Converting my A/C into a HEAT PUMP! [Adding TXV, RV & re-pipe]
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- čas přidán 5. 01. 2021
- This is my upstairs A/C that I replaced last spring with a 3 phase straight cool condenser (because it was free) that I hacked the VFD into.
It ran just fine all simmer long and I had originally planned on doing the heat pump modification once the summer ended.
Well, it's Jan 6th and I'm finally getting around to it.
I purchased a new Reversing Valve, TXV, 3/16" copper tubing and used various piping I had in my junk bucket(s).
For now there is no defrost control but I will install one later. - Jak na to + styl
I love the build. I expected AC units to have most of the components to be converted to an heat pump. You answered my questions in glorious fashion. Thank you for taking the time to document your process.
A heatpump has a compressor, two heatexchanger and between those heatexchanger is a nozzle.
By puti g hot and cold side on the other side of the wall, you can switch a hvac into a heatpump.
Changing tubing within the outdoor heatexchanger does not reverse the cycle and makes it into a heatpump. You just destroy the outdoor heat exchanger. Voila.
i dont know a lot about hvac and all that stuff, but thank you for being a person who is innovative enough to challenge and successfully accomplish a conversion! im so tired of seeing people just want to buy and replace as if they wouldnt be able to tackle a project for the sake of practice of theory and curiosity. people keep saying things like "why bother when replacing is easier and cheaper" but dont put their knowledge or tinkering to the test. i just enjoy seeing that putting all the necessary parts together is well, possible outside of factory. its refreshing
@@sebastianmuller1210 doesn't adding the reversing valve accomplish the end goal of making the condenser the Evap and the Evap the condenser? I think his rework on the outdoor unit was just creating the necessary path to allow for bi-directional flow. Correct me if I'm wrong.
@@jonkruger7070 i was wrong, therefore i deleted the wrong comment. Got a dedicated answer by hvac himself which clearifyed most things I got wrong and apologiced to him as well.
*Note for those who haven't followed my earlier project with this unit.*
Their was originally a heat pump on the house.
Last year I obtained this Lennox straight cool condenser for free. It is a 3 phase compressor which I was wanting in order to perform an experiment if I could run it (ocassionally) off of a Variable Frequency Drive with DC input from solar panels.
I bought a new air handler for the attic to swap the junky R22 Goodman for a new R410.
I installed solar panels onto a structure in the back yard.
The condenser WILL operate off of solar power.
However I never got a switchover device built to divert power between utility and solar (PWM regulator on the utility side was my idea but 300VDC became a bit challenging for my DIY ability but maybe still a possibility).
Anyway. The free condenser was not a heat pump.
So I installed it last spring and ran it for cooling all summer with the idea that I'd convert it in the fall.
Well I just got around to doing it here in Jan 2021!
Well. It's finally done.
I sound so out of breath in the video at times because I was husseling a lot and snapping clips when I could.
I feel like, if you got solar batteries, and wire them in series to achieve the 300VDC it would not only run the compressor, but be more efficient, since the panels are sun dependant anyway. The batteries would give you stability and power through the night until the sun rises, right? What do you think?
@@alphaomegaseweranddrain6776 This was just an experiment. I disconnected the solar from this heat pump a while back now. I installed a POWmr charger/inverter with 48V Lithium Ion batteries almost 2 years ago.
They power my 115V heat pump for my water tank. Works great. Power to spare for about 9+ months out of the year.
Got me me as a subscriber can't wait to see what other type of stuff you get into . Very nice work good job!!
Amazing and I was just....getting ready to ask about defrost.....nice! “Maybe I’ll build one” This fab is brilliant
Thank you for explaining that in layman's terms. I have never understood how heat pumps actually function. Next level stuff!
I have been thinking about doing this on our old Heil/Trane unit. Since I just discovered this week I can fix the A/C. But our heat exchanger has been removed as it kept tripping our limit switch, there is no central heating now. This might be the best solution given our non-existent budget.
Well done friend. Before seeing this video I thought about just pulling the Freon and and installing a reversing valve. But now I see that there is a bit more complexity to it to make it work better. Thanks.
