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As a Midwesterner, it is absolutely bonkers to me how common it appears to be for HVAC systems to get installed in attics.
Don't do that. Stop doing that! WTF?
That's bad enough, but then you go and run the ducts up there, too?
Y'all.
If you keep the system and the ducts within the space you're trying to heat and cool, you don't have to account for any losses, now, do ya?
Put the air handler in a utility closet. Run ducts /below/ the ceiling. Enclose with soffiting if you must.
The end.
This is a test rant for a future video that may or may not happen.
But seriously, I cannot fathom how HVAC stuff in attics (or crawlspaces!) got normalized. Especially in new construction.
You virtually never see that around here (the most common application is old homes with radiators for heat who want to add central air) and for good reason!
@TechConnectify
You think that's bad? They also run the pvc drain line from a unit on the second floor, then run it underneath the house and then the garage out back (various places in Baldwin Park Florida).
Like, they want it to clog and cause a mess when the shut off switch failed to work.
@ChemicalTribe That's a big part of what irks me!
I get doing this if the house was built without air conditioning. But any time a new home gets built without planning for the air handler to stay within the conditioned envelope (where it will also be easier to service!) I want to scream.
@TechConnectify
Yep, places there are around 20 years old. And for homes around 2010, they put in an air vent in the ceiling, to the outside above the gas fireplace, which gives wonderful 95° temp 75° dewpoint air during the day, and I couldn't legally advise them to close it off.
So dumb.
@ChemicalTribe *screaming*
I just... I don't get it. It's hard not to sound arrogant when I say this, but home builders in the South really ought to come up here and take a look around. We need to keep heat inside the home when it's -20° outside and - shocker of shockers - those techniques /also/ make the home more energy-efficient when it's hot outside!
This guide paints what we've been doing here forever (keeping ducts in the conditioned space) as revelatory.
https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/minimizing-energy-losses-ducts
@ChemicalTribe Code here - code! - is now that the ceiling have R-49 insultation above it.
We treat the attic like it's outside and nothing goes up there but venting and some electrical work.
Does a hell of a job holding heat in in the winter, and also shielding the living space from the baking attic in the summer.
@TechConnectify
Ikr lol
Thanks for making these videos. You basically are making every video on every quirk I've come across, esp that refrigerator.