Clean HVAC System Coils Save Energy Dirty coils force compressors to run longer and work harder than required, increasing energy usage and utility costs One of the easiest, most cost-effective green things you can do for your building’s energy efficiency is to have your HVAC system’s condenser and evaporator coils inspected yearly and cleaned as necessary. Dirty coils force compressors to run longer and work harder than required, increasing energy usage and utility costs while decreasing component life and occupant comfort. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), major utilities, and other experts, dirty condenser and evaporator coils can significantly increase HVAC energy usage and associated utility costs. The U.S. DOE says that “a dirty condenser coil can increase compressor energy consumption by 30 percent.” A dirty evaporator coil decreases airflow, resulting in reduced heat transfer and a degradation of the dehumidification process.

These can cause overall air quality to decline and systems to fail, and decrease the life expectancy of motors due to increased heat while running. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) suggests an annual coil cleaning to its commercial customers as part of its ongoing efforts to promote energy-efficient HVAC-system operations. top-rated vacuum cleaners under $150“Once the system has been properly charged with refrigerant and has good airflow across the indoor coil, and assuming there is no damage to the duct system, only basic service, such as changing filters and cleaning the outdoor unit annually, should be needed to maintain the system operation at peak performance levels,” says PG&E.best vacuum cleaner for condo With the HVAC system running in “cool” mode, there are two places where heat exchange occurs: 1) condensing unit coils, and 2) evaporator coils. best vacuum cleaner reviews south africa

Foreign materials on these coils act as unintended insulators and inhibit the free flow of air through the coils, decreasing the rate of heat transfer between coil and air that is the basis of most HVAC systems. Further, experience shows that servicing dirty systems can lead to misdiagnosing problems and/or faulty or unnecessary repairs. average cost to clean ventsTypically, this results in overcharging of systems and premature failure.air duct cleaning odor It’s not just old systems that need cleaning. best vacuum cleaner sharkIn fact, the newer and more efficient your HVAC system is, the more likely it is to benefit from regular coil inspection and cleaning. These newer systems operate at greatly increased pressures and are less tolerant of increases in static pressure.

While clean coils have always been important, today’s higher-efficiency units require more efficient heat transfer across larger coils to function at their highest capacity. New units with high SEER ratings often have variable-speed fan motors that adjust fan speed based on demand; however, these units lose much of their effectiveness when forced to run harder than necessary due to fouled condenser vanes. An effective coil inspection and cleaning requires more than hosing down the vanes on an exterior compressor coil. The National Air Duct Cleaners Association’s (NADCA) ACR 2006 Standard for HVAC Assessment, Cleaning and Restoration sets minimum best practices for coil cleaning. Robert “Buck” Sheppard is president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Air Duct Cleaners Association. 800 posts, read 2,589,003 times 20,142 posts, read 44,386,925 times Originally Posted by dgz What did he quote you to ALSO replace the condensor at the same time? And whatever he quoted you... get ANOTHER price to do the whole job.

Then DO the whole job with all new R410 components. If you have a furnace (gas? oil?) below the AC system more than 15years old... Consider doing this at the same time as well. He said that with the unit I have 'the coil and plenum are one piece,' I haven't seen a unit before where the coil and plenum are one piece. Post a few pictures... but this aspect of the question is just a distraction from the real issue. fyi:Below are pics of an evaporator coil and a cased coil. 4,775 posts, read 8,012,407 times The terminology you're using makes it a little difficult to determine what you are describing - I'm guessing that the Hvac guy is putting in a new "air handler" with an integrated coil - as opposed to a separate coil & air handler. If that's the case, the builder didn't "cheap out", the prie of a separate coil & air handler is about the same as an integrated unit. - just guesstimating what you have, a typical Goodman integrated air handler might be in the range of ~$900 for just the part - so your quote isn't too terrible.

The good news is, the air handler will have a new blower motor on it, some of those cost $500, so just as well to have a new one. Personally, I'd insist on replacement of the outdoor condenser as well, the difference in labor would be negligible, & you would have a matched system with a warranty. Your installer is lying if he says you need "8-10 pounds" of r22, more like 3-4 pounds for a residential unit. Get the model number he's planning to install & you can google the installation manual which will give you a ballpark figure for refrigerant amount & clarify that the unit is suitable for r410 1) does the quote DESCRIBE what they will do about the copper refrig lines? 2) does he describe what BRAND the coil is 3) will he use a cased coil this time or replace all sheetmetal from the furnace up? 4) Did you call in a second company for a comparable quote? Originally Posted by MrRational He said it's a Lennox CH33 coil - C33, CR33, CH33, CH23 Indoor Coils |

I'll ask him if it's cased or not. (I'm still on a rapid learning curve here :-) ) I have a 2nd company that is going to give me a quote tonight. 14,538 posts, read 42,464,001 times If complete new refrigerant lines can be run without having to patch into existing ones to get through a wall, I'd want all new, with an absolute minimum of joints. The cleaner and more complete an install is, the better chance it has of lasting. Mid-summer, Texas, I don't see anything wrong or unusual in the quote, but getting a second one is usually a good idea. Verify WRITTEN warranty terms (READ the darn thing and ask questions ) , make a package of the paperwork, and keep a second copy package in a plastic sleeve taped to the air handler, for easy access. 27,839 posts, read 29,300,075 times That's not a terrible price but price shouldn't be your only restriction. The 4 ton 13ACX comes with 7 lbs 12 oz of refrigerant already in the system. this should be enough of a charge for the outdoor unit, 15 ft of refrigerant lines and a matching AC coil.

There may be a little tweaking of the charge based on your actual line set length. If he's adding another 8 lbs of refrigerant on top of that I hope your outdoor unit is about 218 ft or so from the indoor unit. If that's not the case then you need to find someone else because he's trying to charge you for the refrigerant that comes already pre-charged in the unit. For every 5 ft of 3/8" liquid line you'll add 3 oz of refrigerant to the total charge. He shouldn't be charging you anything for refrigerant removal since the atmosphere already took care of that for you. Gas systems have cased coils which sit on top of the furnace. These coils can be cleaned they just have to be taken apart and removed from the casing just an FYI. Yeah, that's about what it need but since they come pre-charged for the OD unit, a matching ID coil and 15 ft of line set this shouldn't be an extra charge on your itemized bill/quote that you're going to ask for.You may want to ask him, or whoever you choose, what it will cost to add a TXV metering device.

This typically increases the efficiency of the system by .5 SEER and is added protection for the compressor. I personally like TXV's because they change the amount of refrigerant being fed to the evaporator coil based on the heat load going across it. It's a mechanical device that simply makes sure that all of the refrigerant is boiled off to a low pressure gas before it leaves the evaporator to return to the compressor. That is after all what the point of the evap. coil does and TXV's do it better than all other type of metering devices around. The typical wholesale cost to a dealer for a TXV is around $80 - $100 so I would see if you can get them to throw that in or see what they want to charge to put one in. In terms of ROI they have one of the largest paybacks of the entire HVAC system because of their relatively low cost compared to how much it increases the efficiency. I'd suggest reading over some of the material at the ACCA website for consumers. They have an entire section dedicated to informing you as the consumer: