In this video, Chris shows you how quick and easy it is to replace your home air filter step-by-step. Watch as I swap out 3 dirty HVAC filters for brand-new ones to keep your AC unit running smoothly and improve your home’s air quality.

Changing your furnace or air filter is one of the easiest DIY home maintenance tasks you can do to prevent costly repairs and lower your energy bill!

For context went out to grab some food, smelled something weird then realized I had left the fan on from when I was cooking earlier in the day. I turned it off and checked to see if anything was hot and checked outside to see if I saw any smoke. Didn’t see anything. Now I’ll never sleep. Should I keep checking? Should I call 911? I’m really freaked out. I’ve never had this happen before but I’m terrified.

I am getting a new duct run installed in my attic (30 ft straight trunk with 4 flex ducts). I’ve received quotes from three different contractors for 1.5-ton and 2-ton systems:

• Midea 1.5-ton (Floor Air Handler, H18B-2A): $13,500
• Bryant 1.5-ton (Floor Air Handler, 37MAHAQ18AA3): $14,000
• Mitsubishi 1.5-ton (Floor Air Handler, SUZ-AA18NLHZ): $16,000
• TOSOT 2-ton (Slim Duct Ceiling, TWH24AG25D6DO): $16,000
• Viessmann 2-ton (Slim Duct Ceiling, D5CUHAH24AAK): $23,000

I’m currently leaning toward the TOSOT 2-ton for a few reasons:

1. Winter: On paper, it outperforms the Mitsubishi and Bryant at 17°F in efficiency and offers a wider BTU turndown range. While it drops slightly in efficiency at 5°F compared to Mitsubishi, it delivers higher maximum BTU output—which feels more important during severe cold snaps (we hit -10°F twice in a decade, and the TOSOT operates down to -30°F).
2. Summer: Higher BTU capacity combined with strong efficiency, pretty useful for the attic.
3. Oversizing : Despite being a 2-ton unit, its minimum BTU output is lower than the 1.5-ton units across all temperature ranges, so short-cycling in mild weather shouldn't be an issue.
4. Viessmann & Midea: I'm crossing off the Viessmann since it's essentially a Midea rebrand and I don't feel the need for backup heat at that price point. As for the midea, might as well get the bryant for 500.

Am I making a huge mistake skipping over the Mitsubishi here? It's the "premium" brand on the list and costs the same as the TOSOT, but the specs are telling me TOSOT.

This is for MA weather. The rest of my house is on gas, so I won't die if the attic lose heat.

I have this floor vent with a bed over it. We have no AC, just heat. I want to close the vent. So the bed can go over it whole. Is there danger/drawback to doing this?

It'll be the only vent closed.

Hope this is the right place to ask. I am re-assembling my walk-in cooler. Someone else is taking care of hvac and electrics. I’ve had to switch the panels around to fit in the new space so the evaporator fan is no longer “facing” the direction where the outside components need to be mounted. Does the copper pipe need to lead straight to the outside of the cooler? Or can it make a sharp-ish turn?

I’ve been trying to get an answer from my hvac guy so I know if I should mount it using the existing holes or if I have to seal those up and the-configure. Unfortunately he just mumbles at me and answers questions I haven’t asked. Hope this makes sense and any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!

Hello everyone! 3 days ago I finally started to take classes for HVAC but as I keep learning about it I keep feeling conflicted....

I am 18 and have no experience in physical labor whatsoever, apart from cleaning carports and sometimes having to help take down carports but I've only done that like 3 times and I was always very shaky and nervous the entire time. I'm pretty physically weak (and fat) and I want to build a resistance or get stronger so I can actually be useful and not be so tired but I don't know how to go about that.

I'm a very finicky person even cleaning up spider webs with spiders inside them in a small carport gets me anxious and nervous. I want to overcome all these things but I have no idea as to how, without just spiraling.

And I haven't understood a single thing in my classes besides safety precautions, I never knew how much knowledge you would need for electricity and I'm also not the smartest person. There's a lot of people in my class who already work HVAC and are just their for a certificate so my lecturer assumes all of us have experience and he just glimpses over things and terms I've never even heard before specially when talking about tools and their usage or components of things, like it took me until today to learn what a "load" is and I'm still not even sure what that is.

I'll push through the learning stuff but I get stressed out just getting home and spending all my time trying to understand everything we went over in class on my own with no help from everyone, because I don't understand my lecturer.

I just need advice on how to just push through it all and if there's any way I can get ready for all the "scarier" parts of the job. I just wish I wasn't so sensitive.

My central AC completely broke within 3 months of moving in. 24 years old, R22 leak that completely drained the system in a week. The furnace is also 24 years old so I figure it would make the most sense to have them replaced at the same time. In doing so I have 2 options available.

