Rep came out the next afternoon and examined my existing system, estimated the cubic feet in the house, measured the available space where the indoors portion would go, examined the ductwork capacity, etc.  He said the duct capacity was fine, that the indoor unit needed to be replaced  (the mechanical parts of course, but also the fan and condensation-removal mechanism.  And BTW "Your current 1.5 ton unit is underpowered for your house".  Which meant that the previous heat pumps had been laboring both too long and too hard (thus wearing out faster and costing me a lot in electricity).

He sent a proposal later that day.  He offerred a unit that Consumer Reports said was their better one.  He upped the capacity to 3.0 tons, applied a State and my energy co-op credits to the proposal (they simply reduce my costs immediately in the proposal and Trane gets it back on their own).  They will also haul away all the old equipment and install a better thermostat.  The unit can be expected to last 15 years.

Then there was the cost.  It was higher than I expected.  Let's just say "ouch"!  But it seems worth it and I can afford it.  I sent a 50% deposit immediately and received acknowledgement immediately.

Unfortunately, they can't install a new unit until Friday.  And the poor A/C from the existing unit failed that evening.  My house was not designed for good cross-ventilation.  And while it is not mid-Summer with 90F temperatures and high humidity, it got to 80F inside quickly.  I opened 2 screened windows and turned on the kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans, but it stayed warm inside.  In fact, despite it being cooler outside than in, I couldn't get it below 78F.  

I can't sleep well above 70F.  You probably think I'm a wimp (and I suppose I am).  So some history.  As I kid, I grew up in New England.  Staying warm was the whole point there.  When I was 13, we moved to Virginia.  Staying cool there was the effort.  At first it was pre-air-conditioning.  I lay in bed sweating every Summer night.  

After a couple years, Dad bought a used stand-alone A/C.  But he was (koff, koff) "thrifty".  It was only turned on in the evening.  It was often hotter in the house than outside.  We used to sit on the front or back steps after dinner and watch the "heat lightening" until it cooled down enough to stay inside.  I was still miserable at night.

When I was 13, we moved to Maryland (which is not exactly New England either).  Dad tried to get away with installing a 3' fan in the bedroom floor ceiling, but that never helped much.  Finally, he bought a 2nd hand window A/C (again, only to be run at night).  

Couple years later, I left for college.  The dorms had rooftop A/C units.   Later I was in A/C apartments and then a house and A/C offices.  I have not been without A/C for 55 years!  You get used to what you live with I suppose.  If there was no such thing as A/C, I suppose I would have gotten used to the absence of it decades ago.  And houses would have remained designed for the lack of it.

So this week without A/C is a bit hard.  I sure will be glad when the new unit is installed.  

The Non-Joy Of Repairs

The heat pump has been making a lot of noise and the A/C is working poorly.  I contacted the company that installed it originally and repaired it once.  They sent out a technician.  It was very difficult to understand what he was saying (language issues).  Everytime I thought I understood what he was saying the problem was,  he then said something that made me realize I had not understood him.  

And in fairness to me, he said some conflicting things.  I can't repair a heat pump (very specialized equipment), but I have enough science and engineering to understand how they work.  And a few of the things he said didn't make much sense.  It was basically like he didn't really know what the problem was, but he offerred some suggestions that were contradictory.  It's like he knows what he is trained to do according to readings he gets from diagnostic equipment but doesn't really know why that fixes anything.  

And he said things like "the compressor is working fine" and then a few minutes later "there is a part in the compressor that isn't working".  Well, it can't be both, can it?  He also said the bad part in the compressor can't be replaced itself.  

And "it's 2-3 pounds low on freon (the coolant) and that's $130 per pound".  When I asked what would happen if the compressor had to be replaced (me knowing the answer), he said it would all be lost and I would need even more pounds.  At least he got that right.

He seemed to be suggesting I should just live with the noise.  Admittedly, the mechanical racket only occurred briefly while he was here.  It is irregular, and (of course) didn't happen very long while he was here).  There is an old joke definition of weird car noises.  "Something that won't happen in the presence of a mechanic".  😢

The heat pump is over 10 years old.  It is about time it began to fail.  After some repeated (and rather circular conversations, I concluded the best choice was to have the compressor replaced and asked him to arrange that.  He said he couldn't and that I needed to call the company.  I now think they sent out a local independent (barely-qualified) guy and I'm kind of ticked off about that.

