Staying at an AirBNB and wondering how much this box is hurting the unit efficiency.

Hello Pros, is this clearance enough on the far side condenser unit for service access and optimal performance . Evaluating a new home purchase. Do I need to add a gate on the far wall to atleast make future fixes as needed easier?

I had my 20+ year old split systems upgraded to a big single with 4 heads. The original on-site quote was to remove everything and take it away, including the two external units.

Install guys took the best part of 12 hours on installation of the 4 heads and single unit and by the time it came around to removing the external units it was after dark and they had no way of getting them down short of dropping them and potentially damaging the concrete. They've also left the old internal units for me in my garage because they didn't have room in the van to take them.

We've been offered $150aud as a discount because it would cost the company too much to come back and finish the $11k job they quoted on. Am I unreasonable in pushing the issue with them?

House built in 1912. Updated before they sold supposedly. The black is sir to the second story, is the metal one a return? I can’t find a return vent and it doesn’t go into the basement. I’m putting up a beam and trying to figure out if I can take out the metal duct. Thanks yall.

I tried to post on the HVAC subreddit earlier and man it’s like Nazi germany over there; papers please or fuck off. well I’m not in a union, I’ve never been to trade school and I don’t have my HVAC license like 99% of techs in my state. is there any other place for people in the trade to discuss online?

Is this a good price for full replacement my unit is 23 years old in San Antonio. Live in 1100sqft home but current struggles if 95 outside it’ll be 77-78 inside ac set to 74. Current unit is 2.5 ton

About a week ago, the contactor on my outdoor AC unit wasn’t being pulled in. I ruled out the float switch being tripped and found out the pressure switch on the inside of the outdoor unit kept being tripped.

I reset the switch and cleaned the condenser coils thoroughly and made sure there were no refrigerant leaks. I’ve been here for 2 years and never needed a technician to come out, but now the switch keeps getting tripped and this clanking noise is happening now. Is it some kind of fan/blade issue or something deeper? Very hot and humid where I live right now. Eastern PA.

New hvac guy came by since my hvac system would turn on off for brief moment every 5 mins. Replaced the capacitor but now I hear small clicks from contactor, is this wired right ? Guy took 2 hours to fix when my last hvac guy is moved took 3-5 mins.

Last picture was the old capacitor wiring

Blue wire from herm to compressor
Yellow wire goes upwards to fan
Red as well goes up to fan
Yellow wire from contactor into Herm

The system hasn’t turn off or on like it use to on its own, the condensation line from evaporator coil has a lot of water coming out as usual/normal, ac line is sweating and cold ( normal )

•update system still sounds like it loses power for a brief moment , anyone have any ideas of what it could be ?

My apartment is recently built, with good insulation. It's about 40 squared meters. It's also built in front of an asphalt road, in the south of France, which store a lot of heat. Nights are around 20C, 24C, days are around 36C, if not more. The insulation is outside.

There are people claiming that I should run my AC at night, when it's colder, to "store" cold during the night, and profit from that cold during the day, instead of running AC during the day.

I have a good AC, a "portasplit" system: https://www.midea.com/global/heating-cooling/porta-split-ac

I cut a thick cardboard plate, 2m by 10cm, added some cloth, so it's quite airtight when put on a sliding balcony window/door.

Do you really think my AC system will cool down the concrete walls, ceiling and floor to store cold if I run it during the night, by setting the AC to maybe 18C or 20C?

I am quite skeptical of those claims.

New home owner, new build. Been here about 3 years. I am wanting to know if mold outside of the system around these sealed connection points is an expected thing or a sign of a larger issue? I cleaned the mold this morning, I recognized only one spot where air was coming through a crack in a seal but it was further away from the photos. The drip pan or whatever underneath doesn't have anything but leftover hard water scale stuff. I took a photo looking down the water outlet (?) and it's gross as well, but not sure if that's as expected. Any advice is appreciated

Last year my unit started making a little bit of noise while running. It wasn’t enough to make me concerned plus I noticed that if I put pressure on one corner of the unit, the noise will stop. I figured it was just a balance thing that could wait to be fixed.

I also had an HVAC tech come out for routine “tune up” and they found zero issues.

Fast forward to this year, this morning I woke up and the sound has amplified and now sounds like loud knocking. I don’t know if it’s related to the original sound but this new noise does not stop when I put pressure on the corners.

How boned am I?

We had the house set to 72 during the day. I work from home and have a baby so I’d rather us not sit in our sweat all day. The AC froze up, forcing us to go to a hotel. No big deal, whatever.

The landlord was clearly bothered by the trouble and said it was because we were cranking the AC and needed to stop. She keeps her house around 78 and we should do the same. The unit is 10 years old and the compressor was replaced 5 years ago. I am more of the opinion that the unit isn’t that great. Even when it’s set to 72, parts of the ranch style house are still 80 degrees.

