HVAC in the attic?

[Bird]

Yep, Lawrence, I removed it. The buyer is supposed to bring me the money today or tomorrow. I'm not in a particular hurry since it's a friend and co-worker of our daughter. The lady's tired of renting an apartment and driving a long ways to work, so this will be convenient for her.

We're shooting for a date of Sept. 9 for closing on the house we're buying.

I thank everyone for all the information in this thread. I learned a lot here, but also found a HVAC pro who met me at the house this morning, checked out the unit, and finished my education for $70. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Cowboyjg]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( and finished my education for $70.
)</font>

Well spent my friend...well spent!!.... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Bird]

I'd heard that heat pumps weren't the best choice for extreme temperatures, and can't say whether that's true or not, but this heat pump is keeping the house at 70 degrees when the temperature outside is 103 /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif so I think I may like it.

 

[Birdhunter1]

Heat pumps aren't the best for extreme cold temperatures. At least if we are talking about air to air heat pumps. What happens is the outside unit freezes up and goes into defrost so much when it gets too cold for it that it looses efficieny by operating in defrost so often. That is why they have a low ambient temp cutout on them so when it gets to s set temp outside the heat pump function stops functioning and it runs strictly on back up heat. On an a/c system to cool a house it works as well as any a/c system regardless of how hot it may be outside.

Now if we were talking geothermal heat pumps that'd be a different story, to those outside ambient does not effect their operatin at all considering the loop is below any part of the ground effected by outside temperatures.

 

[Bird]

It might not be a great idea to revive an old thread, but the temperature here got to 85 this afternoon, I decided it was time to start using the air-conditioner, and figured I'd better check the condensation drains first. I have decided that hanging would be far too good for whomever came up with the idea of putting the HVAC system in the attic. I think my brother and I have the primary drain unstopped now at least for the time being. And the overflow drain is apparently not stopped up as the primary drain was. But after working in the attic this morning, I'd love to get my hands on the throat of the person who designed this system.

 

[ultrarunner]

I know what you mean... I installed my brother's HVAC in the attic, at his request... a simple job turned out to take several days and it was HOT!

The good news is that it has been flawless for the past 7 years and he thanks me every year for helping him on the install.

I was very skeptical... so I had a sheet metal shop build a 3' x 5' tray as a third fail safe in case the primary and secondary drain should both fail... I plumbed it with 1 " copper... so far so good...

Boy does it get hot in the attic!

 

[Bird]

I think 1" copper would be better, but still a terrible idea to put it in the attic. Mine is 3/4" pvc and it's 9 years old this year.

 

[ultrarunner]

He had a small home built on a concrete slab and refused to give up one inch of floor space anywhere. The home has now doubled in size right along with his family... but the HVAC just keeps working and is super quiet...

I did make sure the access was from the garage and I put down a plywood deck in the attic and even added the old carpet and pad he was taking out of the living room...

He does have to change out the HEPA filters he also insisted on adding... I have to say that keeping the fan on low 24 hours a day with the filters has just about eliminated household dust...

Did I say it was HOT up there!

 

[LC '92]

The company I'm with builds about 200 residential houses a year here in Texas. All our HVAC air handlers are in the attic.

The air handler has an internal drain pan. This drain pan is plumbed into the sanitary sewer of the house. Each air handler sits in an overflow pan. The drain from this pan is plumbed to the outside of the house and stubbed out through the soffit directly above the most significant window in the family area. Should the primary drain from the drain pan stop up with algae, the water goes into the overflow pan and drains directly into your yard above the most noticeable window in your house. Homeowners here know when they see this that the primary drain is stopped and its time to service the unit. Whether the unit is in the attic or vertical in the hall makes no difference, they still have to have the drain lines cleaned.

Vertical units are more noisy and draw air from near the floor where their is much more dirt and trash to pick up. They also occupy heated floor space that could be used for living space. For servicing, generally you have access to one side of them. The horizontal attic units have access from all sides except the bottom. The upside of vertical is eaze of filter change. The downside of horizontal is servicing it in the heat of the attic.

 

[Bird]

What happens is floor space costs a certain amount per square foot, so it's cheaper for the builder to put the HVAC in the attic, then after the warranty expires, the builders couldn't care less what it costs the homeowner in maintenance. The ones in a closet on the ground floor require much much less maintenace, much less expense, etc. And anyone buying a home who knows anything at all about the HVAC would probably be willing to pay the additional cost of building a few extra feet of floor space instead of putting it in the attic. Just another case of the "consumer" losing out.

I have a nephew who has a fair sized house with an HVAC system that's marginally adequate; a bit too small. His dad (my brother) has drawn the plans to add another "master bedroom and bath" as well as a second HVAC system for the new addition plus moving part of the existing house to the new HVAC. My nephew asked his dad about putting the HVAC in the attic and my brother told him that would be fine as long as you GUARANTEE that you'll NEVER ask me for any help in maintaining or servicing it! The boy decided to use a little common sense and spend a little more money to have it on the ground floor.