Home Improvement

Kajiimagi

<Gold Donor>
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Anyone have any experiences good or bad with Wyze brand smart switches? 2 of my Wemo smart switches were giving me fits today. Went to see what a replacement would be and discover Belkin stopped making them. I have Wyze camera already so thinking swap and one less app to mess with.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
64,723
144,295
Anyone have any experiences good or bad with Wyze brand smart switches? 2 of my Wemo smart switches were giving me fits today. Went to see what a replacement would be and discover Belkin stopped making them. I have Wyze camera already so thinking swap and one less app to mess with.
yea i too have wyze cams i also have thermostat and door lock, if had to replace my light switches now i wouldn't hesitate to do wyze, currently i'm on tplink light switches no issues.
 

Nija

<Silver Donator>
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Bonus room above the garage. Garage is insulated and finished. Heat from in the house goes up stairs and collects there. I have A/C vents up there, but when the house is at 72, upstairs is at like 78. Other than a mini split, splitting my existing hvac system into two zone, or a console unit (think hotel room) installed up there, what other options do I have? No windows to vent a stand alone A/C, although I do have a full size door to the attic. I do not plan on venting humid air into the attic to grow a Brahma Brahma style mold farm.... what other HVAC options do I have to cooling down that room? It's my theater room, and from like March to June it's unusable. Once summer hits in full force, the A/C runs often enough to keep it reasonably cool up there.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
64,723
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Bonus room above the garage. Garage is insulated and finished. Heat from in the house goes up stairs and collects there. I have A/C vents up there, but when the house is at 72, upstairs is at like 78. Other than a mini split, splitting my existing hvac system into two zone, or a console unit (think hotel room) installed up there, what other options do I have? No windows to vent a stand alone A/C, although I do have a full size door to the attic. I do not plan on venting humid air into the attic to grow a Brahma Brahma style mold farm.... what other HVAC options do I have to cooling down that room? It's my theater room, and from like March to June it's unusable. Once summer hits in full force, the A/C runs often enough to keep it reasonably cool up there.
what is the temp of the garage tho, you say it's insulated, but is the ceiling insulated as well?

my den above the garage is hugely affected by the garage temp, i opened a hole to run wire and theres no ceiling insulation in mine.

you can also have those rolling portable airconditions and drill a duct through the wall for it
 

Nija

<Silver Donator>
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what is the temp of the garage tho, you say it's insulated, but is the ceiling insulated as well?

my den above the garage is hugely affected by the garage temp, i opened a hole to run wire and theres no ceiling insulation in mine.

you can also have those rolling portable airconditions and drill a duct through the wall for it
Garage temps are reasonable. Ceiling is insulated, it's all finished, painted, etc. If I went through the wall, it would vent to the attic on any of the sides. I could make it vent near one of the eaves if need be. It looks like this on both sides lengthwise... The far side (according to this pic) vents to the main section of the attic and I won't vent there. The back side goes straight to the external brick, front facing, and I won't be venting there for sure.

signal-2024-05-03-101415_002.jpeg
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
26,289
40,630
Bonus room above the garage. Garage is insulated and finished. Heat from in the house goes up stairs and collects there. I have A/C vents up there, but when the house is at 72, upstairs is at like 78. Other than a mini split, splitting my existing hvac system into two zone, or a console unit (think hotel room) installed up there, what other options do I have? No windows to vent a stand alone A/C, although I do have a full size door to the attic. I do not plan on venting humid air into the attic to grow a Brahma Brahma style mold farm.... what other HVAC options do I have to cooling down that room? It's my theater room, and from like March to June it's unusable. Once summer hits in full force, the A/C runs often enough to keep it reasonably cool up there.

I think mini split is the best solution.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
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I think mini split is the best solution.
yea in terms of price, i looked at those hotel style ac's too that are thru the wall (theyre called PTHP), they don't come w/ the god damn metal enclosure that costs more than a cheap mini split
 

Nija

<Silver Donator>
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That's what I was afraid of. I'll call around and figured it out. Unscientific test, but I hit interior walls with a temp gun... it's 66 outside, 72.4 in the garage, 74-75 inside currently, both upstairs and downstairs. Problem is when it's 75-85 outside, it'll get 5+ degrees warmer upstairs. Sucks looking to shell out $3k+ to make one room comfortable 25-33% of the year, but it is what it is.

I wonder if it's much more expensive to change my current one A/C system from one zone to two.
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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That's what I was afraid of. I'll call around and figured it out. Unscientific test, but I hit interior walls with a temp gun... it's 66 outside, 72.4 in the garage, 74-75 inside currently, both upstairs and downstairs. Problem is when it's 75-85 outside, it'll get 5+ degrees warmer upstairs. Sucks looking to shell out $3k+ to make one room comfortable 25-33% of the year, but it is what it is.

I wonder if it's much more expensive to change my current one A/C system from one zone to two.