Nice work bro 💪 Definitely a fun project I'm sure 👍
Awesome post and overview on the project! I learned a lot from your obvious abundance of technical knowledge on hvac and electrical. Thanks ! I’m researching how to do this to my 1500 btu Frigidaire window unit. Most heat / ac units I checked out didn’t have the heat option at 120 V. This is an auxiliary for the 3rd floor of a 1900 yr old house. I have a Frigidaire Fre153wa1. Possible and thoughts on where else to look?
Great job! I will be looking to do this soon.
I would've loved to do this back in tech school lol, the smart workin side of me says "gee it would've been better to just have bought a heat pump and installed it" but the curiosity side of me said "this looks fun, I wanna do it" hahaha. Great work as always, this is what you'd call the perfect hack!
Thanks bro. And yeah. It is working just great.
Hasn't been cold enough to need the defrost that is still missing. HA!
@@hackfreehvac
How difficult would it be to add a demand defrost controller?
@@gregorymalchuk272 not hard. Just be an ambient and a coil sensor.
I didn't even need defrost last winter.
Nice little job H F H ... Well done ...
Nice to modify vs replace. Nice job. Heat pumps for water heaters, heat pumps for clothes dryers, heat pump hvac either air/water/geothermal source. I have solar and battery storage/EV also. I can not control healthcare costs but can control energy costs. I save $400/month on gas and home electricity
I already had the Healthcare discussion with family today. Do don't get me started. Lol
excellent video, very cool concept
And i thought turning my portable a/c into a heat pump was hard. Nice job!
Thanks.
BTW, I turned a portable AC into my water heater. Lol
That turned out real good
Thanks. It's been purring along for 1.5 years now. 2 cooling seasons and one heating season.
Nice job, i bet it was pretty satisfying to hear that reversing valve shift
Yes it was.
Ptt-sssshhhh! Yeah!!!
Sweet. Nice job
That goodman is a dinosaur!
Have a goodman 4ton ac condenser ordered by mistake and stuck with. Off grid so adding additional heat strip no good. Air handler will work with ac and heatpump. Would like to discuss some ideas I haconversion conversion to heat pump.
You're the man!
My Rheem had an accumulator I converted it to straight cool and I converted several others to straight cool up north and two in Florida. I converted one Straight cool Up North. Are used an accumulator I did it similar how you did it
Great video thank you.
Heat pump compressors are a different breed from your average A/C compressor good luck...
Not really 😮
Man those braze joints on the reversing valve looked better than factory! Did you use a rosebud? Really cool video you’re like a mad hvac scientist!
Yeah. I was relishing how nice they looked when I took the photo. And after I braze like that my catch phrase is often "Better than factory", as a matter of fact. HA HA
Nice work, I'm impressed. You have inspired me to build something similar. I had planned on using an oil furnace to use waste oil but for various reasons, I'm now planning A2A heat pump.
So I have a technical question which may be obvious to you HVAC guys but I don't know the answer. Why is it necessary to re-plumb all the liquid lines to the TXV, why couldn't you just connect to the factory single connection at the bottom of the coils?
One other Q while I have your ear, could a mini split heat pump be used with a separate fan coil/air handler of similar tonnage? I have found a few locally without the interior unit and air handlers are cheap.
Thanks for all your info!
Cheers
I have the same question. Why do you need the feeder tubes?
That is awesome how quickly you did that. Now you have to show a video throwing away the Goodman.
I pumped down the refer on Monday
Got the RV and TXV on Tuesday then had to stop that night when I realized I had no 3/8 tees to make that check valve loop.
Then I hussled ass Wednesday to finish it.
So like 6 hours or so.
Normally more than 8 hours on the job typically.
@@hackfreehvac I wouldn't attempt it because it would take me weeks or months to finish it. My ADD would interfere.
@@hvacrtexas5281
Yeah I got some of that too probably.
Look at all the projects I have going on in parallel!
I am horrible at sticking to one and finishing them before starting another.
This unit here was supposed to be converted to a heat pump as soon as summer ended.
I've still got my water heater heat pump apart and not finished.
Although after several weeks, I finally did some to it yesterday and again today.
The solar project. That is half done too. It is up but not being utilized enough!
I'll keep plucking away at it.
@@hackfreehvac I’ve never had ADD issues but I do have to push myself to finish my projects too. I find the research, planning, and scrounging for parts online to be much more fun!
