Recent content by chuckspeed

A central return system is not uncommon in a house of this size. Usually there is an air gap between the bottom of the door and the floor in each bedroom - this is the 'return' for the system - as odd as that may seem. Depending on whether or not you're trying to solve for heating or A/C as...

I was thinking about this thread last nite when I couldn't sleep... The answer has to do with heat value: A kW of electricity has 3413 BTU of heat; a cubic foot of nat gas has 1000 BTU. That same kW costs (on the average) ten cents...The cu.ft. of gas costs about 1.2 cents these days (at...

The size isn't all that bad - he upsized from a 1.5 ton to a 2 ton unit, as he based his selection on 500 sq. ft./ton. If he used 650 sq ft/ton, he'd have picked a 1.5 ton unit. There was an old engineer who often boasted, 'I've never had a problem with my equipment selections or designs...

I thought they made a 6' unit which was quite a bit less...

heating/AC systems come as packages, and the installers always try to 'up-sell' you. my first house was teeny, requiring only a 60K BTU furnace and some goof sold the old lady a 125,000 BTU furnace. New house is 2-1/2 times the sice of the first house, and only has a 100,000 BTU unit. The...

Mike - That's a hard question to answer without knowing exactly where you are. If you're close (within 15 minutes) of the coast, you're going to be hard-pressed to wring out enough water from the air as the garage isn't tight enough to be able to effectively dehumidify...Unless you keep it...

nice. I actually laid in bed last nite worrying that you had one of those east coast basement garages with no windows at all. The other solution is a separate condensor/evap unit; they're real popular in Asia and we use them for computer room applications - they even come with a remote! BTW -...

Caff - half a ton. Buy a Wal-Mart window shaker and stuff it thru the wall.

I'm a cheap *******; so is Pop. Shop #1 was 28' deep, Pop fabbed up casters and we rolled the Model A in sideways - then parked the other two cars normally. I've used that trick since then to store sidecar motorcycles, it works well to optimize space and minimize the budget. Car skates are...

voices inside my head echos is that you say gordon sumner, 'sting' Rashmeister ron. I Like yer alter ego! I guess if I had one, it would be dammit chuck - or - ****! I broke it! 30 x 40...i'm in envy man. You gonna put a big BBQ pit out back for the 'after-they-dig-up-the-car' party next year?

the calculation is heater independent; it merely explains the behavior of the space. Typical forced air heating systems have a 2 degree deadband, which is to say the temp drops 2 degrees B4 the cycle is re-engaged - in a simple system. Industrial heating systems use much more complex controls...

Here's an idea which works in larger shops and spaces with higher ceilings: http://www.bigassfans.com/ yeah - you read that right - big *** fans. The correct scientific name is high volume, low speed (HVLS) fan technology; they move large amounts of air with a teeny motor. If you have the...

Tom - That's a good question! Yes - and no. Unfortunately, there's no way to 'cheat' a pickup load; it's the heating equivalent of watching a pot of water boil. You hafta put a specific amount of heat into it; the only real variable is time. While it's possible to downsize the equipment, the...

To answer your questions... Yup. You guys are 'getting' it. Low humidity and a not-so-cool temp is better than a big A/C unit that short cycles. Left out something...Air movement. Air moving across skin will have an 'apparent' temp that is a good ten degrees lower than it actually is - so...

Alright...It's on to Part II of the basics. Air conditioning systems: little bit of history first... Back (WAAY back) in the day when the first A/C systems were installed in theatres in the Midwest, they literally 'hung' blocks of ice in ductwork and blew air over them to cool the space. The...