But I called the repair company later Monday to arrange for a compressor replacement.  The scheduler said they had to get one from the supplier and would call me when they had a delivery date.  No estimate of when that would be.  

Then I thought I found the cause of the mechanical racket.  When I moved my ears around the outside unit, I discovered the side of the unit where there are ventilation slots was vibrating.  I also discovered that if I shook the unit, the fan wobbled loosely.  

I pressed a piece of tree branch against the side panel and anchored it with a cinder block.  That suddenly lowered the noise level.  I also shook the casing around the unit and discovered the fan wobbled loosely.  The screws that held the fan and motor were rusted tight, but some Liquid Wrench (a lubricant-penetrant) allowed me to loosen them.  Some were actually already loose (when I broke the rust loose.  So I tighten them.  The fan stopped wobbling and the heat pump operated quietly.  I thought I had solved the problem.

I called the company to tell them not to order a new compressor just yet.  The scheduler had other people on line and said he would call me right back.  An hour later, I called back (assuming he had forgotten).  Well, of course not.  He simply decided not to call me.

Why?  He said he had described the problem to his Boss and Boss said he was familiar with the sound I was describing and would call me himself.  So of course the scheduler guy didn't see any reason to call me back...  AARRRGGGHH!

The Boss hasn't called yet.  Meanwhile, the heat pump has started making the same noises again.  My temporary fixes didn't last long.  Well, I didn't really expect my little fixes would last long, but I did have some hopes...

But I did get one possibly helpful thing done.  Yesterday afternoon, I was clearing weeds where I plan to plant tomatoes.  Which is near the heat pump.  Which turned on and made the same mechanical racket and it continued.  

So I got a bright idea.  I made a video of it with my camera!  The picture means nothing, but the audio is documentation.   If the Boss knows about "bad sounds", I can play it for him over the phone or in person.  Now all I have to do is get in touch with him later today.

If you read all this to the end, thank you...

Holiday Lights 2

I got the house lights set better on the timer.  They come on at dusk and go off at dawn,  Took a few days of adjusting.  It was so cold the past few nights I had to wear gloves.  Picking out and removing tiny plastic  timer push-ins wearing gloves isn't easy.  But I finally got them right.

The Mews didn't like that I didn't let them outside much the past few days.  Sure they have fur, but it was only 12F when I got up.  I'm not going to let them out in that temperature.  The last time I let Laz out like that, he went up a tree, I fell off the ladder, and I haven't recovered from that yet.   

Seriously, some of the parts I injured then are getting worse lately.  I'm getting to an age where things never quite heal.  The compression knee brace helps on the left.  I walk kind of stiff-leeged these days.  But I think it is getting better.  Some problems heal with time and careful waling.  Stairs are annoying.

So, when I got up and Laz and Lori wanted to go out when it was just 12F, I just laughed at them. 

It was too cold in the house late Christmas Eve,  It actually got down to 8F at one point outside.  We haven't gotten that cold here in over 20 years.

I have 2 digital thermometers that also tell me the outside temp and they agreed about 8 all night.  The thermostat was set at 68F; it stayed at 62.  Even the direct (emergency) electrical heating didn't help.  OK, yeah 62 isn't exactly threatening, but I worried the heat pump was failing.  "Perfect" time of year for that, right?

When it got up to 20F outside, it worked better and slowly got to 72.  8F outside isn't exactly the world's coldest temp by a long shot,  but apparently it defeats my aging heat pump.  I bet it fails soon.  They always fail on the hottest or coldest days...  Calling the installers for a maintenance check tomorrow. They have been good about maintenance before.

Complaining that the heat "only kept the house at 62F" sounds pretty "high-faluting" (I grew up with routinely colder morning house temps as that as a kid in New England) but what I want to avoid is it suddenly being 32F.  The house is extremely insulated and holds warmth, but it loses heat eventually of course.  It's hard to cook wearing a heavy Winter coat and hoping repair people can arrive in a few days...  

Happily, the weather is warming.  Should allow the heat pump guys some days to fix serious other problems elsewhere and check mine out soon enough before it fails entirely.