@@edbouhl3100 I'm not good at planning too much.
I just start ripping away and make something as I go.
Sometimes it makes me have to redo some stuff like my controllers after I change something up as I go.
You got me convinced, great work someone is still able to use his brain, not very common these days. Great work, I'll be addicted by your channel. Greetings from Germany and keep up the good work.
Cool idea))) what a hack! Please make the video on the inverter? How to troubleshoot it. What is the component inside?
I have videos of the Variable Frequency Drive that I hacked into it.
Gotta go back to last year.
This unit cooled all summer long in 2020.
Then I converted to heating in mid winter.
Now it is cooling great again now.
I have been wanting to do one of these. I would use a Rheem demand defrost control board with the right pressure switches and sensors. I have also thought of using a three phase compressor with VFD that converts two stage to three stage. and just use a grid tie inverter that would power it when the is sun. I would not try to convert solar DC to try to feed the inverter directly. Interesting but thinking may not be worth it when compared to just using the grid tie inverter to power it. Was thinking the three phase compressor might be kind of cool lowering the compressor output up to 50% or raising it 33% in heating mode when needed.
It's a standard 3 phase compressor and then compressor guide limits the speed down to about 40Hz to maintain safe oil return.
I forget how much overspeed was safe but it wasn't a lot if I remember. So maybe 70Hz or so tonstay safe.
I haven't tried to overspend mine.
As for a grid tie inverter, just as it implies it only works when connected to the utility power and it syncs to that to assist with the grid supply.
However if the power goes out your grid tie inverter is useless.
I later had batteries combined with this and if the power went out the unit could run about an hour on 1st stage.
I no longer have my off grid solar tied to this unit at the moment.
It's tied to a 5KW hybrid charger/ inverter now.
This unit here is about to get replaced with a tall shallow outdoor unit (still using a VFD and 3 phase scroll).
@@hackfreehvac Cant believe it took me this long to see your reply. I would love to find a good deal on an inverter compressor and control it with an off the shelf VFD made for those compressors and build one of these.
@@jimthvac100 Well this compressor is just a 3 phase 208/230 compressor and the VFD is standard 3 phase type that came off some Greenheck supply fans.. You can run the Copeland Scroll down to 40HZ (for 1st stage) no problem. I think this will be the 4th year already since I did this. Now the same thing is inside the Carrier mini VRF chassis and works great.
Excellent repurposing! What’s it connected to inside? Was coil sizing compatibility a problem?
3 ton air handler inside.
This is a 3 ton condenser, well a heat pump now.
It replaced my 4 ton upstairs unit. But it did keep up just fine last summer.
Hey man. For sizing the txv for the outdoor unit for heat mode. Do you base it off the condenser coil tonnage or compressor tonnage ?
I think I got it in the ballpark of the compressor BTU's maybe.
It was an adjustable one so I wasn't worried about it.
I didn't ever have to go back and adjust it.
Great video. Is the heat pump still running smooth 2 years later? Thanks for sharing.
Yeah. It has ran untouched for a while now ever since I pulled off the experimental direct solar tie in. (That DIY solar power heats my water instead now). Runs on 40Hz at night and only hits 60Hz when it is hot or when the stat kicks the temp down after peak use. 👍
Pretty dam kool
Interesting project. What defrost board did you decide to use and did you add heat strips to the air handler? thanks for the vids
I have a basic defrost board somewhere in my junk I'll probably use.
No heat strips. We don't use those in the Arizona desert.
A lot of companies do send the liquid through bottom of coil subcool loop in heat mode. The only reason I can think is it helps ice not form in cold wet conditions. Prolly not an issue in your climate. I always wondered if that would affect heat output btus
That's probably why the schematic in some units calls that section a "de-ice loop".
I kept wanting to call it that rather than a subcooler loop. Which it definitely would be
I also think that with the higher efficiency units the OD coil is a bit more volume than the indoor.
Not all is needed as an evaporator.
hackfreehvac good point I didn’t think about Charge balance issues but I guess liquid will filling that loop either way even though it not flowing
Just wondering how it will do over time lacking an accumulator. Overall nice job! Was fun to watch it come together.
