Washer/Dryer Energy Guides unhelpful/misleading

It's not unfortunately...well, the parts that I can get to are tight and insulated now ...but too much of it is in runs that I can't reach without ripping out a lot of sheetrock, and it really torques me. Unfortunately, this seems to be the norm for home construction. Ductwork in new homes should have a rigorous inspection and pressure test (return and discharge) before it is enclosed. I've been able to identify joints in the duct by hot spots in the wall and floor when the heat is running.

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind. I'm considering a two speed as I think it would fit the need.

Getting a more efficient blower is critical. The current blower is 1 hp single speed (I can't see the nameplate without disassembling, but I back calculated it several times through meter checks, all working out to 1 hp within a few percent.) It is eating my lunch as I can see the kWh load even during heating season. I would like to have a low velocity/low power circulating blower in the summer to keep the AC use to a minimum and reduce stratification, while using minimal power for continual blower operation in near silence in the cooling season. I suspect 1/2 hp or less would do the trick.

This Spring I'm going to see if I can get the evap coil cleaned. I know it must be clogged with matted dust as the filter housing was FUBAR/nonfunctional until I re-built it. I roughed out some numbers that suggest the nominal SEER 12 unit is operating as SEER 8 and just not moving the BTU's it should even with our mild summers. I'll probably clean the condenser coils myself at the same time, but I can't get at the evaporator easily. If it goes tits up during cleaning it will be time to replace it anyway. If not I'll be able to get an idea of what the system is really capable of and plan eventual replacement accordingly. I've been tightening the house and ducts since the end of summer, so I'm curious as to whether the AC will have an easier job next summer. (The new appliances won't hurt either.)

The old compressor is noisy on start up and shut down (and the condenser is tilted about 7 degrees...really sloppy install.) Wouldn't surprise me if it bit the dust any day when it is running.

On the heating side I'm in great shape even with the old 80% efficiency furnace. It was running alot but keeping up well at 0 F with the wind blowing 30 mph on a clear night (considerable radiant and convective losses.) That should give me plenty of latitude to downsize the burner with a new ~95% condensing unit and multi/variable speed blower.

I'm planning to actually add returns/registers in a couple of spots. I need a big return in the sub basement where all the cold air sinks (it has NONE!), that should really help fight stratification. I also need new registers in a corner on two levels to balance the rooms, especially considering the number of windows in this corner. This will give me some opportunity to fix some duct leaks I've detected as well. It's about comfort more than energy efficiency, but the two go hand-in-hand since I'll be able to turn down the thermostat in Winter/up in Summer if the system is properly balanced and sealed.

 

No doubt about that. The biggest potential energy improvement I see in housing is tighter ductwork installs.

My HVAC unit even had big gaps in the housing and ductwork to/from it. As a result a considerable amount of air was being blown into the utility room, then sucked back into the blower on a tight recycle loop. The utility room was running 10 degrees hotter than the house in Winter, and 10 degrees cooler in Summer--I kid you not, and it is a big utility room. Since I sealed it the differential is less than half of what it was and it is not accumulating dust.

Yep, and it's been that way for 15 years! I'm still covered by a homeowner's warranty so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will die soon.

Sounds great!

 

Agreed, this is the counterintuitive part. I've got to get the baseline system working decently (clean evap coil) before I can do a proper evaluation on a replacement. The present 4 ton system is underperforming in mid-summer, unable to hold set point even though this past summer was mild compared to the past several years (looking up daily temp data.)

As best I can tell 4 tons should make it oversized rather than undersized. And when I do an AC/furnace energy use comparison for the region, the online estimators overestimate my furnace gas use considerably, while underestimating my actual AC use greatly. Again, this points to trouble with the existing AC unit--it's using more juice than it should, but not providing the cooling that is expected. The furnace is the opposite.

I also noticed that the AC unit serial no. is 1 year newer than the house...so I suspect the original unit either failed quickly or was deemed underperforming and replaced.

I take it that this is primarily the result of the overall control/system design making use of the variable speed rather than the ECM's inherent efficiency. (Electric motors tend to be pretty efficient afterall, and the claims I've seen for the actual ECM motor performance are in the neighborhood of 20% reduction at their design conditions.)

I expect to save about 1,000 kWh/year on the blower alone if it operates as even 1/2 hp equivalent, and I expect it to be a lot less.

