Janitrol PGB060150-1 Rev. A - Very low air volume output.

[Intheswamp]

Howdy, everybody.  Warning, rank newbie here!  Not very smart, can follow directions, but teachers say I don't play well with other children...ah well, one out of three ain't too bad.

My situation is that we've got a somewhat aging combined system at our church that has some *really* low output at the supply vents....face velocity(?).

The system is a Janitrol Model # PGB060150-1 Rev. A.  It is a 5-ton unit.  The area that it is servicing is probably around 2000sf.  The ductwork was supposedly "updated" back in '04 sometime.  From peeking under the church through the crawl space opening I can see a small bit of ductwork of the round, accordian-type.  The small bit of ductwork I can see appears to be in probably the 16" range.  I will be investigating this more later for a more precise measurement.

There are 14 supply vents in the floor.  There are eight 12x4 vents in the large "fellowship/kitchen area", in two classrooms there is 1 each 12x4 vents, and in the two furtherest classrooms there are 2 each of smaller 8x4(?) vents.  The return register seems a grunt over 2' square but two 20x20 filters are used sloping down at something like a 45-degree angle into the return register.  The return register is positioned on the same wall where the outside unit is located.  From looking at it the return register's duct acutally is facing into the interior of the building and must make a "u-turn" to connect to the outside unit.

Back in '05 (I think it was) Hurricane Ivan came through and ripped the roof off of the rear portion of the church where this system is located.  A lot of water damage resulted and the ceiling and floor were replaced.  Recently, we've had some members to move away that were handling some of the maintenance and I've started handling some of it.  We are a *very* small congregation and it takes everybody working together to make things run smoothly.  Knowing that the output of the system was very low I decided to take my shopvac and clean the vents, register, and replace the filters.  I ran the shopvac hose down into each supply vent for 5-6 feet (note...self-tapping sheet metal screws are SHARP!)  Upon removing the two filters in the return register I found a lot of sawdust, pieces particle board, wood chips/splinters, trash, etc.,.  It looks like the folks that did the floor repair simply let a lot of debris fall into the return register without bothering to remove it.  I pulled a good bit of debris (pics below) out of the return register with my shopvac and that didn't include the pieces of wood and particle board that were too big to fit down the hose of the shopvac.

I'm thinking that once the system was turned on after the floor was repaired that the system probably sucked a bunch of debris into the evaporator.  I can't really recall how well the system worked prior to that, but I do feel it was substantially better.  Presently the air flow coming out of the vents in the far classrooms is *very* slight...I'm not sure it would blow a match out.   It takes quiet a while for the area to cool off to where it is comfortable.  Even the vents closer to the unit are weak.  Interestingly, the return register seems to be pulling a good bit of air down it....????   Whether it did suck a bunch of debris into the evaporator or not I feel the evaporator coil and fan could use a good cleaning.  My problem is that I'm not sure where to go into the cabinet at to attempt the cleaning or even if it's something that I can do.

(pictures below)

So...anybody got any pointers for me?  Should I attempt this?  As I mentioned earlier, our church is small in number and in funds so if this is something that we can do ourselves we would definitely rather do it ourselves. 

Thanks for any help you can give me....trust me, I need all the help that I can get!!!

Ed/Intheswamp

[dkpd1581]

Start by cleaning the evaporator coil and the blower wheel.  Verify that the wheel is turning in the correct direction.

[Intheswamp]

[user=16896]dkpd1581[/user] wrote:

Start by cleaning the evaporator coil and the blower wheel.  Verify that the wheel is turning in the correct direction.

Thanks for the reply kdpd1581.

Yes, cleaning the coil and the fan is what I want to do (I hadn't thought of verifying that the wheel is turning in the correct direction), but....what is the best procedure to take in accessing the coil and blower?  Do I simply unscrew the screws holding the top plate of the cabinet and lift that plate off?  I added an image of where I've found the coil to be located via some online parts lists that I found.

I don't want to start tearing into the cabinet not knowing if I'm taking it apart correctly.  :?

Thanks again for your help!   Ed

[dkpd1581]

You may have to remove the entire top.  Check for a side access panel that would allow access to the blower compartment and filters.  Those panels may have been originally in the rear of the unit and not accessible now with the way it is ducted.  You may even have to go through the return grill from inside to see or get to what you need to.

[Intheswamp]

[user=16896]dkpd1581[/user] wrote:

You may have to remove the entire top.  Check for a side access panel that would allow access to the blower compartment and filters.  Those panels may have been originally in the rear of the unit and not accessible now with the way it is ducted.  You may even have to go through the return grill from inside to see or get to what you need to.

I was figuring that I'd probably need to remove the top of the cabinet, but wasn't sure I'd whether I would displace something else that might be attached to the top.  There are a lot of screws within the area of the top that apparently are screwed into pieces within the unit...whether those "pieces" are simply structural supports or something that I'll have trouble lineing back up when I reassembly is a mystery at this point.

I've got some parts manuals that I found online, but they don't go into detail enough for the cabinet construction, primarily just for the mechanics and electronics of the heating/cooling systems.  The single inspection panel visible from the outside is located on the "left-hand" side of the unit...supposedly where the blower fan is located.

Going through the return register grill will probably not work being as the end of the duct leading from the register to the outside unit is actually aimed *away* from the outside unit.  There has to be a "u-turn" in the ductwork from the register to the return on the unit.

I guess I'll just have to wing it and see what I find when I start unscrewing things.  I think before I do that that I'll inquire where I found the online service/parts manual and see what they think.

Thanks again for the feedback.  I"ll post back what I find.

Ed

[Intheswamp]

I'm not sure if this is significant or not, and I mentioned it in my initial post, but I want to restate the fact that the return register seems (to me) to be pulling a strong draft into it.   The strength of the intake draft just seems to be too strong for what I'm seeing coming out of the supply vents.

This makes me think that there may be a loose connection somewhere in the ductwork...probably close to the unit since all of the supply vents are weak.

...or, the evaporator coil is so obstructed that the air is simply having to squeeze out where ever it can.

I hope I can get time to investigate a bit more in the next few days.

Ed