Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
Random off topic post. My grandmother bought a 1400 square foot manufactured home last winter, it's a nice house but the A/C is a bit off. It's got a split A/C unit, the last time the outside condenser part of the unit was replaced the inside evaporator part was not. This summer it's been a bit rough as far as temps in the house, most days it can only cool the house to about 81-82 degrees and the A/C runs all day long, finally kicks off at 74 late at night. She's also had pretty high energy bills. The outside A/C is a 3-1/2 ton Goodman but the inside is a Coleman. We had an A/C guy come out that I trust to look at the unit, he spent most of the time outside checking it out and the pressures which were perfect, he said the unit was working as good as it possibly can, that possibly the problem is leaking ventilation or lack of insulation, but the unit itself is fine, I believe he just overlooked the following problem as I had several times. The house is tightly sealed, light colored roof, large patios that shade the west walls, dual pane windows and window coverings etc.
Then I took a closer look at the inside unit. There's a 4"x15" gap with no panel. It's sucking in air that has not passed through the evaporator and blowing it directly into the vents! So only about 1/2 the air coming out of the vents has actually been cooled. I couldn't believe my eyes. Today I picked up some sheet steel and made my own small panels. They're not pretty but they work. I also used some tape to tape off the water lines and seal it up and put a little expandable foam to seal it all up. Now, 100% of the air coming out of the vents has gone through the evaporator and it does feel a little colder, we'll see how it works out in the days to come. It does have a large cover over the front of the whole thing.
I've cleaned the coils, I will soon clean up the rest of the unit, the tape will be removed, I just didn't want the foam to make a mess and if I need to remove it in the future it'll be easy. The expandable foam has formed a perfect fit against the front cover. Just wanted to get this together to get the house cool for now.
Top pic is sideways for some reason. Second picture shows the view from where the filter goes straight down the front in a passageway to the blower motor. Last pic is how it is now with my ghetto shelf and foam.
Then I took a closer look at the inside unit. There's a 4"x15" gap with no panel. It's sucking in air that has not passed through the evaporator and blowing it directly into the vents! So only about 1/2 the air coming out of the vents has actually been cooled. I couldn't believe my eyes. Today I picked up some sheet steel and made my own small panels. They're not pretty but they work. I also used some tape to tape off the water lines and seal it up and put a little expandable foam to seal it all up. Now, 100% of the air coming out of the vents has gone through the evaporator and it does feel a little colder, we'll see how it works out in the days to come. It does have a large cover over the front of the whole thing.
I've cleaned the coils, I will soon clean up the rest of the unit, the tape will be removed, I just didn't want the foam to make a mess and if I need to remove it in the future it'll be easy. The expandable foam has formed a perfect fit against the front cover. Just wanted to get this together to get the house cool for now.
Top pic is sideways for some reason. Second picture shows the view from where the filter goes straight down the front in a passageway to the blower motor. Last pic is how it is now with my ghetto shelf and foam.