Between joists on the exposure for this home is 9 feet so drifts are not a concern. The non-condensing water heater and furnace share a long vertical stack at the moment so this will complicate the decision/installation.

I'm sure I want the more efficient furnace, and I want it to be a sealed unit. A sealed unit should help with respect to corrosion. Overall, the changes should be worth about 20+% fuel reduction when including reduced air infiltration (combustion air) in the lower section of the house...the place where I least want it and have the most trouble with stratification. Doing this will also allow me to proceed with some specific envelope tightening that I've had to put on hold because of combustion air requirements, a double whammy.

Yes, these are part of what I want to do. Hopefully the price differential won't be too dear.

I would certainly consider this for new construction.

 

Yep, if I had it figured out how to physically access the upstream side of the coil easily I already would have done it. I'm going to have to bring a professional out. I might end up cutting it open with a Dremel if that's what it takes. Then I can cut a new overlapping piece to cover it, hold it in place with self-tapping screws, and seal it with silicone. I just need to know where to cut first. I expect to find a solid matt of crap on it.

When I discovered the problems with the HVAC filter this summer, I knew it meant the coil would be working as a filter for the system and had been since it was put in service--not good at all. I contacted the folks who had been "servicing" it for years for the previous owner and asked about cleaning the coil after relating the trouble. Considering they had never done the most basic act of verifying the filter was fully functional, I considered them negligent to start out: Strike 1. The person I spoke to was clueless and kept trying to sell me duct cleaning and general servicing, never understanding what service I actually needed: Strike 2. A few weeks ago another of their reps called me (unaware of my previous call.) I went through the same thing again, same BS in response. I kept hinting that it was their mess and they needed to make it right...but that was waaaaaay over their head. Same old know-nothing sales line: Strike 3. So f*** 'em, they clearly aren't the sort of folks that should be trusted with anything more complicated than flipping burgers and take no responsibility for their work. Businesses like this should fail; the sooner, the better.

Thanks for the links. I'll use them in considering how to tackle this.

 

Update on the washer/dryer. I've had them a little over a week and have the following observations:
1. The front loader was straightforward to balance, but I did do some fine tuning to make it completely stable. I doubt that getting it perfectly level is as important as getting all four feet firmly planted so that there is not a gnat's behind of corner-to-corner or side-to-side play. (Afterall, the forces being a degree or two off vertical will make little difference as far as vibration goes, and with as many g's as it seems to have at "extra high spin" I don't see how a few ounces of force will contribute noticeably.) I can see why it might pose vibration problems if mounted on a frame floor that had not been considerably beefed up to make it very rigid. It seems to get more stable as the spin speed increases in the tests I've run.
2. These front loaders really don't use much water and are something else to watch.
3. The lack of the agitator's shearing effect on clothing is evident in the dryer. The lint filter is picking up considerably less lint.
4. Drying time is down considerably, as is measured kwh use for drying a load. A short load before took about 4.4 kwh...and that is being generous by ignoring frequent overdrying. The new dryer took 2.6 kwh as measured at the meter. Part of that is due to the dryer moisture sensor (which I lacked before), part of it is due to somewhat less water in the laundry to be dried. A secondary benefit is that the shorter cycle times also mean less air is being sucked into/expelled from the house--HVAC savings.
5. The top loader was doing a fair job of spinning the water out of the clothes based on my crude bathroom scale measurements. The front loader is doing about 30% better. (I use the highest spin speed a given setting will allow.)
6. Surprisingly enough to me, the direct drive of the washer is also resulting in about 0.15 kwh/load reduction even at the highest spin speed, as compared to the belt drive/transmission for the old top loader with agitator. Before I tested it I anticipated no net gain because of the higher spin speed. The high spin speed segment of the cycle is very short.

All told I'm coming up with savings of: 630 kwh/year, 16 ccF/yr nat. gas, and 8,700 gallons/yr water.

 

Thanks, jayman, for the pics. I've got a guy coming out to help me clean and evaluate it next week, weather permitting. I had a good conversation with him on the phone, he seems to know his stuff and didn't blow any smoke at all. It's nice to talk to a local tech who seems to thoroughly understand the interactions of the system rather than some goober who wants to sell me duct cleaning. He thinks there is a chance that the evaporator coil might not be as bad as I fear (based on a few he's seen matted up) so we'll take a look and go from there evaluating/cleaning the system. Once I see this system running a full year at its "best" I'll have a feel for what replacing it will be worth in comfort and savings.