A noise like you describe is likely a bad motor bearing. If you can access it, sometimes oil will help postpone the failure. But if it's still spinning, then I would run it until you can get a new motor ordered.

This is in fact a control wire. It sends 24V to the contactor inside the condensing unit. These wires come out of the air handler, so you should start there to check for 24V off the secondary side of the transformer. Shorted wires could have burned up the transformer. The wires will need replacing o...

That's good progress rookie35.
At the very least, I suggest you wrap the PEX with aluminum foil for protection.

Testing the dishwasher outside sounds like a good idea.

How far away from the sink are you anticipating? The water supply will be easier than the drain, but a pan is not necessary, it would just be going above and beyond code.

Be sure to make the enclosure removable for servicing. And drawing air from under your home does sound like a worthwhile plan. We have some trees around us that provide beneficial shade to our unit, so even some landscaping would work as well. Anything you do should not restrict airflow on the unit ...

I like this system for carpeted rooms - http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0 ... 84,00.html

What is the size/condition of the area to be addressed? How level is it? How much does lot rent usually run for comparable? When we went through all this on our property 5+ years ago, we spent over $10k to get it cleared, clean fill dirt, sod, well, septic, etc. Public utility tap fees here are in t...

Do you mean any appliance like your refrigerator, washer, etc, or a big draw appliance like an electric dryer or a/c unit?

What kind of door is this?

Something we use here to keep out the snakes and rodents are moth balls - though snakes do a good job of keeping away the rodents. Just sprinkle them around underneath.
(Reminds me - I need to do that again under our front porch)

...or you can get yourself a cat.

Actually, the drainfield is there to facilitate the wastewater percolating down into the soil. If it's reaching the surface, then the soil is either super-saturated from the rain and not allowing any more to penetrate, or in our circumstance, drawing too many whirlpool baths and loads of laundry in ...

Well Greg, for that he'd have to give us a hint on that great deal too!

I take it you were already running propane even though you have an electric tank heater?

Can't make out much on the vent, but does it intake and exhaust the same pipe?

The only reason I asked about air distribution is that you were questioning the use of a mini split heat pump or a central HVAC heat pump system . They both ultimately do the same thing, but are installed and perform differently. Like I said, the mini split system will only blow air into the room it...

If someone really wanted to get in, they could just remove the 50 screws on the outside and pull off the whole assembly. Of course the ultimate solution would be to install a conventional inswing door, but does yours not have a deadbolt? Before I replaced ours, the only way to break in would have be...

How important is air distribution to you? What we do know is that the ducted strip heat system is inefficient. The difficulty in comparing savings between these 2 units is that a mini split will work similar to your window unit and cool primarily the room it is installed in. My suggestion would be t...