General Stuff

 Static electricity season has started.  I noticed it a few nights ago.  The outside humidity drops and the house follows.  I suddenly suffer itchiness from static.  In past years, I could actually make a fluorescent light glow dimly by touching the metal base.  I'm a real Leyden Jar.  

But it gets painful.  And with The Mews around me in bed, stroking them makes it worse.  I've seen blue sparks while doing that.

I have cotton sheets and blankets to mostly eliminate that now.  But they are old and one sheet ripped wide open from a small hole.  I threw it away expecting to easily buy a replacement.  I like Percale 100% cotton sheets.  And I like color.  And, having a waterbed, I only need 2 flat sheets.  Guess what is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to find these days?  Flat cotton percale sheets as separates!

"Sets" (with a fitted elastic sheet) is easy.  But those don't work on a waterbed.  Looking at "waterbed sheets" just gets me the kind that have a sheet and blanket sewn together at the foot of the bed.  That doesn't work for me.

Doing internet searches was a complete failure.  Companies have so many keywords built in that even "Percale flat cotton sheets" brings up every sheet of any material, weave, or full set (meaning with fitted sheets).  The few sites I found that offerred flat sheets separate were all pale variations on beige (hotel style).

I finally broke though just searching "Flat Sheet".  It's weird that less is more sometimes, but it worked.  A site called Riley offerred separates, in red/burgundy, Percale, 100% cotton.  I ordered 2.  Now I just have to wait for delivery.

Expecting a wait, I went to the basement to see the condition of the inline humidifier.  I have a heat pump, which dehumidifies the air in the house as part of its natural process.  Great for 9 months of the year, but makes static bad the 3-4 Winter months.

I forgot to clean it last Spring.  It is a fabric drum that rotates through a tray of water that self-refills through a pipe.  But evaporating water leaves minerals behind.

It was encrusted with evaporated minerals from the water!  I spent an hour cleaning the rotating drum and the water reservoir tray yesterday.  A mild vinegar bath in a bucket did really well.  I saw the internal house humidity go from 20% to 30 after a full day.  That made a real difference.  Between that and cotton bed linens, I can sleep without static itchiness. 

The Mews appreciate it too.  I can let them under the covers and stroke their furs without "electrocuting" myself (or them) with static.

Heat Pump

It's working, but getting worrisome.  In freezing weather, it has a frost-thaw cycle in the outside part that usually lasts about 5 seconds before the heat cycle comes on.  Lately, it has been taking 15-20 seconds.  Not much difference, but changes aren't good.  And 2 nights ago, during a cooling cycle, it started making rattling noises.  That's not normal at all.

So, for once, before it heat pump just stops, I called the installer and arranged for a diagnostic visit.  They arrive tomorrow afternoon.  I sure hope the rattley sound is just a loose fan blade of something.  But whatever, I hope it is something easily fixable.

I have bad luck with heat pumps.  They usually die on a friday night on the hottest day of Summer and I have to suffer several days before they can come out to repair it.  Historically, it has needed replacement every 7-8 years.  Once one died in mid-Winter.  I can deal with cold a bit better than hot, but it still isn't fun.  I mean, I can add more clothes but there is a limit to how much I can take off.

If they find something simple to repair (or nothing or major repairs, come to think of it), I can at least get an annual maintenance contract at a good price and I think I will.  Knowing my luck, THAT should guarantee nothing ever fails again, LOL!  But it would be worth it.

I am one of those people who think that anything working should keep working.  It's illogical.  It like with my gardens and flowerbeds.  I keep thinking that, once weeded, they should STAY that way.  They don't.  ;(

The heat pump company gives the general "4 hour" range for arrival.  But at least this one calls a half hour that day before they anticipate arriving.  That helps.

UPDATE:

The heat pump was overcharged.  Over-pressurized.  The technician discharged "enough".   And because they overcharged it initially, all they charged was the visit.  I didn't argue about it.

It was sufficient that he immediately heard the same problem I did (and that is rare), fixed it, and left.  It was raining, and I held a BIG golf umbrella over him while he worked.  That got some good will.

