One of my customers has a 2nd home in upper Skagit county. This particular home I believe was someday going to be their retirement home. Unfortunately the house is very isolated in a rural area, making it very attractive for thieves and vandals. Sometime during the last few months someone broke in and stole a lot of copper from the house, some of which was the copper lines/coils used in the heat pump system.
Existing coleman heat pump
Above you see the existing Coleman heat pump we installed years ago, what is missing is the refer line set that ran from the heat pump to the indoor coil.
Damaged service valves
As you can see the thieves didn’t exactly use a tubing cutter to remove the copper lines. The service valves where compromised, actually twisted behind the access panel. The damage they caused far out ways the copper they recovered.
Coleman indoor coil
When the thieves tried do remove the indoor coil they realized it was bolted into the unit, so they then destroyed the indoor coil, leaving no room for reconnection.
New Coleman Indoor Coil
As you can see above the difference between the old damaged coil and the new coil being installed.
Tech brazing in the coil
The new coil had to come from the factory so it took a few weeks to get, but it slid right in and my technician brazed it right up. While brazing always run nitrogen through the lines to make a nice clean internal weld. Any internal scaling will cause damage down the road.
Pumping down the unit.
After the lines had been purged and welded we then tested with nitrogen. After we pass a nitrogen pressure test we pump down the lines with a vacuum pump. We use a micron gauge to monitor how well we are pumping the system down.
We really kept our fingers crossed because we did not know the extend of the internal damaged caused to the heat pump. In this cause the unit fired right up and ran like new.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Here we have a Thermopride oil furnace that almost looks new, Thermopride is considered by many heating contractors to be the best oil furnace on the market. This is probably why American Standard uses Thermopride to manufacture their oil furnaces.
Thermopride Oil Furnace
One of the biggest challenges going from oil heat to A Heat Pump is the air discharge temperature, oil heat can deliver very hot air, much hotter than a Heat Pumps. So customers are use to that nice hot air blowing out of the supply ducts. Heat Pumps deliver a more efficient discharge air temperature.
American Standard Forefront Air Handler
The American Standard Forefront Variable Speed Airhandler shown above combined with an American Standard 16 Seer 2 Stage Heat Pump is an awesome combination. Delivering high efficient heating and cooling. We included a Honeywell VisionIAQ thermostat to control the dual fuel system.
American Standard 16 Seer 2 Stage Heat Pump
The American Standard 16 Seer 2 Stage Heat Pump installed like a dream. American Standard does a fabulous job providing control voltage diagrams for any application. One of my biggest concerns with any Heat Pump is the noise, once this unit was fired up all my concerns where gone. Runs very quiet in both stages.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
In some cases with heat pumps your faced with just replacing the coil and heat pump. In this case the air handler was in good condition and we really did not see the need in replacing it but the heat pump was shot.
Access to crawl space.
Above you can see that sometimes the access points into crawl spaces are not always from outside or from a nice warm basement. Thankfully the new American Standard coil could fit through the opening.
Existing Coleman Coil
The existing Coleman coil had to be replaced considering we are going from R-22 to R-410a refrigerant and we need to match up to the new American Standard heat pump. The coil above is known in the industry as a slab type coil.
New American Standard A coil
After fabricating and installing new transitions we slipped the new American Standard heat pump coil into place. This is considered to be an “A” type coil. Slab type coils are very seldom used anymore.
New American Standard Heat Pump
When replacing a R-22 unit with an R-410a unit its always a good idea to replace the refer line set as well. The last thing you want is these 2 different types of refrigerant mixing in the new system. Here we replaced the older Coleman heat pump with a new American Standard heat pump. Lines where replaced as well.
The American Standard heat pump is more efficient and much quieter than the older Coleman unit. I’m sure she will be very happy with the new unit.
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Here we have an Arcoaire gas pack, they are called gas packs because they are both an air conditioner as well as a gas heater packaged together. In our neck of the woods we seldom see a gas pack used in a residential application like this.
Arcoaire gas pack
I think using gas packs is a great concept for residential homes if you have the place for it and you can get your ducting routed to it. This Arcoaire has seen its last days, the control board was no longer available so we recommended going to a RHEEM Packaged Heat Pump. Switching from LP as their main source of heat to a heat pump with LP back up heat will really save them money.
RHEEM Packaged Heat Pump
The RHEEM unit dropped right into place all we really have to do had was remake the connecting transitions, everything else was minor.
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Every time I’m around an oil furnace it brings back memories of my dad, why he liked working on oil furnaces beats the hell out of me, but he did and he was very good at it. And even though I would go with him call after call learning what I could I never fell in love with it. I just don’t understand why someone could look past the oil smell that stayed on you all day, the stained clothes or the soot that gets everywhere including in your lungs.
Existing Oil Furnace
This oil furnace was doomed the minute the new owner of this home took over, it was just a matter of time. She knew she wanted it gone but what to replace it with? She ended up deciding on installing an American Standard air handler with a heat pump coil. This will eliminate being slaved to a oil tank and get her one step closer to a American Standard Heat Pump.
New American Standard Air Handler
With a few duct changes the new American Standard air handler slipped right in to place. I also added a Honeywell F100 filter system that will make it easier to change the filter. In the future when my customer is ready she can add the Heat Pump and really start saving money.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Every ductless mini-split manufacture has its own models that have very unique features …. Here we installed some LG Art Cool Mirror indoor wall units and heat pump, and its because of the dark mirrors on the faces of these units that help sell the project.
My customer had a underground duct system that supplied heat to both his indoor pool area as well as 1000 sq ft of their home. The system was poorly installed and recently collapsed because of a pump failure that caused underground duct flooding.
New LG Mini Split Heat Pump
Above you see the new outdoor LG heat Pump installed on a flat roof, we ran 2 line sets from the outdoor Heat Pump to the indoor air handlers. I’m always surprised how quiet these units are.
New Indoor Air Handler
The down stairs LG air handler was installed just above the existing windows, this was obviously the best location for performance and aesthetics. I have to admit these mirror finished units are truly stunning.
New LG upstairs unit
The upstairs LG unit serves the master bedroom, fortunately not only are these units very good looking they are very quiet as well. The only complaint my customer had about these units was the bright display light … and of coarse those are adjustable. 🙂
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Just got in a shipment of Tili air conditioners. These units do both cooling and heating, very efficient and better built than your typical box store units. These units do not stick around for very long.
New Tili Portable Air Conditioners
12,000 Btu Cooling, 10,000 Btu Heating, 3 Fan Speeds, Dry Mode, Sleep Mode and Washable Filter. This units are charged with R410a NOT R22. Model #MPM3-12HRN1-BH9
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
In my opinion if your not worried or concerned about the federal tax credit or CNG Rebates this is the way to go. Installing a high efficient 80% with a high HSPF heat pump.
Older Rheem furnace
When I say high efficient 80% I’m not referring to the gas part of the furnace, but rather the motor side of the furnace. This American Standard furnace has a ECM blower motor that is estimated about 70% less to operate than a standard motor. So if you like to run your blower 24/7 for better filtration this is the way to go.
New American Standard 80% ECM
As you can see above the new American Standard 80% ECM furnace fit into place right above the new American Standard heat pump coil.
New 15 Seer American Standard Heat Pump
Above you see the new American Standard 15 seer heat pump, the refer line is run up the side of the garage and covered with a gutter looking chase.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.