Lennox heat pumps don't have accumulators
Kevin Logan neither do Trane or Rheem because they use hard shut off txv
I also wondered why it didn’t have an accumulator
Did you check the subcooler out of circuit to in heat mode to raise suction above freezing? That's clever, well done. G'day from Australia.
Yeah. Their is a check valve on the bottom loop. 👍
Can you describe the de ice loop?
In this project you don`t have mother board with defrost cycle right?
I actually have a ranco defrost board and sensor sitting in a parts container. Didn't bother installing it.
I figured I'd install it during the first winter however it never froze up more than some bands of frost.
So now it's gone thru at least two winters just fine with no defrost control. 😆
I'm sure when we get one of those more cold and wet periods it would freeze up.
What I really need to do is swap this out for the tall two fan VRF shell I have (with a scroll installed) to give me more room for backing in my trailer. It will have defrost.
The only issue with your ECM motor is they are usually 825 rpm and programmed for the load of the factory blade.
Oh yeah, that is right.
I'd have to get a new blade for that.
I did hook the OEM motor up between two legs of the VFD output before and it seemed to run just fine.
But I never left it that way to see if it would be ok.
Excellent hack! How about this one...I have a Pentair 140k heat-only heat pump for my swimming pool. Any suggestions on how to make this COOL only? It's plenty hot here!
Are you wanting it to cool the pool? LOL
@@hackfreehvac Yes! The model of pentair heat pump I have also has a version that heats and cools. The only difference I see in the parts list is the reversing valve and 2 way filter-drier. The control panel is the same also. I don't have an illustration though that shows where to put the rev valve. And I have a ton of solar available to power it because I know it sucks electricity big time.
Great project you show it can be done, nice job. I have a question, I have a gas furnace and my condenser was out. I have a Trane Heat pump sitting around so if I installed the Trane Heat pump for cooling where do I connect the Orange reverse valve wire to? Thanks for any input.
Just bought an older house with a brand new Lennox EL16XC1 AC already installed, but I really wish it were a heat pump, such as the EL16XP1. Do you know specific to this model how it could be converted? Since Lennox offers both versions, I'm hoping there are only minor differences between the two.
I haven't been into the residential side of HVAC for years other than my own and when working on a few for people. So i am not familiar with the latest models.
As far as converting an AC into a Heat Pump, that is generally not what any technician will do or take the liability for. I converted mine because I got this AC for free and am a tech. A company is going to offer replacing the AC condenser for a heat pump type. Which is also a lot less labor involved.
Nice
Like your video you obviously know why you are doing . Thanking about changing my old unit 21 years old to a heat pump unit . Do I have to change anything the unit up inside in the attic ?
Sometimes you need a check valve to bypass the indoor TXV when in heating mode.
Is yours electric heat now or a gas furnace with a coil?
If you have an electric heat air handler then it likely already is a heat pump coil.
AC only in attic
@@George-xs2ms Is it gas furnace with a coil?
No it is a completely different unit installed 10 years after the house is built the house has a oil hot water boiler system down in the basement. The AC was added years later ducted in the attic ( Hot air goes up cold air goes down)
@@George-xs2ms OH, so a stamd alone only for cooling.
So it uses an Air Handler for the indoor unit? Likely be ready for a heat pump ODU if it's not too old
I have a question. I've been thinking of a project that I want to eventually do. I want to make a shed to home and since I'm in the far north, a heat pump becomes inefficient/useless. So I'm looking at geothermal.
The geothermal units I have seen, have long lines of copper tubing under the frost line in the ground.
So if I were to modify a window heat pump, could I just replace the outside radiator, with those long lines of tubing? Or am I overlooking something and this would break the system?
Generally they are larger central systems and have quite a bit of tube spread across a broad area of soil.
However on a small scale I don't see why not. Although a small window unit doesn't hold much volume for refrigerant so the total area to lay it down under the soil may need to be scaled down.
If you use an INVERTER mini split system they are known to provide heat at fairly low outdoor temps since they can ramp up the compressor a little higher.
@@hackfreehvac thank you for the information! I appreciate it!
How far north are you that a heat pump becomes inefficient / worthless. Unless you spend a lot of time in the single digits or negative outside temperatures, modern heat pumps are still very efficient (with some newer pumps even being able to provide their rated output to negative 10).
@@GuyOnCZcams last winter between December - February. It was over 10F about 50% of the time. And going into the negatives about 25% of the time, and and abour 10% it was under -20F.