He also gave me some useful advice.  I bump the heat up in the morning and use the a/c to cool down at night.  He said stop doing that.  "Open a window at night and use the fan, heat pumps don't like cooling the house when it is below 50F outside". 

OK, live and learn.  Wish someone had told me that 33 years ago.  My heat pumps die every 7-8 years.  My neighbors' heat pumps don't.  I've asked.  Now maybe I know why...

It's Always SOMETHING!

I'd love to go days without some problem or other.  A garden hose starts leaking one day so I have to splice it.  I go to my regular barber shop another day and all of a sudden, they want appointments.  Etc.

So I walked down into the basement after dinner and there is water on the floor around the heat pump unit.  The insides unit was almost entirely replaced just in April!  Well, I've had this happen before and there are various causes.  A heat pump inside unit takes humidity out of the inside air.  The condensation collects in a tray, which drains through a pipe to a reservoir that holds about a quart (liter).  When it is filled, a float activates a pump that sends it to the laundry tub for drainage. 

So, the collection tray can get loose and spill water, the pipe can come loose and spill water, the float can fail and spill water out an overflow hole in the reservoir, or the discharge tube can get blocked and spill water backed out the reservoir overflow hole.  There may be other things that can cause water spillage, but those are the ones *I* have experienced. 

After the 1st time, where I paid someone a few hundred dollars to reattach a loose pipe, I have solved them all myself.

This time was messy.  I quickly figured out that the reservoir was full of "goop".  I don't want to be gross here, but it seems to have been some combination of algae and bacterial slime.  Think of it as "thin jello" if that is easier.  LOL!  I knew I had to get the top of the reservoir off , but the modern things get, the more perverse the attachments are.  The manufacturers assume you will call them for repairs and so they consider the parts disposable.  THEY will just slap on a new part.  For several hundred dollars...  The parts aren't designed to be taken apart and fixed.

I took it apart and fixed it...

I had to break a few attachments to get the damn top off finally, cement and duct tape hold things together afterwards very well.  But getting the top of the reservoir off was just the 1st step.  It still wasn't a large opening, and I had to get the sludge out.  Aha, my wet/dry shop vac!  Sucked most of it out.  A large bottle brush grabbed most of the rest.  Refilling, bottle-brushing, and vacuuming the reservoir a few more times got it pretty clean.

But there was still "stuff" inside the reservoir pump itself.  I got into the slots where the water enters the pump with an awl and slowly got most of it out.  When I put it all back together and filled the reservoir a few times, it automatically emptied the reservoir each time.   Hurray!

I dried the floor with an old towel so that I can see if there is any more spillage overnight.   I'll add some bleach to the reservoir when I go shopping tomorrow.  Naturally (and somewhat ironically) I JUST used the last of it yesterday cleaning the laundry tub of some orange growth - which must have been coming from the reservoir discharge just before it failed). 

And it JUST occurred to me that I can add a PVC pipe to the overflow hole to lead into a 5 gallon bucket underneath it so I get some warning about a problem next time. 

Not that I will need that, but the effort will certainly assure the overflow problem NEVER happens again.  You know the rule:  Any problem you make efforts to prevent will never occur again (but if you don't, it will)!

I buy 3-month filters for the heat pump.  And because of cat hair and who knows what else, I replace them every 2 months.  I've added a note on the heat pump to add 1/8 cup of bleach to the reservoir each time too.

I hope the next problem gives me a few days before it occurs...

The Heat Pump Pictures

Darn, I forgot I had pictures of the repair.  So for what it's worth...

Jeff, the repair manager called me before the repair and said he had good news.  The supplier (who aparently controls warrantee replacements), had said they didn't have the specific "Thermal eXchange Valve" (TXV) available for my unit, but that he "bitched and complained" and they agreed to provide a whole "coil".

I had no idea what that meant, but if the repair manager was happy, that seemed good.  Well, it was more significant than I thought!  The TXV seems to be that little gold colored thing in the center.  The "coil" is the entire guts of the inside unit!

Really, they took out everything!

And here is the new (for free after 6 year's use) replacement!

The guy on the left is the repair manager.  The guy on the right is the "so-called" repairman.   HE didn't have a clue about what to do.  The repair manager kept teaching him every step of the way!

And if I had not called the repair manager with concerns about repairguy, repairguy would have tried to do all that work and messed up royally!  Note the Repair Manager is doing all the work.  Even the heavy lifting!  

The replacement units are not IDENTICAL to the original ones.  He had to cut away some side sheet metal to make it fit.  But HE knew about that and repairguy didn't...  I can only imagine (with shudders) what repairguy would have struggled to do to make it fit.  Hammerring maybe?

The replacement unit didn't fit to Repair Manager's satisfaction.  Out it came for more shaping....

Then back in and Repair Manager was happy.   And if he's happy, I probably will be happy...

And to my surprise, there was welding involved!  And guess who did it.  Quite frankly, the Repair Manager wasn't letting the repairguy do ANYTHING important.

Welding going on.  I'm surprised the camera could take this pic!

Back outside for replacing the coolant, even THEN Repair Manager was doing all the work while repairguy stood around not paying attention.  I think I could reach repairguy's skill level in a week of training!  Well, for one thing, I would pay careful attention...

And again, repairguy is watching while Repair Manager shows how to do basic stuff.  And I mean that.  Is there anything more basic to heating and cooling systems than loading coolant?  On the other hand, repairguy is the one who overpressured my system by 4x in Feb and caused most of currentthe problems...

So Repair Manager left after the mechanical problems were fixed and there were "only" measurement to be recorded.  I'm not sure repairguy knew how to do THAT right.  He kept calling some other people on his phone asking questions. 

BUT, after 3 days of switching the system from heat to cooling, the system is working better than I recall from the initial installation.  There MAY have been problems from the start.  I dropped the temperature from 72 to 68F in 30 minutes.  That used to take an hour.  Raising the temperature is faster, but it happened faster than usual.

I am glad of this repair.

But I think the success was all because I complained to the company first about problems with the previous repair, and then the Repair Manager when I was not pleased with the repairguy they sent.  And Repair Manager did almost all of the work himself!  Let that be a lesson to you...  Demand the best-qualified person to do the job...

The Heat Pump...

The repairmen came, they went.  In their wake, they SEEM to have left me with a working heat pump.

I was worried when the repairman showed up.  It was the same guy who messed up my system in Feb.  While he started working on the unit, I called the office repair manager.  He called back a few minutes later to assure me that the guy he sent was especially good at replacing parts.  But also would come by in 30 minutes (from another job) to make sure all went smoothly.

And it was a damn good thing he did.  Because the repair manager had to do most of the work himself!  He had promised me a free part and free labor, but I did not know the free "part" was almost the entire inside unit.

It took them 4 hours.  Because of some gradual equipment changes, the replacement coil was not a "pull and replace" unit.  The manager went "hands on" to it, cutting some sheet metal to fit.  I got a kick out of saying to the sent repair guy "This is why I worked to be Manager, so as to not have to do this stuff".

The "sent" guy would not have known to do that shaping work.  If I hadn't called, he might STILL BE HERE 6 hours later botching the job.  And that is a lesson learned.  If a simple repair is done right, great.  If a complicated repair is done well by a talented repairman, great!.. But if a repair is in the middle and they send the simple repairman to fix it, you need a Manager!

And did this guy know his stuff!  It was like watching a surgeon.

And it got better!  A few times when he was waiting for equipment to provide results, I asked a few questions.  Apparently, they were good questions.  Having a Dad as an engineer helps...

So I mentioned understanding gas expansion cooling, and he mentioned that he had taken AP classes in physics, so we had a great discussion about dark matter and dark energy and fun stuff while his equipment measured pressures and temperature changes.

Geez, I hope managing a heat pump repair unit pays well...

Anyway, the high pressure whistling sound is gone inside and out, the screeching sound of the outside fan is gone, the heating and cooling seem to be working, and all I had to pay for was the coolant.

I hope I feel as happy in mid-summer and next winter!  The repair company maybe doesn't have the best basic repairmen, but they sure stand by their promise to make everything right eventually.  That sounds like a back-handed compliment, but I mean better than that.  They COULD have just fought my complaints and said go call someone else if I wasn't happy, but they didn't.

It was 70 degrees outside.  They heated the house up to 80 and cooled it down to 65 in just an hour.  AFAICT, that means it is working.

