This is a great thread and very informative. So thanks to all who contribute!
I live in Corvallis, OR and have a two-story, 2600 sf house, built in 1991, which I bought in 2003. It has separate Apollo Hydroheat systems for upstairs and downstairs -- one natural gas Apollo Hydroheat water heater in the garage for downstairs and one in the attic for upstairs. The upstairs also has A/C with an outdoor compressor unit that seems to be York, though I'm not sure. The water heaters were both replaced when I bought the house. The units have worked well, with adequate heat in winter and cooling in summer. The only significant issue was that the condensate pan was apparently not well designed or installed, not sure which, and would overflow onto the ceiling upstairs. We had that fixed two or three years ago. (We didn't use the A/C much up until then, though I don't know how much the previous owners used it.) Other than that, we've only had to change the run capacitor on the downstairs fan, the outdoor compressor unit fan, and, just a week ago, the upstairs fan. After the run capacitor on the upstairs fan was changed, it wouldn't move as much air as previously, and the HVAC tech (Rice Heating & AC) said that he couldn't diagnose it because it was too hot in the attic and he couldn't stay up there any longer. (This was about 5:30 PM on a hot day.) He said that maybe the motor had lost a speed tap winding. He also said that if we run the A/C it would ice up the coils because of inadequate airflow over them, and he made me sign a waiver releasing them from responsibility if damage were to result from running the A/C. He told me to call their office first thing the next morning to arrange for two people come to fix the unit some morning when it would be cooler in the attic. When I called, the receptionist told me that the technician said the unit is too old, he can't get parts for it, and it needs to be replaced. I've been contacting local HVAC folks then to get assessments of our situation and estimates to deal with it.
First question: Does what the HVAC tech said sound reasonable? From what I've been reading on this forum, it sounds like parts are not that difficult to get if you want to try to keep the system operating.
Second question: Is it worth trying to keep this 30-year-old system functioning or should we bite the bullet and replace it with something else? We don't really have a place for a furnace, so I think we'd be looking at a heat pump system.
Third question: This is especially for Jim Katen because I know you're not too far from us, do you know of anyone near us who is good with Apollo Hydroheat systems?
Final question: In that the water heaters are now 18 years old, should we plan to replace them soon regardless of what we do with the heating system?
Thanks for whatever helpful suggestions you can offer!
