On Dec 17, 11:37*am, jamesgangnc wrote:
On Dec 16, 4:13*pm, "lost" wrote:





That were me with the Amcoraire. When I bought it, I roughly figured 3 years
to amorize it. Now, it's gonna pay for itself *in less than 2 years. I have
a 12K microprocessor controlled version with a seer of 18. Central unit (old
(for around here)) has a seer of 8 or 9. I plugged the Amcoraire into my
Kill-a-watt for a couple of days (summer time). In 55 hours it used
6.8KWH!!!!! My honey and I like it cold in the bedroom. I have the "setback
thermostat" set the house to 79 at 2300. I set the bedroom a/c (gotta love
those zones) to 69 degrees. If I build another house, it will have several
of these mini-splits (they are heats pumps also). Also one outside unit can
run two inside units. The only wart I have found so far is this: the fan
does't run all the time during the heat phase.

"ls02" wrote in message

....
On Dec 16, 3:14 pm, wrote:

On Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:45:48 -0800 (PST), ls02
wrote:

On Dec 16, 12:36 pm, Jules
wrote:
On Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:15:04 -0800, ls02 wrote:
but can I install ducts?

Yeah, easy to do. It's the system design that seems the hard part
(something I'm looking into myself right now and it's not as simple as
just slapping a few bits of metal together)

By 'addition' is this construction onto an existing property that
already
has ductwork, furnace etc.? Or is it a separate building which will
have its own heating?

If it's got its own heating (so you're going to have to invest in some
sort of heat source anyway) I'd go with water-filled radiators (as
Existential Angst says), gas-fired combi boiler, and heat your hot
water
using the same boiler. Pipes take up a lot less space than ducts do,
and
you'll have a lot more control over where you want the heat.

cheers

Jules

I am not saying it is easy or hard. Just to me installing ducts and
registers appears to be more feasible for me to do then any other part
of installing forced air equipment. It is possible though that even
ducts are out of my reach or it won't save much $$$ at the end so it
is best to hire pro to do all work. That's why I wonder what if any I
can resonable do myself to save on HVAC work.

A lot depends on what kind of ducts you run. When I lived up north I
installed metal myself but I did have a fishing buddy that hooked me
up with the fabricator so it was just putting them in. All of the
drops were run with round pipe and that just snaps together. The ducts
themselves needed the lips bent over and the S Slips and drive flanges
driven in. It was really pretty easy. A wrap of silver tape sealed
everything up. The trick is getting a decent price from a fabricator.
They are a pretty closed community. A lot won't even talk to you if
you are not in the trade. Ever been to alt.HVAC? ;-)
If you use duct board and flex duct, you need the tool to cut the
angles in the duct board without breaking the foil. use silver tape,
(not "duct tape") and get a plastic wiper doodad to seal the tape
down. The HVAC supplier usually gives them away.
Keep your flex straight and pulled pretty tight so it doesn't have a
lot of ridges to slow the air flow. Some say it is best to run it on
1x running boards where it crosses truss chords to give yourself a
flat surface. Seal all the joints with mastic when you are done.- Hide
quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I am not going to use flex ducts, only straight metal ducts. I believe
all ducts components (round ducts, elbows, registers, etc.) are
available from big home centers. I have experience snapping them
together and I nkow how to seal joints with aluminum tape and furnice
cement.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Insulated metal ducts are not available at any big box store I've been
to. *Just ends. *Just about all installations these days use
flexduct. *It is far faster to install, lighter, and because you do
not have as many junctions you have less risk of leaks.

You ask an installer to use all rectagular metal duct instead of flex
and your quote will be thousands higher.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Do flex duct have more resitance to air flow? I remember they are not
recommended even for bath exhaust fan.

Also if metal ducts are not insulated, can I insulate them myself? Do
I wrap ducts with special duct insulation wrap?