I paid a mechanical engineer for my house. I'm in the commercial construction business. It cost me 900 dollars. I was able to put out to bid a set of spec and drawings to follow . Buy the units and have lead items ordered prior to starting . It was a huge help . And some would say a waste of money. I had not issues from the sheet metal guy because I was able to plan framing and routing . So no compromises or weird layouts . I was a bit particular with finish register locations
Homeowner: Mr. Hvac technician it is 12° outside, and my heat doesn't work. Tech: Your furnace is tripping your high temperature limit, and your external static pressure is too high. I just need 2.5-3 hours and $350-400 to count all of the fittings and duct work that I can see and then take some wild guess at what is hidden above the finished basement to determine your proper air flow because it likely wasnt installed properly. Then, I will need $1600.00 in new ductwork and return air grills to make it right. Homeowner: Why? Tech: Because design manufacturers and the powers that be keep creating ways to save a few dollars a year in energy costs. Homeowner: That's B.S!! This is a 12 year old custom built home, and I've never noticed this problem before now! Get out of my house!
I understand what you are doing BUT you need to be talking to the home owner that is trying to make the most of what they already have installed. The common problem being the restriction on the return filter that is already installed. Square inch area or the thickness of the filter restricting the air flow. I will try to review problems I have solved on my own. A 3 ton package unit with a 14 inch return duct first installed with a floor vent 20 x 12 inch return filter (active filter area is 209 Sq. inch). Not enough air flow for the unit. So to make it easy I built a square box type end table large enough to cover the floor return, also large enough to install 2 each 20 x 20 inch filters equalling 722 square inch active filter.area. This cured the house problem. The playroom/garage with the same unit I played with the filter area up to 3 each 20 x 20 inch filters, active area was 1,083 square inch area. The 2 filters was all that was needed so I built a box for them. Now we had a third problem at a friend's house. A CORE, I have no idea of the unit size because that was not the problem. The return was pulling thru two doors with 20 x 20 inch vents. The doors would slam shut with the unit on. The door vents were not large enough. Also having continous problems with the unit. So rather than cutting larger holes in the doors it was easier just to take the doors down. Now we had the air flow for the unit to operate as it should and have had no more problems with it. There is always a way to get more filter area even wih the filters installed in the duct. Try this type of DIY video for those people that do not understand this and do not need to engineer there AC syastem. I have not found any video's on just this type of problem, just video's that though everyone was an engineer.
I've got nowhere near the amount of ductwork needed for my 2 ton system or an upgrade to a 60k condensing furnace from nat. draft. I also know my system is oversized based on runtimes on the hottest and coldest days. I don't expect any installer in MN to listen to me when I ask for a downsize, even if I show them all of the data logs and they look at the ductwork. The AC has a minimum 25 degree difference between supply and return with a brand new unrestrictive filter and it only gets worse from there.
Wanting your HVAC installer to also be your HVAC designer might work. But it’s always going to be a bit like asking your mechanic to create a Chevy, or your framer to go to architecture school before next month’s foundation is ready. Different skillsets. You need someone on staff who does NOTHING besides design and works with builders. And for the vast retrofit market … good luck.
I paid a mechanical engineer for my house. I'm in the commercial construction business. It cost me 900 dollars. I was able to put out to bid a set of spec and drawings to follow . Buy the units and have lead items ordered prior to starting . It was a huge help . And some would say a waste of money. I had not issues from the sheet metal guy because I was able to plan framing and routing . So no compromises or weird layouts . I was a bit particular with finish register locations
Homeowner: Mr. Hvac technician it is 12° outside, and my heat doesn't work.
Tech: Your furnace is tripping your high temperature limit, and your external static pressure is too high. I just need 2.5-3 hours and $350-400 to count all of the fittings and duct work that I can see and then take some wild guess at what is hidden above the finished basement to determine your proper air flow because it likely wasnt installed properly. Then, I will need $1600.00 in new ductwork and return air grills to make it right.
Homeowner: Why?
Tech: Because design manufacturers and the powers that be keep creating ways to save a few dollars a year in energy costs.
Homeowner: That's B.S!! This is a 12 year old custom built home, and I've never noticed this problem before now! Get out of my house!
I understand what you are doing BUT you need to be talking to the home owner that is trying to make the most of what they already have installed. The common problem being the restriction on the return filter that is already installed. Square inch area or the thickness of the filter restricting the air flow. I will try to review problems I have solved on my own. A 3 ton package unit with a 14 inch return duct first installed with a floor vent 20 x 12 inch return filter (active filter area is 209 Sq. inch). Not enough air flow for the unit. So to make it easy I built a square box type end table large enough to cover the floor return, also large enough to install 2 each 20 x 20 inch filters equalling 722 square inch active filter.area. This cured the house problem. The playroom/garage with the same unit I played with the filter area up to 3 each 20 x 20 inch filters, active area was 1,083 square inch area. The 2 filters was all that was needed so I built a box for them. Now we had a third problem at a friend's house. A CORE, I have no idea of the unit size because that was not the problem. The return was pulling thru two doors with 20 x 20 inch vents. The doors would slam shut with the unit on. The door vents were not large enough. Also having continous problems with the unit. So rather than cutting larger holes in the doors it was easier just to take the doors down. Now we had the air flow for the unit to operate as it should and have had no more problems with it. There is always a way to get more filter area even wih the filters installed in the duct. Try this type of DIY video for those people that do not understand this and do not need to engineer there AC syastem. I have not found any video's on just this type of problem, just video's that though everyone was an engineer.
I've got nowhere near the amount of ductwork needed for my 2 ton system or an upgrade to a 60k condensing furnace from nat. draft. I also know my system is oversized based on runtimes on the hottest and coldest days. I don't expect any installer in MN to listen to me when I ask for a downsize, even if I show them all of the data logs and they look at the ductwork. The AC has a minimum 25 degree difference between supply and return with a brand new unrestrictive filter and it only gets worse from there.
Please do one for the supply side
It's coming 🙂
It's called Manual D. Learn it, apply it, and don't complicate things.
Great video….Return grill?
We have a video coming on that and everything else ☺️
Wanting your HVAC installer to also be your HVAC designer might work. But it’s always going to be a bit like asking your mechanic to create a Chevy, or your framer to go to architecture school before next month’s foundation is ready. Different skillsets.
You need someone on staff who does NOTHING besides design and works with builders.
And for the vast retrofit market … good luck.
Ok, haven't ever seen a house correct , and never will
Service techs care about this stuff, installers do not. 99% of the time, building to “code” isn’t ideal, especially with multi story homes.