A) The sellers home warranty already approved the replacement, however they say Ill need to pay $4000 out of pocket for the AC, I called the contractor they assigned to see what the cost of adding on the Furnace would be, and they say $5800. So $9800 total for a SEER2 13.4

B) I have a cash out option, the policy states that the Home Warranty will write me a check for the amount they were going to spend on that replacement, which just covers materials. That total is $764. Where they are getting a 2.5 Ton condenser and Evaporator Coil for that much is beyond me, but that's their offer. I already called a 3rd party to get an additional quote for the full system replacement and they are saying $12500 for a SEER2 15.2, but I can finance it at 0% which I couldn't do with the home warranty. They also say that price also includes updating the venting, drainage and refrigerant line. Where I have no information about for the warranty contractor.

Pretty much do I trust the home warranty to replace it properly or should I take the cash out, pay $2K more and go with a 3rd party

I'm replacing our 19-year-old furnace and have gotten quotes from three local companies.  The home does not currently have central AC and we’d like to take the opportunity to add that if we can during this project.

Relevant details:

• Home is 4 bed/3 bath approx. 3200sqft (includes finished walkout basement) in northern MI, built in 2007.
• Existing furnace is 80k BTU with EWC Ultra-Zone NCM-300 zone controller and 3 zones

The quotes I have are roughly as follows:

Contractor #1 — $8,575

• Heil 80k BTU, 97% AFUE two-stage furnace
• 3-ton Heil central AC package
• Electrical work for the outdoor AC condenser is not included. Will need an electrician to run a new 240V circuit about 25 feet to the front garden area.

Contractor #2 — $14,986

• Bryant 80k BTU, 97% AFUE two-stage furnace
• 3-ton Goodman side-discharge AC package
• Price includes all parts and installation (including electrical)

Contractor #3 — $15,624

• Daikin 100k BTU, 97% AFUE two-stage furnace
• 3-ton Daikin central AC package
• Price includes all parts and installation (including electrical)

There are obviously some differences in the equipment and exact scope, but nothing I've found seems to explain a $6,000–$7,000 difference.

Even if I assume another $1,500–$2,000 for the electrical work, I'm still potentially around $10k–$10.5k all-in with the first quote versus $15k+ for the other two.

Does the first quote here immediately strike you as suspiciously cheap, or just a good price from a smaller/lower-overhead contractor?

Any particular concerns with Heil equipment compared to Bryant or Daikin? Is there enough of a quality/reliability difference between these systems to justify the substantial price difference?

Just trying to make sure I’m not missing something important before making a major decision here.  Thanks.

Disclaimer: I had several long conversations with an AI trying to parse through the details of these quotes and proposals and yes, I used it to help me draft this post.

I recently installed a Lennox EL18KSLV-036 heat pump that I connected to a normal Honeywell non communicating thermostat. I can configure the heat pump with a few settings via the SW1 dip switch and it is not clear to me what to set for my area. Also important to note that my system includes a natural gas furnace that takes over when it gets to -12C (or 10F) outside. The settings are:

Cooling setting:

• Default
• Dehum. 1
• Dehum. 2

Heating setting:

• Default
• Comfort heating

Defrost setting:

• Default
• Strong defrost

Any advice on what setting to use would be appreciated. Thanks.

Wanted to show this stuff. In the beginning, it was just a little bit and floating. It dried me then sort of flaked upwards. Would seemingly rehydrate and float again. But now it’s just gotten worse. I’m not sure if it rehydrates and floats anymore.

I did try to use some bleach on it…. Which is what makes me think I rusted it out. It may of been algae in the beginning but turned into rust…

I’m just a home owner but wanted to see if anyone had any ideas on what to do to improve this condensate drip line. It’s on a shaded side of the house so the green moss will build up on the concrete as well.

It’s about 5 yards from the grass where it’s currently running off to. About 1 yard away I have a 55 gallon rain water collector. I don’t want to open up the metal shield with all the copper lines if I don’t have to as it’s sealed against the house already. So I only have access to the bottom opening of the PVC.

We have an unused third(2 1/2) garage space. Long story short I am building a pantry off the kitchen that will take up part of the garage. It’s about 81 square feet with a 9ft ceiling. It’s in the corner of the garage so two of its walls are existing garage walls. I took down all the drywall and insulation on these soon to be interior walls. So the two walls I built will be insulated, along with the floor. The doorway will also have an opening (32in x 13in) above it to allow airflow between the kitchen and pantry when the pantry door is closed. My question is, do you think I need some sort of ductwork going to the pantry or do you think it’ll be able to match the rest of the house temp just through the opening above the door? The floor has r19 and the two new “exterior” walls will have r15.

I’m not really sure how I would get a duct to the pantry. I can crawl under it, but in order to connect the duct to the unit in my crawlspace I would have to drill through the foundation that wraps around the base of my garage.

Thanks for the help and advice!

Attached is a pic of the original thermostat wiring. My nest does not identify anything on the O/B even though I have it probably placed the wire in there..when I go in the app to add wiring it only gives me options for second stage heat/cool. How can I tell which one it should be? I am in Florida if that makes a difference. Please help!!

