3:00pm – We just barely made it!  Any longer without the air running and we would have started cooking up here.  The water and Gatorade supplies are about gone.  Now we’re all looking forward to some cold beer after the job is done.  What’s left is conecting all of the ductwork and this can be done while the air is blowing cold into the attic.  The first part of this stage is fitting the junction box.  This is a pre-fabricated cube constructed of insulation with one face connected to the output of the air conditioner, and up to five branches coming off of it (in our case we only have three.  The first thing we’re going to do it measure and cut holes for the three duct branches.  We do this first beause it’s easier to do before the junction box is mounted to the air conditioner, and it will allow the air to flow freely after it is mounted.  Now we measure and cut a square out of the face of the junction box that will fit to the air conditioner.  We fit it in place and use a liberal amount of silver tape (the installers best friend).  Now we connect the duct branches to the holes we cut in the other three sides in pretty much the same fashion.

5:00pm – The cold air is now running throughout the house and the thermostat is slowly starting to inch downward.  We still have a few things left to do, like connecting the exhaust pipes for the heater and clean up inside and out, but overall we’re saying ‘mission accomplished’ and we’re sitting down for a few well deserved cold beers…ringht under the air conditioning vent (-;

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10am – Now we’re on to the final piece of equipment, the Carrier 24ABB evaporator coil unit.  The same process takes place, clean off the flooring, place a new drip pan under the equipment, place and level the equipment for in-line installation, metal screws to attach to the heater then some silver tape to seal and the placement is complete.  We just need to connect the PVC drain pipe wiht a fitting and some glue, and also the plastic tubing for the overflow drain from the drip pan and we’re good to go.

10:30am – Now that everything is in place, it’s time to connect all of the wiring and tubing.  The wiring is pretty straight forward.  We strip the ends off of the old power and control wires, splice in with the new units and cap off and place it back in the enclosures.  As with any installation that is not new construction, you don’t get to see everything that is needed until you tear out the old equipment.  In our case, the physical dimensions of the old heater was much longer than the new equipment, and then factor in the absence of a transition piece between each component, and it was easy to see that the old gas line was not long enough to extend to the new heater.  Now we need to make a parts run to extend the gas line and some extra silver tape will always come in handy.

12pm – The heat of the day is catching up with us and we’re close to firing up the system.  The gas line extension is fitted in after the emergency cut-off valve.  We turn the gas on and bubble test the connections for leaks and there are none so we’re in business with a heater.  Now it’s time to run the copper tubing for the air conditioner, sweat solder it in place with the torch (and it’s a good thing there were no gas leaks!).  Now the installer goes outside to the blower unit to charge the system with Puron while the helper bubble tests all of the solder joints for leaks.  No leaks!  So we have a full charged Puron home ar conditioners system ready to test.

1:00pm – We power up the system and ther is frosty cold air blowing into the attic.  Without the ductwork connected, all of the cool air is blowing into the work area, so now the fans are no longer needed.  Now since we don’t have to worry about cooking ourselves in the attic we can take a lunch break while the system runs.  This is important not only for cooling off the work areas for our comfort, but to make sure everything is working properly, and especially that the drain is draining.  The worst thing that could happen is that the condensation flow is obstructed or improperly routed and you end up with water damage…not good.  The guys head out to get a bite to eat while I keep an eye on the condesnsation flow, and it’s a good thing because the placement of the unit was on a slight tilt that backed up the condensation flow back into the unit instead of out through the drain pipe.  So now I need to turn off the air conditioner until the guys get back so they can re-level the system and re-test.

Time for another Kolache break.  I promise that I’ll finish the story in Part 3.

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6am – The helper and I are unboxing the new equipment and stageing it in the appropriate areas while the installer turns off the power to the old units, drains the freon and reclaims it.  by 7am, the new outside equipment is hooked up and ready.  Now we need to tear out the old system from the attic.

7am – I have a power strip connecting every fan that I own blowing whats left of the cool air into the attic space where they are working.  The fans are strategically positioned so that sweat doesn’t fall on them causing a short circuit.  Sweat is already pouring steadily.  The space is too small for all three os us to fit in there, so I’m going to run out and get them some kolaches while they do their thing.

9am – The front lawn looks like a nightmare trailer park scene from a “B” movie with scrap metal, wires, duct work, and torn insulation strewn all over the place.  I’m sure that if the neighbors knew what we were planning they would have re-scheuled their garage sale for another day, because we probably scared away half of their business.  It’s time for a kolache break and much needed re-hydration.

9:30am – We’re back on the clock.  The one piece of equipment that I’ve decided to leave in place is the Honeywell air purifier, an electronic filter that removes particles from the air with an electronic zap.  It works fine and is easy to maintain.  I just put the filters in the dishwasher once a month then let them sun dry and we’re good to go.  So basically the way things are going to be configured is from the air intake first comes the zapper, then the heater, then the air conditioner.  The installer has sold me on the idea of installing each component butt-up against each other rather than using a transition piece of insulation between each component.  This will streamline the installation and cut down on potential energy loss.

Enough for now, I’m getting hungry talking about kolaches (-;  I will continue the saga on the post.

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