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u/eddieb583

r/HomeMaintenance r/hvacadvice
Image 1 — House filter has me feeling incompetent
Image 2 — House filter has me feeling incompetent
▲ 38 r/HomeMaintenance

House filter has me feeling incompetent

I feel foolish.

I know that the black plastic wrench is what is used to open the filter body to replace the filter itself. I know bypass the filter, if not outright turn off the water, while I try to replace the filter.

My problem is I can't break the seal on the clear plastic housing to get to the filter. I feel like when I'm cranking on the black wrench I can't break the seal. I feel like I'm going to break something because, while I'm not putting all my strength into it, I feel like I'm putting more into it than I should and that doing more will cause some damage.

Any suggestions on how to "break the seal" to get the filter housing off?

u/eddieb583 — 1 day ago
▲ 2 r/hvacadvice

Old furnace vs new air handler

We're in the process of shopping around for new AC units as they are 20+ years old and wanting to get ideas on cost. Maybe even get ahead of an eventual failure, but more so ideas for budgeting being #1.

So far we've only had one company out, but they have worked with us on our boiler replacement 2+ years ago. A highly rated HVAC company in our location in the Northwest Chicago-land area.

When going over our set up it was noted that the previous owner installed a furnace for each of the two central air units. As mentioned above we have a boiler for heat. That means these furnaces (both have the guts to run heat, but nothing hooked up for heat since we have boiler heat) really only run during the warm months for the AC. Acting purely as air handlers (my words, not the professionals).

The HVAC company we had out said it wsa overkill, but mentioned that it works and that he doesn't think it is necessary to replace the furnace units since, even if the blower motor goes out, it is something that is easily replaced. Even on these older models which are also 20+ years old.

So, here is where I am looking for some wisdom from others on:

  1. Is the HVAC company right? Is it simple enough to replace a blower motor on an older (Goodman unit that I don't have the model number to at the moment) unit if/when the time comes?

  2. Would there be a noticeable efficiency gain if we did replace the old furnace with a new air handler only? Enough to justify the $1800 ($1550 after discounts they offer for multiple units) price difference per unit replacement? (Air handler Lennox CBK43UHET)

  3. Fast forward 10 years, as an example, and we need to replace the whole unit because of reasons. Will it be a big problem that we don't do the air handler now? Or would it be a relatively simple swap to take out the old furnace and put in a new air handler 10 years from now?

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u/eddieb583 — 25 days ago