New HVAC

It's all in. The new HVAC equipment. On time and on spec, the way a contract should be done. The equipment is all Lennox Signature Series, top of the Lennox line.

Top of the 12-foot stack in the garage is the photo-catalytic air purifier:

Below, the G61MPV high-efficiency (95% AFUE) natural gas furnace, with the very high-tech DC motor with AC commutator control (a "soft-start" motor):

To the side of the furnace is the Harmony III zone-control system. Trust me, this controller has more computing power than my first computer, an 8086:

The controller is the heart of the system. It controls the start of the furnace or airconditioner, where the cold or warm air goes (via powered dampers in the air plenum), either upstairs or downstairs or a blend of both, it takes information from the digital thermostats as input and as output controls the dampers, the selection of heating or cooling and the output of the blower motor, which is totally controllable in speed.

Under all of the stack is the airconditioner "A" coil  and evaporator coil, (the only non-Lennox part). On the outside, the XC21 condenser now takes up a significant part of the parking slot beside the house:

This project got more expensive because I decided to put in a tankless hot water heater also. It is a Rinnai 185,000 BTU natural gas model:

Of course, that left a large space where the old 50-gallon tank water heater used to be. That slot will be perfect for a second gun safe!

The mortgage is a bit larger now, but the energy savings pays over half the increase, and the performance of the new equipment is outstanding. For the first time since this house was built, I can have equal temperature on both floors. The top (bedroom) level used to get as much as 10 degrees warmer than the lower level in the summer, but those days are gone now with the split system (and bigger A/C). The airconditioner is 3 times as efficient as the old system, too.

Time to put this post online, because that new water heater is going to fill my 6-foot Jaccuzzi tub to the top! That would have been 2 1/2 tanks for the old water heater, so when I took a bath, it took almost two tanks to fill it half-way. Those days are gone! When I'm done, the gudwife has booked the next time slot for her soak, but I get firsties, since she's going to light scented candles which give me a headache.

If I wasn't on this damn diet, I'd sip a Metaxa while I was soaking, but it will have to be Crystal Light tonight, boo-hoo.

Comments

[og]

Sweetness. Damn, I wish I could afford all those goodies. I'm just tickled my furnace is working OK.

[Chris Byrne]

Good one Rivrdog. This is a real useful upgrade. Nothing cosmetic about it, just genuine value added to the house, and an increase in your quality of life.

The only other thing I'd say is, put in a header tank and get some of your floors done with recirculating underfloor heating.

[Kay Thomas]

I have never heard of a totally tankless hot water heater. I would assume that the water has to be surrounded by hot coils or some method.. but it seems that even then ..you would have to store the hot water for use..what kind of volume of hot water do you have on hand at any one time?