I was more referring worthless, as more costly compared to propane. Since batteries and solar panels cost money. And optimistically, lithium ion batteries have about 1/3 the life of panels. And the more you use them, the less the lifespan. (Recurring cost and expensive.)
Anyways, in the long run I've determined that geothermal is the way to go, and more cost effective in the long run. But instead go with water running through the tubes.
@@josholin31 sheesh, yeah that’s cold, not slot of heat to be pumping around there. Haha. Propane is definitely a simpler setup for conditions that cold, especially if it’s also off grid where air source heat pumps or other applications would require solar and batteries for off grid power.
Geothermal heat pumps likely would fair much better than air source heat pumps, but the upfront cost is a bit steeper, especially if you don’t dig and run the geothermal loops yourself.
Are the reversing valves expensive? I'm thinking about doing this to my RV unit. I live in it full time.
100 to 200 bucks.
Plus a defrost board and sensor but if your RV unit is the kind that uses one motor for both the indoor and coutdoor coil fans then you can't stop it during defrost.
Project completed mostly. I can get hp condenser cheap around here and it wouldn’t be a Goodman
Hey man been following for a long time. Let me just say you're someone a lot of techs can look up to myself included. I just do residential hear in NC. But couple quick questions. I remember from class the proctor told me once that heat pump compressors have bigger windings then stright cool compressors, and that you can put a heat pump compressor in a stright cool but not the other way around. Are you worried that the heating cycle might be hard on that compressor that's in there now? And have you thought about the need for an acculmulator? Or you think it will be okay without?
I have never heard such a thing. LOL
They taught that in the class???
And around here, we have 115 deg summers and mild winters.
If anything is hard on the unit it is the summer.
@@hackfreehvac I see your point
Beautifull! i am lazy so just would have reversed it.
How did you know which way the valve was going to shift
I blow through the hot gas port to see which port gets it.
That would be heat mode so put that to the gas line going to the air handler.
A Rheem etc would be the opposite.
hackfreehvac that makes sense but doesn’t guarantee it will always be that way. Let me play devils advocate. The valve only shifts with certain amount of differential. So if it was in cooling mode (energized) and then shut the unit off and pressures equalize it can be de-energized but still sitting in the cooling mode. There has to be a fool proof way I just don’t know it.
@@joeshearer1247 They'd always seem to come shipped in the non energized position.
However, IF one gets put in backwards it isn't something that a small relay won't fix.
And yeah. I have had to do that to units some years ago.
Disclaimer: I'm not an HVAC guy but I'm resourceful, willing and able. I have 14 brand new Lennox 5 ton A/C units that I was looking to sell but I may convert a couple of units to heat pumps. Great Video!!! I'm also not sure if it's worth $1500 to convert. I have many questions and wondered if we can talk before I start the project. If so, how can I contact you? Or please make a list of materials needed.
This is more of the type of thing for a experienced HVAC tech and who has some of the supplies to be worth it. The Lennox A/C unit was free. I wanted a 3 phase one to run on a variable frequency drive. So that is the only reason I converted this. Else I'd just spend $1500 on a brand new heat pump. (at the time. May be more like $2k now, cost)
👍
Are you going to put an accumulator on it since it's now a heat pump?
It is a Scroll and it rarely gets below 40 around here. Mostly above 50 except for cold snaps.
There are some scroll compressor heat pumps that don't use accumulators even from the factory.
You might consider adding a bi flow dryer
Wait... I know I isolated and left the drier in (since it was so new).
Was it a single flow? Oh shit! I didn't notice that!
Gonna have to do a pump down and quick fix on that soon. Oh man!
I was working my ass off on this thing and totally spaced that.
@@hackfreehvac single flow only works one way bi directional works both ways get you a sporlan catch all
@@michaelhaiden6718
I know what they are.
I mean, I totally spaced off that I stuck a single flow in and not a bi flow, back when I installed this straight cool in place of my heat pump.
All day on the job and I forgot that was not bi flow.
On the job I put in a new drier every time pretty much of I open the system.
Technically tho they last as long as the system never got moisture or contaminated.
So I shut my valves and left it in the external line. Forgot completely it wasn't a bi flow.
