A couple home and garden questions - Corrected

[thatguy]

Brian, Freon is something that could be checked without too much effort.

is that something i can do by looking at a guage on the unit? Or service call?

It is 36 degrees and raining here today.. The unit has ice buildup on one side of it.. is that normal or a sign of low freon by chance?? I have also noticed the ice build up all winter.

thanks

brian

 

[shaley]

Brian, Ice on just one side is usually a sign of low freon. You will probably need a service guy to check it. Seems like the installer would come out under warranty since it is less than 6 mo old. You should measure the air temp coming out of a register both before and after the service call it should be 95 to 100 deg. Make sure the strip heaters are not coming on when you measure.

 

[thatguy]

Our builders came by today and they are going to have the HVAC ppl come out and take a look at the unit..

thanks for the advise

Brian

 

[Jstpssng]

Getting back to the grass question; you may be OK. My grandfather used to replant bare spots in his lawn in the fall; his logic was that the frost would work the seed into the ground. I used to do conservation seeding, spreading seed in ditches and putting roads to bed; I'd often lay the seed right onto the snow and had surprisingly good results.
After all, the wild grasses drop their seed in the fall for spring emergence.

 

[forgeblast]

We have 20ft ceilings in our great room, and two fans. In the winter they are set to push the hot air down, and it really keeps the house much warmer. In the summer you can actually feel the change in temp as you walk up the stairs. Love having skylights and no windows in our upstairs bedroom, no place for a traditionals ac. Looking at the mini splits.
I would put in a fan or two if you are loosing heat to the ceiling.

 

[thatguy]

And the winner is Shaley for guessing that my heat pump had a freon problem..

The HVAC guy stopped by today and said the unit was 'unbelievably' low on freon.. He topped it off and will have someone out tomorrow to find and fix the leak.. The good news is that he also said this was a new model unit and was about 26% more efficient than the previous units..

thanks for all the tips/help

Brian