And BTW, Iza is a Very Brave Cat .  She followed us all around, watching what was going on.  Marley an Ayla hid in the bedroom.  Iza got extra treats after they left.  She is a "Snoopervisor Extraordinary"!

Statuses

Well, the good news is that my Heat Pump is scheduled to be fixed tomorrow morning.  The repair company called me this morning.  They got their supplier to provide the part for free, they are doing the labor for free, I will pay for the replacement coolant ($200).

I accepted.  They could have given me a bunch of technical runaround "proving" none of it was their fault, but they didn't.  And I get the 1st appointment of the day, so I won't have to sit around waiting in a 4-hour window.

It will be good to having the heat pump working properly again (possibly for the 1st time ever).  My electric company sends me monthly reports showing that my Winter electrical usage is 3x the average of my neighbors (Summer is close).  And I have been extraordinarily fortunate that the outside temperature has been unusually moderate (highs of 70 and lows of 55 for almost 2 weeks while the system was completely off).  I'm a real warm-bodied person and don't sleep well above 70.

I'm patiently waiting for the bathtub tile replacement.  The entire tile surround and backerboard will be replaced, as well as the faucet and temperature valve, the showerhead, soap dish, towelrack, and the tub itself.  I guess for a cheaply built "starter house",  30 years was long enough before some repairs were needed.

I was encouraged when the remodeler said not to use the tub before the replacement work (2 weeks hence) so that they could better tell if any moisture on the studs behind the walls was just dampness from the leaks or actual damaged.

I know that its routine for bathroom remodelers to go for increases to the work required claiming unseen stud damage or mold.  That the remodeler seems to be trying to make sure any such signs of moisture are real is probably why they have an "A" rating on Angie's List.

The aggravation is that they say the work will take 10 days.  I have a showerstall in a half bath to use, but I don't like it much.  And I'm not thrilled about having to be available for workers here 4 or 5 days (it takes 10 days, but they won't be here every day - some things need time to "set").  But after a year of increasingly worsening tiles problems it will be worth it.

My knee (twisted on April 5th) is still not normal again, but I can walk straight-forward almost as usual.  I still feel it on stairs and getting into bed.  I've missed the whole Spring on yardwork, though and the weeds are taking over.  I'll be busy when I can dig again!

Heat Pump Problems

I don't like to be complaining often, and I recognize that my worst complaints are minor compared to many other people's.  But they are what *I* am suffering, if you understand what I mean.  Sort of the "I was sad I had no shoes, til I met a man who had no feet".  Well, I still have no shoes, so I'm not happy.

My heat pump is non-functional.  Brief history is that the heating function barely worked in early Feb and I had to pay $120 for a diagnostic visit, then $745 for a replacement of the outdoors unit "thermal exchange valve" and a coolant recharge.  It worked, but not like it used to.  And there was often a weird high-pressure whistling sound both inside and outside after that.

Then when the weather warmed into the low 80s in mid-April, I turned on the cooling function.  It struggled.  How could it struggle when it's only 80 outside?   So I had to pay $120 for another diagnostic visit.  Naturally, it was only 65 outside that day and the system worked perfectly...

Monday the system simply stopped completely.  No heating, no cooling, not even the fan operated.  Even the thermostat display was dark.  I checked the main circuit breaker panel, the inside unit ciruit breaker, the outside circuit breaker, nothing. 

Wed, another repairman came out.  THIS guy knew what he was doing!  First, he ACTUALLY listened to my description of the recent history of diagnoses and repair, and he listened to my observations of noises and heating/cooling failures.

The 1st thing he did was get into the inside unit where there was yer ANOTHER circuit breaker, and replaced it.  It promptly blew out when he turned the system back on.  So he shut everything off again and checked the coolant because "that high pressure whistle you described is bad news".  Sure enough, he found the coolant recharge done in Feb was 4x too high.  There was some by-passing valve that protects against that but it meant the system wasn't doing much.  He said the previous week's diagnostician didn't measure for long enough to discover that.  And terms like "those clowns" were used...