So it's feeding backwards now until I fix that.
But it might run 20 minutes a day
@@hackfreehvac makes sence it's little shit that kills ya nc here where ru
I'm kicking around the idea of doing something like this but instead refrigerant to air I'm going to try to do refrigerant to water through a plate heat exchanger and then a water pump with a geothermal Loop buried in my backyard... then I could call it DIY ground Source heat pump? :).. do you think it would work?
We don't really see geo-thermal here at all. But I've heard that it takes quite a bit of underground distance for the tubing to transfer enough energy.
@@hackfreehvac ya about 600 foot per ton ive heard but some of that can be vertical too
@@brandonoh777 Wow that is more length than I even imagined.
@@hackfreehvac that's TOTAL length u can coil it/make some of it vertical and do it in 100 feet or less total lateral run length
Same size txv outside as inside at evaporator
🤘🤘🤘👌👌👌
Isn’t AC/central air already a heat pump? Isn’t this technically just making it reversible so you can both heat and cool with it?
An AC moves heat but only from the indoor space to the outdoor.
What they refer to commonly as a "heat pump" is an AC that has a reversing valve and other components to *also* move the heat from the outdoor to the indoor.
This unit was a straight cool AC and needed the heat pump components.
You would normally not field convert an AC into a Heat Pump. However this was free (and new) and a DIY modification. For a customer you would generally replace the entire unit with a factory built heat pump unit.
Functionally, any AC unit is a heat pump. There is literally no technological difference, other than the reversing valve, and a few other components to make it work in reverse.
I do get what you’re saying though. However, personally, as a customer, I would NEVER buy a purpose built combo unit for heating, especially through a professional installer. They are massively overpriced, purely due to greed in the United States.
The only thing missing here I suppose is a heating element to defrost the coil once it freezes over
Not every unit has one, only the low ambient models.
How much would it cost to get this done
As a technician we generally aren't going to build a one off modification like this for a customer.
However having a thermal expansion valve and reversing valve replaced (not even counting the pipe modification) this would easily be a $1500 job to give you an idea.
This is hobby stuff here on my own unit.
I think you should of installed a second check valve
Didn't need one.
skills to pay the bills !
Nice work !
no crankcase heater needed?
Not in warmer climates. Down south we just rip em off and throw them away when they short.
It has a crank case heater.
It was loosened when I was piping but it is there.
lose any capacity at all?
Works perfectly normal.
Also this 3 ton unit replaced my 4 ton original Goodman. We were able to maintain temp last summer with it so it seems good.
What about an accumulator?
I was debating whether to get one.
I actually see a bit of heat pumps without one.
I'm hoping this will be ok.
It doesn't get very cold here but on rare occasion and the TXV should just throttle down enough I hope.
It is a free condenser unit so I don't want to add so much to it that it is no longer a bargain.
I think I spent $225 in parts to transform it into a heat pump.
The indoor and outdoor units are matched in size and I think the TXV I added is non bleed.
I was just looking and it seems that a lot of modern OEM Lennox don't even use an accumulator.
I worked for Lennox years ago and they took out the accumulators for better efficiency ratings. Also used to use smaller txv n the outdoor units, anything up to 3t had a 1.5t txv and above to 5t had a 3t txv. They also had a volume ratio for indoor and outdoor coils that they used to make sure the unit wouldn’t have charge issues when it switched from heating and cooling, but I can’t remember the range. Nice work on the conversion👍
@@hackfreehvac many unmatched systems heatpumps without accumulator cannot be charged to proper subcooling in cool mode, otherwise overheat in heat mode.
@@Znakla I suppose so if they had a smaller indoor section or low indoor airflow but most people size the indoor section larger if anything.
Another reason units would need an accumulator is when using a fixed orifice in the outdoor coil where it would have some floodback.
I never had an issue with this unit.
2 winters now.
Never even froze up even though I never got around to adding a defrost control.
@@hackfreehvac yes, you are correct, smaller indoor coil volume!
may i ask you since you are very experienced with ac. is it possible to use and run only outdoor minisplit condenser GREE or mitsu with regular 24v indoor airhandler? is it possible without changing vrf drive or major modifications? my guess would be to gut indoor unit and keep its electronics
What about the accumulator
I've been asked that several times now. LOL
Many Scroll heat pumps don't use them these days. And I didn't.