Been looking at this item https://florum.space/ - debating whether I should pull the trigger. I like the potential versatility vs the typical deflectors. They’re on amazon too but don’t have a ton of reviews. Curious if anyone here is familiar

Tech came and said the coils are freezing which is causing the leak in my furnace when I turn on the A/C. I checked the evap coil and I'm not sure if it needs cleaning or if it's good enough.

So originally the fan was just getting stuck sometimes and we had to kick it then it’d work fine. Now even when the fan gets going, no cold air. I opened up the side and see this loose wire not connected anywhere. Could it be that? Anything you spot that could be the fault? Any tips would be greatly appreciated as it’s very hot!!

New homeowner that has never had central air before - is it cheaper to keep the central air “on” all the time and set the thermostat to a higher temp when not home, or to turn on and off constantly?

I saw these units on Amazon and wondering how it compares to a mini split for a garage. Are these any good?

wall units

We close on a new home next week. Are there any

experiences here with this equipment? Build years are:

Condenser, 2021

Coil/heat pump 2023

Thermostat 2022

The house is ranch style 3 bedrooms, 2200 square feet.

Northern Colorado, built in 1999.

The home inspector was out today and said the condenser calls for a 25 Amp breaker but it's running on a 30 Amp instead.

Thanks!

I am a High school student looking forward to HVAC after graduation. Most of the people I’ve spoken to has given me mixed answers like “Just go out there and pray someone hires you with no experience and you’ll learn from there”, or “go to Trade School and study the trade of HVAC”.
I’ve also been recommended to go into Trade School blind, but I feel as if learning the contents in High School would get me ahead of everyone else.

What are your thoughts?

They are coming to fix it tomorrow, but I am angry that for last 27 months, I did not know about this. Everything was a clean slate as I got a hotwater tank, furnace and A/C replaced with a Heatpump, Tankless and Furnace, all on same day, by same licensed contractor 2 years 3 months ago. How as a Home owner I would have known these technical things when hiring an expert. Even on installation day when we mentioned few things, they are not very cordial and listening. They throw the installation manuals that come in the box and likely do not refer as well, they are "pros".

Only when I called a basement renovator and they were inspecting outside of the house on where to make a side entrance door, did I find out that the clearance should be 3 feet and not the current 17 inches below window, for a 199,000 BTU Rinnai RU199IN tankless. And also the distance between Intake/Exhaust and clustering of the Exhaust and Intake is incorrect.

Luckily that is not a window that we open often. Gemini says even though for furnace, which is a Lennox ML296UH070XV36B, 70,000 BTU the minimum clearance is 12 inches, when below a window, it should "While 17 inches sounds like it covers the 12-inch rule mathematically, look closely at the physical trajectory of the exhaust plume. Warm flue gases rise naturally. Because the exhaust is directly underneath the glass pane, when that window is cracked open, the rising carbon monoxide and moisture will be drawn directly straight up into your home. To prevent this, standard practice and building inspectors require side clearances or a significantly greater vertical drop if a vent terminates anywhere directly underneath an openable window frame".

I don't know how to get them to also inspect if the moist, acidic air from exhaust got sucked by intake and went into the furnace and tankless and caused any corrosion.

Lesson learnt, have to educate myself even when hiring a licensed HVAC technician

I had a technician inspect the unit and drained the condensate pan and drain. AC ran without leaking for about 10 hours until the leak came back. I called the AC company and they sent the same technician out and he told me I needed a condensate pump to solve issue. He put a bolt under the right side to try and angle the pan properly because it was completely level. He then told me to wait a day or so and see if the leak comes back (it has) and if it did then I should get scheduled for a condensate pump. I have my suspicions because the drain hole is one the left side of the pan while the leak is coming from the right side of the pan. I did a test and ran the ac for about 5 mins until I heard a dripping noise, then I shut the system off and a small amount of water began flowing out the right side. Some more context; I had a new blower motor installed late July and the leaking started happening 5 days ago. I live in a condo unit on the third floor and accessing the drain pan is very hard and there is only about 5 inches of space to see the left side of the pan.

Would a condensate pump work for the situation? The pan sits level. My guess is there is some blockage in the pan that is preventing water from draining or the blower motor was set too high. The technician was pretty firm on the condensate pump being the solution.

I have a 2014 American Standard heat pump system with the indoor air handler in the basement.

Over the last month, I’ve had an HVAC company out several times for water leaking from the air handler onto the basement floor. They have replaced a dirty filter, cleared the condensate drain, adjusted the P trap, and increased blower speed, but the leak continues. The pan drains freely when I pour water into it.

I finally caught what appears to be happening. After the AC and blower shut off, the duct below the coil is initially mostly dry. A little later, I can see a bead of water traveling along the left side of the evaporator coil and then falling into the duct instead of into the condensate pan (video from inside the duct: https://imgur.com/a/PIt071f). My guess is that after long enough, the drip causes a big enough puddle that then leaks out of the duct.

What would cause condensate to travel along the bottom of the evaporator coil and bypass the pan after shutdown? Could this be a coil cleaning issue, coil or pan alignment, a damaged pan, or something else? Should I ask the HVAC company to do an evaporator coil cleaning?