He suspects the INTERNAL "thermal exchange valve" was damaged by the coolant overpressure and said he needed to speak to the repairs manager because they had screwed up my system and owed me some free work (that he couldn't authorize on his own).  The nice news was that he said I had observed the problems accurately, had been right that the noise was due to high pressure, and that if the previous guys had paid attention to what I was telling them, they might have fixed the problem right to begin with!

And, in fact, I had described the pattern of cooling failure to the last week's diagnostician in detail.  Not 10 minutes later he told me that I should observe the pattern of failure.  Exactly what I had just previously done.  I think that, like doctors, repairmen shut off their hearing when clients speak.  Seriously, how often have you explained symptoms in detail to a doctor only to have him/her ask you about symptoms you just mentioned?  Often, right?

I spoke to the repairs manage this afternoon.  My system is a year out of warranty, but he has gotten authorization to replace the inside thermal exchange valve at no charge and the labor charge will be at 50%.  Plus any other problems found during full repair will be cost-adjusted. 

I mentioned that seemed generally fair, since it was likely the Feb over pressuring caused some of the problems, but I didn't push it further.  I'm not a skilled negotiator (I'm always afraid people will just say "NO" and THEN get mad and unhelpful). 

They expect the part to arrive Monday and will be out to replace it ASAP.  I've been very fortunate that the temperatures have been very stable between highs of 65 and lows of 50.  I can deal with that.  I'm a very warm-bodied person, I have a heated waterbed, and I'm a lot more comfortable at 65 than 75.  And the house stays warmer than the outside.  All that electronic stuff that stays permanently 1/2 on creates heat, as does the refrigerator, water heater, cooking, etc.  And the house got a detailed attic-to-basement spray insulation and blown-in insulation job 18 months ago. 

When it is 50 outside, the house stays at 65.  But that also means that when the outside temperature is 80, the inside will reach 90 even with windows open and I can't sleep in THAT!  And it will get into the 80s Tuesday!  So the repair will be a close call...

It could be much worse.  Heat pumps usually die on the coldest or hottest days.  My previous 2 heat pumps died in mid August and the in-house temperature reached 100!

I have more complaints, but this post is long enough (and my appreciation to all who have read to this point)!  So the rest tomorrow...

Repairman Blues

ARGGGHHHH!  Repairmen drive me crazy sometimes.  It always seems there is some part of the repair that they just can't do properly.  And I don't mean some part of the job that is just hard to do.  I mean some part that they don't UNDERSTAND how to do. 

I shouldn't be too surprised.  I seem to have the misfortune of having "the troublesome repairs".  No one ever comes here and finds just "a loose wire" to re-attach...

Yesterday it was the heat pump outside unit.  It failed a week ago.  But there is a backup heating unit inside mine that provides heat (an electrical induction coil like in a space heater).  That works well enough, standard electric furnaces work that way routinely though not quite as efficiently.  So I waited until the snow melted.

This time, the initial diagnostic test suggested 2 possible problem, and of course it wasn't the simple one.  Surprise, surprise!  The "thermal expansion valve" had gone bad and they had to order one, being a part that "rarely fails".  Surprise, surprise!

So they came back Monday morning at 8:30 am to replace it.  I had a vet appointment at 2:15 pm, but I wasn't worried about it.  An hour to replace a part, I assumed. 

Little did I suspect that he had to disassemble most of the outside unit to get AT the part.  I was annoyed by late morning and worried by Noon.  He had the outside unit running by Noon, but was still having a problem.

I have a "normal" setting were the actual heat pump provides the heat.  There is a "stage 2 heat" where the inside induction coil comes on to provide additional heat if required.  That's for extreme demand (like when the power has been off and the house has gotten very cold, or when the outside unit fails).  There is "emergency heat" (which I assume means both are on when it gets too cold outside for the heat pump alone to keep up).

The repairman couldn't get the thermostat off the stage 2 heating mode.  I didn't know that.  He just kept fiddling with the thermostat and then going back outside to wait for the outside unit to come on again (there is a time delay when changing settings. 

I generally keep the house at 70F.  When I started getting worried about the time to the vet appointment, I started watching what he was doing.  He would set the target temperature up to 80F wait until the outside unit came on (after the 5 minute delay) then go back inside and see the stage 2 icon on.

