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Upgrade or clean?
I have a company that I somewhat trust - but let’s face it, they’re still sales guys at the end of the day.
My issue: it takes our home 6-8 hours to cool down once the sun is at its highest. So at noon the house gets to 80 and it doesn’t get back down to 75 until 8 or 9pm. The unit turns on and doesn’t turn back off until 10 or 11pm. While I understand that it is very hot out (we are in FL), most homes cool off within 35 mins. Ours does not. Also our back room which is my daughter’s room gets very little air. Her room is like a sauna the entire day. My master will be 74 and her room which is down the hall will be 79 at the same time.
The owner of the company that I use came out and mentioned that while our unit is only 12-13 years old, the model is obsolete. It’s expensive to make any repairs - he said our coils are very dirty but he wouldn’t recommend pouring money into this one and instead upgrade. We have a Trane XL19i and he said that our unit is an R22? It’s also 3 ton and we have 1900sqft so he recommends a 3.5.
Does any of this sound shady to anyone? I went into this wanting to upgrade so I wasn’t taken aback by the recommendation. But not wanting to clean the coils of fear that it’ll damage something and then costs would skyrocket seems like a shady way of saying I’m not bothering with this one because I want to lock you in to an upgrade.
Thoughts? Thank you in advance!
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12-13 years is not a reason to condemn a system. Most parts can replaced with universal parts. The refrigerant is more expensive, coil cleaning should not be. In the case of a dirty evaporator it could be expensive. A home owner should be able to clean the outdoor coil, just turn off the AC at the breaker and wash it with a garden hose, using light to moderate water pressure so as not to bend the fins.
Regarding air flow and temperature distribution, there are a few factors.o one of which maybe a dirty evaporator. You ductwork can be improperly sized, a damper could be closed, you could have a dirty filter, unit could be low on refrigerant, or any combination. A good technician will be able to figure this out.
Lose this company and ask friends, neighbors and family in the area who they use.
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Thank you so much for that detailed response!
Regarding the dampers, ours are all open but he suggested closing one or two to send more air to the back room? We haven’t done that as I remember a tech telling us NOT to do that so confused on what to do.
Ugh so hard to find a good company unfortunately
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I suggest not closing any dampers. Duct systems should be designed to vary X amount of air and if you close a few that creates problems with noise and the other rooms. You need someone else on site to assess the entire system.
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How much history do you have with this system. Has it always been this way or is this a recent development. The 19i was a good system but they can be expensive to fix depending on what breaks.
If your system worked before then it should be working now assuming all is well with the system. Going up to a 3.5 ton system will likely only compound your problem as it sounds like you have a minor duct issue so the duct will not be able to handle the extra air needed for the bigger unit. Cleaning the coils is not hard, they even have no rinse coil cleaner for the inside coil that you just spray the coil thoroughly, it foams up then as the system runs it rinses itself. Proper maintenance goes a long way toward the life of a system.
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Originally Posted by
mavila113
Regarding the dampers, ours are all open but he suggested closing one or two to send more air to the back room? W
There is a difference between a damper and a register.
Dampers are in the duct work and are used to balance airflow for an even distribution throughout the entire system.
Registers are the individual devices in rooms that air comes out of. closing these is never recommended, except maybe in a basement. Once the air has traveled to a register, closing it does little to redistribute that air to the open registers.
The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing the greatest amount of free meals and stamps EVER.
Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us to "Please Do Not Feed the Animals". Their stated reason for this policy "... the animals become dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves."
from an excerpt by Paul Jacob in Sun City, AZ
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Originally Posted by
pacnw
There is a difference between a damper and a register.
Dampers are in the duct work and are used to balance airflow for an even distribution throughout the entire system.
Registers are the individual devices in rooms that air comes out of. closing these is never recommended, except maybe in a basement. Once the air has traveled to a register, closing it does little to redistribute that air to the open registers.
He mentioned specifically the dampers. We have small levers inside of the vents. Almost looks like it’s 2 vents going opposite directions.
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Originally Posted by
BNME8EZ
How much history do you have with this system. Has it always been this way or is this a recent development. The 19i was a good system but they can be expensive to fix depending on what breaks.
If your system worked before then it should be working now assuming all is well with the system. Going up to a 3.5 ton system will likely only compound your problem as it sounds like you have a minor duct issue so the duct will not be able to handle the extra air needed for the bigger unit. Cleaning the coils is not hard, they even have no rinse coil cleaner for the inside coil that you just spray the coil thoroughly, it foams up then as the system runs it rinses itself. Proper maintenance goes a long way toward the life of a system.
We have been in the home for a year. We moved in last summer and had the same issue. I would say it was worse last summer until we added vents on the roof. The attic would be 100+ degrees. This summer has not been as bad as last summer but still taking hours to cool.
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Do not close the supply registers.
Address the issue Heat transferring into the structure!
Make sure theirs enough fresh air getting into the attic to supply the vents on the roof.
Extra attic insulation can work wonders and has a large return on investment.
Curtains on South facing windows if needed.
So at noon the house gets to 80 and it doesn’t get back down to 75 until 8 or 9pm.
Tighten the envelope!
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How do you run your temps/system?
Do you use a set back that allows it to get to 80° and then turn it on in the hottest part of the day to try and cool it back down?
What happens if you set it at 72°, or whatever is your preferred temp, and just leave it there?
The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing the greatest amount of free meals and stamps EVER.
Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us to "Please Do Not Feed the Animals". Their stated reason for this policy "... the animals become dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves."
from an excerpt by Paul Jacob in Sun City, AZ
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Originally Posted by
pecmsg
Do not close the supply registers.
Address the issue Heat transferring into the structure!
Make sure theirs enough fresh air getting into the attic to supply the vents on the roof.
Extra attic insulation can work wonders and has a large return on investment.
Curtains on South facing windows if needed.
So at noon the house gets to 80 and it doesn’t get back down to 75 until 8 or 9pm.
Tighten the envelope!
What does that mean? Tighten the envelope?
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Originally Posted by
pacnw
How do you run your temps/system?
Do you use a set back that allows it to get to 80° and then turn it on in the hottest part of the day to try and cool it back down?
What happens if you set it at 72°, or whatever is your preferred temp, and just leave it there?
So we have a dual system (? Think that’s what it’s called). It cools the house down and then the smaller part of it turns on so the air coming in is a little warm. Just putting that out there.
During the day I have it set to 80 until 2pm where I set it to 74 I believe and then at 5 we set it to 75. That was working well during non-summer days.
When we flip it to 72 or any other temp for that matter, it doesn’t do anything. The air comes out cool but the house just doesn’t cool down. Maybe if all curtains are shut and there’s no movement in the house, it will cool down 1 degree in a span of 4 hours. So the AC is pumping and pumping and the house remains the same.
Today I set it to 84 until 2pm. I just figured if the house isn’t going to cool fast enough anyway, there is zero use in having the AC kick on. Just my thought. Idk
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Because we were home this weekend so there was a lot of movement, the house got to 87 degrees. I wanted to cry. We basically stayed in the pool for the most part. I switched it to 72 but it didn’t get from 87 to 80 until 10pm.
We are having someone take a look at our ducts this weekend.
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Originally Posted by
mavila113
What does that mean? Tighten the envelope?
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The parts above that - insulation, sealing air and water leaks, replacing poor windows and doors, adding awnings or reflective foil to the windows.
Nest is POO!!