Terence McCann

That is not always a sign of a dirty air duct. The cool/warm surface around the duct acts like a magnet and attracts the grime in the air and it sticks around the registers. Same principle as "ghosting" that we see on walls and ceilings. I was referring to dirt trails on the ceiling finish itself that emanate outward from the register perimeter. Are we on the same page? Marc Actually it has more to do with poor housekeeping than dirty ducts.

HA!

If you pipe your bathroom exhaust fan outdoors you'll be fine.

What you're asking means nothing. John Doe lives in Jamaica - how does that relate to your conditions? Call a reputable heating company to take a look at what is going on. You've got to stop spewing misinformation. J. Doe moved to Eleuthera maybe . . . two years ago. Get up to speed, for crying out loud. Sorry, my bad.

What you're asking means nothing. John Doe lives in Jamaica - how does that relate to your conditions? Call a reputable heating company to take a look at what is going on.

The humidity is coming from somewhere. If you have condensation on the inside of your windows I'd also check the attic for mold. -18C is 0F. If you have 30% RH inside the home either the whole home humidifier is running or you like cooking spaghetti - a lot. When you say you can't go any lower in humidity because it will dry out your house what do you mean? It would appear that you can control the humidity to some degree no? You also said: But that being said the humidity is 31% upstair and 36% downstairs can't go any lower because hardwood would start sweaking and seperating.. How can you possible keep the humidity at 36RH when it is 0F outside without a humidifier?

Do you have a humidifier on your furnace and/or you running stand alone humidifiers?

That same type of look around unions, fittings, couplings, dissimilar metals joined together. I was going to point you toward http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/electrolysis However one of the examples is: Examples of ELECTROLYSIS She had electrolysis done on her upper lip Never mind, I'm laughing too hard right now.

How were the rest of the fittings? Any electrolysis? If not it looks like a gasket that may have not been seated all the way and then self-sealed.

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The company I use to work with had Tremco as one of their accounts. We designed a lab hood exhaust and make-up air system for the lab. All the lab sinks had glass drain piping due to the caustic nature of the liquids they were working with. Proceed With Caution - it may bite. Glass Drain & Vent Piping

Really? ASHI might be a good place to start but any qualified inspector will do, regardless of his choice in professional associations. Cut us independents some slack, will ya?[] I have nothing against independents Tom as long as they belong to ASHI. []

I question the return air right above the fireplace as stated by Erby but maybe it is just meant for candles? I don't see any gas line entering for fake logs and doubt there was any intent for a wood burner. ???

You can not add a dehumidifier to the central air conditioner - just the act of running A/C will dehumidify the home. You can however put a dehumidifier in your crawlspace which will help with removing moisture. It will need a drain for the water it collects though or bucket brigade to empty the pan (not practical). As mentioned by Kurt the problem is most likely moisture coming from the crawlspace - I would suspect that the crawlspace really should be surveyed/inspected. As we can not long distant diagnose the problem (too many variables) perhaps calling a local ASHI home inspector would be prudent. Look here: http://www.ashi.org/find/default.aspx for more information.

Do you have a crawlspace or full basement?

Just a few more comments regarding the system Neal. This system really sounds like an HVAC tech got his hands on some "stuff" from "fill in the blank" (God only knows where). The system is completely unorthodox (for this house) and it's a pretty good bet that 0 engineering went into the system. This is a system you would see in commercial office buildings that wanted cost effective zoning. Also, there are gross inefficiencies that are inherent when one over sizes equipment such as this. 14 tons = 168,000 BTUs. At 600 sq ft per ton your looking at 8,400 sq ft. If you had the BTUs of the boiler and water source heat pumps we could do the math however I'd punt. The boiler is not for backup with these systems but to inject some heat into the loop in the winter time (so the water source heat pumps can operate correctly in the heating mode). It's nice that they put the cooling tower so close to the home too. Perhaps they could hang some rain forest Flora close by - they'd love it. If you ever see what looks like steam coming off the roof of a commercial hi-rise office building, in the summer, it is typically the cooling tower plume. Look at the cooling tower of a nuclear power plant for a good example. This system won't produce a plume anywhere close to that but you get the idea. Do you want that by the home? It is also proven that Legionnaires' disease can come from cooling towers (the bacteria love the nice warm water - hence proper water treatment). I could go on but you get the picture. Good luck calling your local residential HVAC company when something goes wrong. [:-crazy]

Ok Neal, sounds like you got some more info then, good. Take a look at the PDF for some more information of this type of system. http://www.mcquay.com/mcquaybiz/literat ... s/1002.pdf

That's what I thought Neal. There are only two lines going to the cooling tower then - it's a cooling tower only. Do you have any pictures of the air handlers Neal? How many air handlers were there? Was the water piping going to the AHUs? It's almost sounds like you have a water source heat pump installation but I can't be sure. In the basement, by the boiler, did you see a chiller (compressor, piping etc)? The owner of the home must have owned a HVAC distributorship because that system is really overkill. Click to Enlarge 65.36 KB

Were did this line go Neal? It looks like a drain. Click to Enlarge 63 KB

How many square feet is that house? A lot more pictures would help but I'll try to help with what I see. As Bill said BAC stands for Baltimore Aircoil Company http://www.baltimoreaircoil.com/english/ The outside unit is just a cooling tower. If it were an evaporative condenser you would see four pipes going to it. From BAC: Principle of Operation The vapor to be condensed is circulated through a condensing coil, which is continually wetted on the outside by a recirculating water system. Air is pulled over the coil, causing a small portion of the recirculating water to evaporate. The evaporation removes heat from the vapor in the coil, causing it to condense. http://www.baltimoreaircoil.com/english ... condensers A very basic description would be the condenser coil from an air conditioner sitting inside the cooling tower. Water then is pumped over the condenser coil - using water instead of air to condense. The second picture is a heat exchanger. It maybe a shell&tube or a tube&tube but I can't see where all the piping goes to make a determination on type or purpose. Did you see a chiller? You say there is a boiler, were you able to trace this piping? How many AHUs were there? You say there was water piping going to them, were you able to trace it out? It could be a few different systems but I would need more information to make a call. More pictures would help too.

That's a nice ride Mike. Where did you see it? Back in the early 70's I purchased a 57. Black 2-door with a 327 vette transplant. It was a lot of fun but I was running just below the poverty level with two rug rats. I miss the kids now and again.

Anyway, it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong or right, where I belong I'm right where I belong. Quite [:-thumbu]

John, but he's been dead this many a year.

I haven't noticed that in my area. But then, PEX has been the defacto standard here for almost a decade so the plumbers are used to it. Most of the younger plumbers have no idea how to sweat a copper fitting or thread a piece of steel, but they're good a running PEX. That's sad.

1977 but a picture would help.