I finally asked him what he was trying to do.  He said he was trying to get the system operating on normal heat, not stage 2.  Well, OK, I certainly want that.  After the 3rd cycle of that I started asking questions.  I'm analytical; I figure out logical problems.  So I asked why he thought the thermostat setting would change.

I immediately got that "God save me from curious customers" look. Undaunted, I said it wouldn't change until the house temperature reached the target setting.  I got a child's explanation of how the thermostat worked.

Bad move on his part.  I've been operating thermostats for 30 years, I know how they work.  And I said so.  THAT got me the "God save me from customers who think they know better than the repairman" look.

Worse move on his part!  So I asked him what he expected to happen.  He explained carefully that the "normal" icon should show up when the outside unit is operating.  I told him, it doesn't work that way; the stage 2 heat will stay on until the house temperature reaches the target setting.  He looked pained and launched into a much longer and very detailed explanation of how heat pump thermostats work.  I guess that was on the idea that if he couldn't dismiss my concerns he would drown me in details.

Worst move on his part!  Now that I knew what he was thinking, I knew where he was WRONG!  He thought the thermostat operated in 5 degree intervals.  As in, you set the target temperature to 70, the heat stays on until 75, then kicks on again when the house gets down to 65. 

WHAT?!?  No, it works in 1 degree increments I said.  If set to 70, its heats to 71 and shuts off.  Then kicks back on at 69.  He didn't believe me.  I told him it had always operated that way.

Then it got loonier!  He asked what base temperature the installers had programmed the thermostat to initially.  (Huh?)   He said if I kept the house at 70, they would have set the system to 70 at installation.  Well, that made no sense.  He even examined the insides of the thermostat looking for "something".  He demanded to see the manual.  I provided it.  He could barely read it (English was not his native [Italian] language, which added to our difficulties on explanations).

Now, the fan itself has 3 settings; "auto" meaning the fan is on when the system is on, "on" which means the fan is constantly operating, and "circulate" meaning the fan cycles on and off constantly every 10 minutes (for no purpose I can think of).

The repairman kept pointing to the "auto" icon, thinking it referred to the "normal" heat setting (also described as "auto" on the thermostat.  I had to lead him step-by-step through the manual before he realized the difference.

Which got us back to his idea that the system had been "programmed" to a specific temperature setting.  I never could convince him that there was no such thing (admittedly "that I knew of").  He insisted on getting the house cooled back down to 70, and opened the deck and front doors to let in cold air.  I went along since he was utterly convinced the system wasn't working properly and apparently I wasn't getting rid of him until he was happy.

I tried another leap of logic...  The house was at 80 (he had bumped the target temperature up several times is his testing).  So I asked what was the difference between seeing what happened going from 80 to 81 instead of cooling the house to 70 and seeing what happened bumping the setting to 71?  I should work just as well for testing purposes.

I got "that look" again...

But he "allowed" it, so we did.  After waiting the 5 minute delay (which is actually only 30 seconds normally - his equipment outside probably had a time delay built in - but I wasn't going to quibble over minor matters).

Hot Damn!  The thermostat icon went to "normal" heating immediately.  Surprise, surprise!  He was shocked (and I think a bit disappointed).  His misunderstanding of thermostats (Ok, OK, maybe they work differently in Italy) wasted almost 2 hours of my time and forced me to reschedule the vet appointment.

Epilog:  You'll get a kick out of this...  I had accepted a 2 delay repair delay because the office manager said he wanted to send one of his experts instead of one of the "regular" guys.  Makes me worry about the "regular" guys!  Imagine how bad THAT might have been...

Fortunately, the repair was a fixed price, not by-the-hour.  So I didn't actually have to pay for the wasted time.  But at bill-paying time, the repair ticket had a rating section for the repairman's work.  I had to fill it out right there in front of him.  That's a cheap trick companies use.  I could tell that if I had given less than a perfect 10, he would have whined and pleaded.  So I gave him 10s to get him out of the house.  I'll write a detailed letter to the company advising them of his thermostat-confusion later today.  He DID know the mechanics of the part-replacement! 

And as he left, he suggested that there was still a problem with the thermostat.  I could see he was thinking that I would be calling them back soon).  The whole system seems to be working perfectly and as intended...

And the cats' annual vet exam was rescheduled for an hour later and they are all fine!