This is my first post. Sorry, it’s a long one. I had an HVAC system installed in my house this past summer. I’m very unhappy with it and I’m here seeking advice so I can determine what to do next.
I live in Vancouver, BC. My house has three levels and the lot slopes down toward the back in the southerly direction. The basement is below grade at the front and above grade at the back.
The areas of the basement, main and upper floors based on the exterior dimensions are approximately 1350, 1775 and 1325 (total 4450 sq ft) including a two car garage on the main floor. The interior floor areas of the basement, main and upper floors are approximately 1100, 1200 and 1175 (total 3475 sq ft), excluding the garage.
When the house was originally built, it had a conventional gas forced air furnace for the basement and main floor and electric baseboard for the upper floor. The basement was unfinished. After I purchased the house, I finished the basement and made some changes to the heating system. I changed the basement heating to in-floor hydronic and the main floor to a Laars MiniMate blower coil with a continuously operating fan. The boiler is a Laars EBP 110. I did not change the upper floor electric baseboard heating. Before the HVAC system was installed, the heating system worked well and the home was comfortable in the winter. However, there is a lot of glass at the back and due to that and the southern exposure, the main floor in particular gets very hot in the summer. This was the motivation for installing an HVAC system.
The system that was installed is an LG Multi F consisting of the following:
The main issues are the following:
These are just the main issues. There are other issues as well, but this post is already long...
Since the summer, I’ve spent hours with the contractor and directly with LG trying to find a solution to these problems. The contractor has no training on the system and is getting no support from the distributor or LG. LG told me it’s too bad that the system doesn’t meet my expectations, but there is no fix for the issues. According to LG, the only way to get the fans to operate continuously is to install a separate ODU for each of IDU. This is a non-starter. They also told me there is no way to get the VAHU to operate without turning on the heat pump.
I’ve given up that the issues can be fixed. Due to the lack of air circulation and the terrible thermostats, the house is very uncomfortable. I have no plans to move and I don’t want to spend the next 20 years like this, so I’m considering removing the system and replacing it with a Daikin VRV Life system. The local Daikin contractor has assured me that it will address all of the issues I described above. Of course, that’s what the last contractor told me, so I’m hoping to hear from the experts here if the Daikin system will indeed address the concerns that I have described.
I live in Vancouver, BC. My house has three levels and the lot slopes down toward the back in the southerly direction. The basement is below grade at the front and above grade at the back.
The areas of the basement, main and upper floors based on the exterior dimensions are approximately 1350, 1775 and 1325 (total 4450 sq ft) including a two car garage on the main floor. The interior floor areas of the basement, main and upper floors are approximately 1100, 1200 and 1175 (total 3475 sq ft), excluding the garage.
When the house was originally built, it had a conventional gas forced air furnace for the basement and main floor and electric baseboard for the upper floor. The basement was unfinished. After I purchased the house, I finished the basement and made some changes to the heating system. I changed the basement heating to in-floor hydronic and the main floor to a Laars MiniMate blower coil with a continuously operating fan. The boiler is a Laars EBP 110. I did not change the upper floor electric baseboard heating. Before the HVAC system was installed, the heating system worked well and the home was comfortable in the winter. However, there is a lot of glass at the back and due to that and the southern exposure, the main floor in particular gets very hot in the summer. This was the motivation for installing an HVAC system.
The system that was installed is an LG Multi F consisting of the following:
- LMU420HHV (outdoor unit) Multi F MAX LGRED
- PMBD3640 (branch distribution unit, located in basement, near the VAHU)
- Main floor: LVN241HV4 (vertical air handler with a hot water coil, located in basement) + PWFMDD200 (Wi-Fi) + PREMTB100 (thermostat, located centrally on main floor)
- Upper floor (back): LDN127HV4 (low static, located in attic) + PWFMDD200 (Wi-Fi) + PREMTB100 (thermostat, located in master bedroom #1)
- Upper floor (front): LDN097HV4 (low static, located in attic) + PWFMDD200 (Wi-Fi) + PREMTB100 (thermostat, located in master bedroom #2)
The main issues are the following:
- The fans do not operate continuously in any operating mode (fan-only, dry, auto, heat, cool; fan-only mode does nothing at all).
- The thermostats do a terrible job of maintaining temperature at the setpoint. The temperature is almost never at the setpoint. It can be two or three degrees (or more) off. You can increase the setting by ½ degree and the temperature may increase by two or three degrees.
- The vertical air handler will not operate using only hot water. Whenever there is a call for heat, the heat pump is turned on, along with the boiler circulation pump.
These are just the main issues. There are other issues as well, but this post is already long...
Since the summer, I’ve spent hours with the contractor and directly with LG trying to find a solution to these problems. The contractor has no training on the system and is getting no support from the distributor or LG. LG told me it’s too bad that the system doesn’t meet my expectations, but there is no fix for the issues. According to LG, the only way to get the fans to operate continuously is to install a separate ODU for each of IDU. This is a non-starter. They also told me there is no way to get the VAHU to operate without turning on the heat pump.
I’ve given up that the issues can be fixed. Due to the lack of air circulation and the terrible thermostats, the house is very uncomfortable. I have no plans to move and I don’t want to spend the next 20 years like this, so I’m considering removing the system and replacing it with a Daikin VRV Life system. The local Daikin contractor has assured me that it will address all of the issues I described above. Of course, that’s what the last contractor told me, so I’m hoping to hear from the experts here if the Daikin system will indeed address the concerns that I have described.
source https://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?2226136-Questions-about-LG-Multi-F-and-Daikin-VRV-Life-HVAC&goto=newpost
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