Do you have rigid or flex ducting through the house?

It might be possible to just add dampers to rebalance, you might have to change it seasonally. It just won't ever be as even or comfortable as a mini split IMO.
 

sleevedraw

Revolver Ocelot
<Bronze Donator>
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Perhaps a dumb question, but I don't know much about plumbing or metal.

Prior to moving into this house, I was using a propane grill. I now have a natgas line on my house which lets me hook a grill up. I bought black iron piping a couple years ago as the Weber manual suggested and hooked it up. It's been fine thus far.

Two years out, though, and it's looking pretty rusty. Do I have to worry about structural integrity of the piping, or does it basically just rust on the outside and stay intact on the inside?

If rust means that I should replace the piping, what should I do in the future to prevent that from happening again? Paint it?
 

Captain Suave

Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
5,232
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Perhaps a dumb question, but I don't know much about plumbing or metal.

Prior to moving into this house, I was using a propane grill. I now have a natgas line on my house which lets me hook a grill up. I bought black iron piping a couple years ago as the Weber manual suggested and hooked it up. It's been fine thus far.

Two years out, though, and it's looking pretty rusty. Do I have to worry about structural integrity of the piping, or does it basically just rust on the outside and stay intact on the inside?

If rust means that I should replace the piping, what should I do in the future to prevent that from happening again? Paint it?

If it's only a couple years old the rust is probably superficial. I'd clean it up with a wire brush or sandpaper and paint it.
 
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Thaloc

Molten Core Raider
83
85
Perhaps a dumb question, but I don't know much about plumbing or metal.

Prior to moving into this house, I was using a propane grill. I now have a natgas line on my house which lets me hook a grill up. I bought black iron piping a couple years ago as the Weber manual suggested and hooked it up. It's been fine thus far.

Two years out, though, and it's looking pretty rusty. Do I have to worry about structural integrity of the piping, or does it basically just rust on the outside and stay intact on the inside?

If rust means that I should replace the piping, what should I do in the future to prevent that from happening again? Paint it?
Any black iron piping outside must be painted or it will rust. Knock the loose shit off with a brush and hit it with rustoleum battleship gray.
 
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Thaloc

Molten Core Raider
83
85
Bonus room above the garage. Garage is insulated and finished. Heat from in the house goes up stairs and collects there. I have A/C vents up there, but when the house is at 72, upstairs is at like 78. Other than a mini split, splitting my existing hvac system into two zone, or a console unit (think hotel room) installed up there, what other options do I have? No windows to vent a stand alone A/C, although I do have a full size door to the attic. I do not plan on venting humid air into the attic to grow a Brahma Brahma style mold farm.... what other HVAC options do I have to cooling down that room? It's my theater room, and from like March to June it's unusable. Once summer hits in full force, the A/C runs often enough to keep it reasonably cool up there.
Bonus rooms are a scam. You take a room right above a garage which isn't 100% isolated from outdoor weather and put it right next to the fucking roof.
The only way you will ever
ever
properly condition that is with its own system which usually ends up being a mini split.
 
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moonarchia

The Scientific Shitlord
23,212
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That's what I was afraid of. I'll call around and figured it out. Unscientific test, but I hit interior walls with a temp gun... it's 66 outside, 72.4 in the garage, 74-75 inside currently, both upstairs and downstairs. Problem is when it's 75-85 outside, it'll get 5+ degrees warmer upstairs. Sucks looking to shell out $3k+ to make one room comfortable 25-33% of the year, but it is what it is.

I wonder if it's much more expensive to change my current one A/C system from one zone to two.
Any reason a simple fan to get the air moving wouldn't be an option? If it's open facing the rest of the house you can just blow the cooler air directly in.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
64,723
144,295
Any reason a simple fan to get the air moving wouldn't be an option? If it's open facing the rest of the house you can just blow the cooler air directly in.
cuz he doesn't want to live in 1973? lulz

plus it's annoying, when i bought this house, it was emptyish except there was a box fan running in the garage, judging by the accumulated dust, it's been on 24/7, i turned it off and the garage spiked to 90, luckily it has 1 window and i kept my window unit from jersey so that was way more pleasing than having a box fan on 3 all the time. (since i put insulation on the doors, it's been pretty good temp wise, i only turn on the ac when i'm in there w/o the doors open for a bit of time)

but yea blowing a fan around is so annoying
 

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
42,509
108,120
I am currently in a new house and the AC had been getting weaker. Last year the AC was working poorly and the guys who installed it came as the house itself was still under warranty. They determined that when the company installed it they didn't fully charge the system. So they corrected that and now its been getting weaker again.

Guy came today and checked it. So in fact there was a leak as well as them not charging the system. Replacing the condenser coil for the outside unit (no parts cost) is still going to be >$2000 because they have to dismantle the thing to get to it.

Am I being had here? That seems awfully fucking expensive.