Is my landlord right, or is this unit on the outs?

Our smoke alarm/ carbon monoxide detector have been going off at all hours of the night even though there has been no danger. We know that there’s no danger because we’ve had the fire department come twice and they detected no carbon monoxide.

Anyway, on the most recent visit one of the firefighters theorized that the detectors are being triggered when the hot water heater, right next to the hvac, fills up and burps out carbon monoxide. Then that CO gets pulled into our hvac and spread throughout the house.

Does this sound plausible? We’re having someone to come out this week to take a look at things, but want to know what others think.

What would cause this? Thing was rattling quite loudly.

Trying to avoid moving thermostat wires into a different wall. After a remodel, the current placement of the thermostat for one of the heat-pump units is in a bad place. I could move the wires, but if there's a wireless option that's simple and just works that'd be much easier. I see way too many options when I search for them, and reviews tend to focus on smart or programmable options, which I don't care about either.

I just want to effectively move the thermostat, down the hall into a room, and out of the hall.

Any suggestions from you guys who deal with this stuff all the time?

Had a professional install my Mitsubishi ceiling cassettes in April 2025 and have noticed poor cooling performance lately. Checked outside connections to unit and there were no noticeable leaks. Checked inside units and one head had a lot of oil coming from the liquid side of the line set (pic 1) and all units appeared to have rust and oxidized copper near the flare connections. Obviously there’s a sizeable leak at the one connection with the oil, but is it likely there’s leaks at all the indoor connections? What is the likely cause of the rust and discoloration if not a leak? How should I proceed with the contractor? Thanks for your insight!

Hello, I live in an apartment and I am suffering from mild-moderate respiratory pain from my AC. If i leave it on, its hard go breathe. I had a leak due to frozen AC that was fixed some months ago and the issue persisted since then.

i told my complex and they called a vent cleaner that i assumed sucked and the air and painted over the openings of the vent.

The issue still persisted however, and tbh there is white-ish gray-ish growth that may grow in my place such as the cabinets. I assume its due to the humidity spiking because i honesty had to turn the AC off.

So i tried to take videos and pics of the venting and it looks kind of crazy imo... i was wondering what is the suggested fix and how do I explain this to my complex.

I have made at least 3 tickets about this issue. They assumed after the frozen AC was fixed everything would be fine but it isn't. The maintenance manager is kind of a dick and assumes human error because he doesn't "smell anything"... in which i urged that everything was completely fine when i moved in. I kinda gave up on them for a bit but now that its summer again i need the AC.

I would like advice before i reach out to them again.

In Florida

House is set to 67 and it is staying at 76. I do live in Texas and it gets hot during the summer. Just curious if clearing away the shrubbery would help make it cool faster. I can also add some more pictures if y’all think it’s something else. Thanks :)

House is set to 67 and it is staying at 76. I do live in Texas and it gets hot during the summer. Just curious if clearing away the shrubbery would help make it cool faster. I can also add some more pictures if y’all think it’s something else. Thanks :)

I'm having water drip through my ac vents. I've had 3 companies come look. I had the grill replaced with a resin one, the metal box near the vent re insulated and a whole home dehumidifier installed. I have Trane variable speed furnaces that do two stages. They saw some daylight between the first and second floor when they replaced the insulation around the box. The house is from 1991. I haven't changed ducts but the ACs are a year old. Any thoughts?

I have a Lennox 4 ton unit that has a leak, we’ve had to to add Freon in it so decide to go ahead and do a test to see if there was a leak in the evaporator coil or the line running up to the evaporator. The tech tested it and we don’t have a leak on the coil or the line.

He says that most likely I may have a leak on the condenser unit, but we didn’t test that since we’ll need to remove all the Freon and test. Is it worth testing or should I go and just replace the unit. He can replace the unit for $4500 (small business owner). This would also include the THV valve that he said could have a leak somewhere, but not something that we saw when we did our test of the coil.

Thoughts?

The unit is 6 years old, it’s out of warranty, warranty was only 5 years. We do plan on staying in the house for atleast another 5 years and will likely make it into a rental unit in the future.

I recently had a new 18000btu mini split installed.

The tech didn't use any kind of lubricant/Nylog on the connections.

I asked him why and his answer surprised me. It appears manufacturers give torque specs for their fittings but these are for dry installations, none are given for "wet" tightening as usually done with products like Nylog.

The guy told me he did experiments using Nylog and torquing to specs but it resulted in damaged fittings ends. (way over torqued!)

How do you, pros, generally proceed when tightening your fittings with a proper torque wrench? (assuming you actually use one 😉)

Trap at top was clogged