r/hvacadvice

In October I moved into a new place and the HVAC was so filthy I ended up getting very sick. I was eventually able to move into a new place. Upon initial inspection the air felt fine but I requested that they clean the ducts as they were pretty dirty. The upstairs furnace was also a bit rusty, and the drain pan full of rust which I asked they service. I think that kicked something into the air because when I moved in 3 days later it was like a hot pepper in the back of my throat. 2 rounds of antibiotics, daily Albuterol sulfate inhaler and even a steroid inhaler later I’m still dealing with issues.

I’ve switched filters 3 times since then, after the first swap the air felt ok enough to live in. The downstairs furnace started leaking a couple days into us living there as well and they had to replace the whole unit. I’ve since gone all the way up to Merv 14 3M filters but am starting to have allergies again. I swabbed the vents with take home mold kits and we’ve certainly found a few different types of mold.

I’m feeling a bit helpless, everyone seems to disagree on solutions. I’ve replaced my couch, clothes, mattress etc already. The filters tend to go pretty dirty within 2 weeks. Should I have the vents fogged and cleaned again? Is there a leak somewhere? Should I install UV lights in the handlers? Should I forgo central air and just buy standalone units? I’ll include photos below of what the vents looked like when cleaned and what my filters currently look like after 2 weeks of air.

TL;DR: Having massive allergy issues not sure what to do, filters get dirty quick. Fine outside, bad inside. Fogging? Secondary cleaning? UV light?

Started making this sound a week or 2 ago. Seems to be running fine.

Hello everyone,

We just moved into a new house here in Central Florida, and I've discovered a significant amount of mold inside our AC closet. I know some humidity and minor growth can be standard for this climate, but this seems excessive—you can actually smell it outside the closet even when the door is tightly shut. The unit is approximately 8 years old.

I’ve already had two HVAC professionals take a look, and I'm getting opposite answers:
> * **Tech 1:** Says it needs urgent attention, requiring either a deep professional remediation/cleaning or replacing the entire unit.
> * **Tech 2:** Says it's fine and nothing urgent to worry about and sort of live with it until unit goes bad.

I’m really concerned about the visible growth, the heavy smell, and the potential health implications of breathing in these spores. What do you all think? Has anyone dealt with this level of growth, and what’s the best course of action here?

Thanks in advance!

I created this troubleshooting flow chart with ChatGPT. It might not be 100% correct, so use at your own risk. Hopefully, it will help some people. I will crosspost to r/hvacadvice

Older Lennox R22 unit with a TXV. Compressor was off due to error 33. Replaced extremely dirty filters. Now I have almost 20 degrees of DT, but very high sub cooling. Overcharged?

I’m in Montgomery county, PA and my 22 year old Trane 4ton unit (recently
Purchased a house) died. I replaced the capacitor and it’s working again, a tech said the Freon was off and just given the age of the unit id rather replace it sooner than later. Also the heater is from 2015, I know I can get more life out of it but the dude is telling me to replace it later would cost a lot more. See below for the quote received from the first vendor. Good deal?

UPDATE: he modified quote to include a two stage heater for the same price.

84 Yr old Dad called yesterday with no cool on a 98 deg day here in Texas. I run over there and open it up and found this. I'm sweating it literally and figuratively about where to get one on a Sunday on July 4th weekend. I tell him I will be back Monday when the HVAC place opens. On the way home I had to make a stop at the local ACE hardware for a plumbing project I have going at my house. Just for grins I ask the "Helpful hardware folks" do they carry 45/5 Caps. To my amazement he says yes. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Dad is resting in 75deg air now instead of under a fan in 98deg. Kudos to ACE hardware.

Hi all! Probably a silly question here...but I've never had a "smart" thermostat or any thermostat with these options before. I'm not a technology person, and I just don't understand 🤣

HOW and when should I be using the dehumidification on this thing? I live in a very humid part of the US (thankfully it's only for a couple-few months out of the year) in an ancient house. It always feels comfortable in here, but sometimes the humidity on this doodad shoots up to 65%, and I know that isn't great. Am I not understanding relative humidity? Could it be where the thermostat is placed? A technician recently came out because my less than 1 year old unit hadn't been charged properly. I asked HIM this question and he told me that I really didn't need to use it at all ? A little help in understanding all of this would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Woke up at my parents place this morning and their heat pump has ice build up. I couldn’t feel any air coming from the vents and the unit sounded like it was struggling. It was set to 72 but never got below 76 last night

We shut the unit off to defrost.

What are next steps? Anything that you’d recommend for a DIY attempt to fix? Can we run the unit once it’s fully defrosted?

I’m fairly handy but know nothing about heat pumps

How old and do you think I should get it replaced? Keeps my house at the temp I want and doesn’t seem to have an issues that I know of. Also if yes replace any thoughts on how much it may cost? I have a new furnace if that matters. Thanks

The condensate line is clogged and the float switch did not trip last night. There is a little water pooling in the vent beneath the machine and little bit dripping off the sides. Aside from vacuuming up the pooling water, is there anything else I can do now, while I wait for the HVAC tech to arrive? And what damage could this have caused to the internals of the AC/furnace unit?

My kid stepped on this and now it has a big bend in it. Will this be a problem? AC does seem to work still.

i don’t know what more to say…it’s a mess & i don’t know where to begin