@@hackfreehvac many unmatched systems heatpumps without accumulator cannot be charged to proper subcooling in cool mode, otherwise overheat in heat mode
lol you should sabotage it and call another hvac company to fix it and do an undercover audit 🤣
Lol man if I got that call be like WTF is all this noise
Oh my goodness.
But if I played dumb about why the unit was as it was I am sure all I would get was a bid to replace it. HA HA
Heater with out pump
That’s a hellova project. You’ve put enough money in it to buy a heat pump.
The reason I converted it into a heat pump is because I received this 2 yr old ( but never installed) Lennox condenser *FOR FREE*
I wanted a 3 phase unit and this was a commercial unit that work never installed that they decided to part ways with.
The Reversing Valve, TXV and other misc fittings was like *$500*
The air handler in the attic I did purchase new, however.
But $500 into this condenser is a bit less than buying a heat pump.
The Variable Frequency Drive (which converts my single phase 230VAC and/or my 330VDC off-grid Solar) was also FREE. (Swapped from new equipment that needed 460V but came with these 230V VFD's)
@@hackfreehvac still that takes a level of motivation most of us don’t have
18:40 Schematic for 4 way valve is not correct!
I just looked and while it was quick chicken scratch, it is correct.
Center discharge line on bottom goes to comp discharge. Top middle gas line goes to compressor suction. Right side goes to OD gas line (suction in winter, hot gas in summer) and the left line goes to the ID coil (hot gas in winter, suction in summer).
RV is always gas.
Liquid line only connects between the ID coil and OD coil.
It's been working for several summer/winters now. Heats my upstairs.
I did it first
You have one hot side, one cold side. One is outside, the other is servicing the houses inside (those two copper pipes at the bottom going through your wall INTO the house, one big, one small). Changing anything at the outside maniflod, how the gas flows, makes no sense at all! You need to switch the compressors out and inlet and you have reversed the heatflow. Changing the tubing on the outside unit is just messing that part up. 🙈
Why?
What you scribled on your paper makes no sense at all. The lower one is not transfering heat/cold to your inside with it's outside metal heat exchanger.
When you reverse in and outlet from your compressor you could change the connection from the outside heat exchanger to the nozzle part (small diameter tube usually). Meaning in cooling mode all the compressed gas was put in the outside unit on the entrance and left at the bottom after loosing excess heat, than the gas go through the nozzle and inside the house must be a heat exchanger where the gas expands, thats when it retracts the heat from inside.
Now if you want to heat instead of cool, you need to bring the hot compressed gas into the inside heat exchanger through the nozzle and to the outside unit. When you reverse the cycle it makes sense to change the inlet and outlet side of the outside heat exchanger. But changing anything at the tubing from the outside unit within, just shows clearly that you have no idea what you are doing.
Like the last tubing section at the bottom was the heating/cooling unit for the house, hää. Clearly not, just by seeing that it is not INSIDE of the house.
I hope you did not release the gas inside the tubing just into the air. It is realy harmfull to our enviroment.
If you want to change it into a heatpump. The tubes going inside should be both small diameter, so you can keep the gas under pressure and release it at the nozzle (very small diameter tube) before it is going into the outside heat exchanger where the gas should then expand and retract heat from the enviroment. There should be some volumes part to collect the gas on the suction side, to provide enough gas and make shure no liquid reaches the compressor.
By the way, shortly after the gas leaves the sompressor, there should be an oil seperator returning the oil to the compressor and keeping it out of the heat exchanger.
Please ask a professional for help.
It doesn't seem like you are a heat pump technician.
*So I guess I will have to explain where you are wrong in several areas...*
"What you scribled on your paper makes no sense at all."
What I scribbled on paper at 3:10 in the video is 100% exactly as name brand units like Trane and Carrier and others pipe their coils and in no way did I mess it up. Not at all. It is perfect.
You see, this unit was not a heat pump. It was a "straight cool".
I converted it into a heat pump. Because I can.
The way the outdoor coil is piped is that there are multiple parallel circuits.
In cooling mode when the outdoor coil is a condenser, the hot gas enters the main header and feeds each parallel circuit.
After the hot gas refrigerant passes through each separate parallel circuit they combine and then pass through one more SINGLE circuit at the bottom few rows. Sometimes called a "subcooler circuit".
After that it passes through the filter/drier and off to the indoor unit expansion valve and so on...
In heating mode the parallel circuits are for the evaporator. It is common to not use the sub cooler circuit so a check valve is used to bypass it and the TXV feeds each parallel circuit which then collects at the common manifold as common suction.
*"When you reverse in and outlet from your compressor"*
The compressor never reverses. The connections of what is hot gas discharge and what is suction are swapped. It is a 4 way valve.
*"Now if you want to heat instead of cool, you need to bring the hot compressed gas into the inside heat exchanger through the nozzle"*
Hot gas does NOT pass through a nozzle. It feeds through a large pipe (expanded gas is less dense) then condenses by time it passes through the parallel circuits and leaves as condensed liquid through the single liquid line. Either via a check valve to bypass thru the TXV or thru a TXV that will free flow in reverse (not meter).
Only liquid refrigerant passes through a piston/cap tube/nozzle etc (metering device) to feed the evaporator. Which in heating is at the OUTSIDE coil.
*"But changing anything at the tubing from the outside unit within, just shows clearly that you have no idea what you are doing."*
I knew exactly what I was doing. But since you wrote this tirade, I am forced to correct you in case someone new reads this and is mislead.
*"If you want to change it into a heatpump. The tubes going inside should be both small diameter,"* Say what?????
Where do I begin here? That is just 100% wrong. Watch a few more DIY/How To videos on refrigeration and heat pumps then try again.
*"By the way, shortly after the gas leaves the compressor, there should be an oil separator returning the oil to the compressor and keeping it out of the heat exchanger"* That statement solidifies that you've never set eyes on a typical residential/small commercial A/C or Heat Pump yet alone service them.
As a professional in the trade, probably longer than you've been born (a guess but likely correct), I can assure you that typical A/C and Heat Pumps, even up to 50 tons and larger, often have no oil separator. Yet alone a smaller system that doesn't ramp down the capacity very much. Like this one which is a 2 speed.
(Emerson Compressor states to maintain at least 35Hz VFD speed for proper oil return).
I work on larger VFR systems that have various sensors, algorithms and valves to return oil or to move oil from one unit to another.
Trust me. This system does not need an oil separator.
But since you opened your mouth, find me some common fixed speed residential units made for the past 50+ years that have oil separators.
I'll wait.
Note. I said fixed speed. Some modern inverter ones MAY have them. I dunno. I mostly do larger commercial unless it is my own. But again. More than 3 decades experience for me.
*LASTLY*
You should have peeked at a few more of my videos.
Maybe you would have seen the start up of this unit and understood that it has heated and cooled perfectly for over 3 years.
I literally just disconnected this RUNNING unit this week to install a slender one in it's place purely for trailer access behind my RV gate.
I can't recall every having to engage with anyone like this in my comments since I started this channel in 2008.
However, you sure talked a bunch of complete and utter bullshit, while being condescending to me who was 100% correct in all the information in this video.
Which, BTW, is not a DIY video but one to share with my fellow HVAC peers who understood this concept.
@@hackfreehvac points taken.
I hereby have to apologice to you.
If you want you are free to delete my comment or tell me to do it. I will try to delete the other two comments i made on other answers here.
@@hackfreehvac only found one. Deleted that.
Why just buy a new one
Because I got the condenser for free at work.
I already installed the variable frequency drive and used it for the summer.
(This unit is powered by utility power AND solar power).
Plus. Because I can. Lol
It looks awefully inexpensive to convert Ac to Heatpump, so why do we see the huge price differnce from the OEMs? Thieves comes to mind, literally costs them less than $100 but charge us thousands more for the unit.
Excellent video, taught me enough to be dangerous. I want to use my pool water to warm the gas in the winter, like a hybrid geothermal unit. My current HP goes into defrost quite often when its below freezing, so if i could use water at 55degrees instead of air at 25 degrees i think i would be better off. Need a guy like this to do the tough parts like copper and refridgerent.
Yeah, Technology Connections has made the same point a good few times. It baffles me. Sadly I don't think I am knowledgeable enough to manage to do this with my portable A/C... At least the price difference in portable units is smaller compared to that massive price hike on whole-home ones.