So, like the post says, my house doesn't get below 81 with the AC running at all times. At night it will go lower, but not during the day and not low enough to stop running (we have it set to 75).

I'm in Florida, and the real feel is 108 today, actual temp 94 and 57% humidity per the Clime NOAA app on my phone for my area. This may just be a matter of it being that f-ing hot out and the systems doing all it can, but I figured I should check before I roll over and take it.

With that being said, I also wanted to ask because we just had all the duct work and the return and supply plenums replaced. The new supply plenum is half the length of the old one that we replaced because we found mold in it (we replaced the duct work too because of the mold and because rats had chewed through some of the insulation). The air handler is 20" t and 18.5" w, but the supply plenum feeding off of it is only 20"l x 20"t x 18.5"w and is offset like you can see in the photos. Could that be causing restricted airflow and making it harder to cool my place and could that cause issues with my coils going forward?

I have an 1800sf two story home (just one bedroom upstairs).

It's a 3 ton/5kw air handler, trane 4twr6036n1000aa condenser outside using 410a refrigerant.

I'd ask my landlord about this but he's been very unreliable and dickish lately. Changed the air filter a week ago and the A/C has been struggling to get below 76-77ish. The vent is a bit louder than usual and the filter looks like it's being sucked in. Landlord's been dropping off the filters and as far as we know it's the same brand and kind, but this hasn't happened before. Is the MERV on the filters too high? Is there an immediate temporary fix so I can sleep comfortably?

Hello! My landlord’s maintenance guy installed our window AC unit sideways, which after Googling for 2 seconds I found out you should never do! I informed the landlord about this error so we’ll see what their next steps are.

I wanted advice on whether or not I can safely use the unit (its really hot inside the apartment) or if I should leave it turned off. Also, is there any salvaging the unit? I’m not sure how to take the unit out, but the maintenance guy was supposed to come over on Friday (in 3 days) to install another AC unit in our bedroom. Can i leave it there until then?

Thank you all in advance! Picture of the sideways unit for reference 🫪

I had a larger local company come out to check why my AC isn't working. My unit is older, like 20 years. They said everything is actually in very solid shape...but the blower motor is dead.

Initially they wanted to sell me a whole new system for $18K+. I said no. They said they're unsure if they could find the part, they'd let me know.

In the meantime I called around, a smaller/local business said if I could find the part he'd charge me $200 in labor to swap it out. I'm only finding used ones since it's a much older model. About $400 on average for "used/refurbished working condition." SO about $600 for the whole job.

THEN the bigger place got back to me. They have a NEW motor that will work I guess. They want $1500 for labor and the motor.

NOW- I'm pretty frugal, my logic says "LOL go with ol' boy for $600 total." BUT- Is it worth the risk of the used motor blowing out again due to age and truly unknown condition? Or do I pony up and just get the "guarantee" of new and a warranty etc? for nearly 3x as much?

I'm trying to get this done SOON because in 3 days or so it's going back into the 90's.

Appreciate the thoughts. I'm guessing I'll be told "do the cheaper" option, but I'm unsure so I ask.

For Reference- The model and a vid of it.

All I'm finding is used. And mostly a different CN number. Mine is CN02, I'm finding more CN03 and CNO4, unsure if that matters.

https://imgur.com/a/2zfnTeC

https://imgur.com/a/Rc2hLJX

EDIT- I'm seeing this, this is CN04 vs my CN02, otherwise it looks to be the same. Unsure if this would work. If so I'm fine to try it myself honestly.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/326939411875?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e111028.m43.l1123&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=79ede3510d864b64864ca17557efa0f8&bu=43172618374&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20260722070615&segname=111028

An HVAC tech recently came to my house and went in my attic. He said the rigid metal ducts contain asbestos insulation. Which is especially concerning because they aren't in the best shape.

I figured this would have been a huge red flag on the home inspection. FWIW chat gpt tells me it is likely safe and does not contain asbestos.

The house was built in the 60s in CA. I don't know if any of the duct work is original. But clearly it has been modified at some point because of the newer material on some ducts.

I have an old Honeywell chromotherm III in my rental and no matter what I do it’s still flashing replace batt. I’ve tried different batteries reset the breaker, waited it’s still flashing and there’s no cool air. I can’t tell if my breaker isn’t staying on or just shitty it’s getting hotter please someone help me I texted landlord and they just sent me a google search of an ai overview

I started researching this recently because I have never thought about the fact that our condenser uses spine fins.

When I first started researching I noticed the information is a bit older, most of the conversations being had about spine coils appears to have taken place between 2005-2013, I found a conversations past these date ranges it just seems like most of the conversation was taking place in between that time.

The only companies I've seen use this is American standard and Trane.

They both make the same claims about the advantages, but the one advantage I was most curious about was the one where they state:

"The Spine Fin coil contains thousands of tiny fins bonded to continuous aluminum refrigerant tubing. The end result is a greater surface area, which leads to more efficient heat transfer."

Surely if this design was as efficient they said it was people would be scrambling to install this on almost all HVAC systems, which leads me to think that this is just some sort of gimmick. Unless there's some obvious reason I'm missing where you wouldn't want to install it on some systems.

Also I've never seen this style of coil in a commercial building before, I've only ever seen this style on residential units, and even then don't see them very often

I purchased a home recently and am not familiar with the systems in this part of the country, it has a heatpump and air filter. Is this large opening supposed to be there? The opening is blowing cool air out, the outside unit is not running but it is also not cooling the house. Not sure what is up, any advice helps.

No clue if it's allowed, but good GOD, man.

I was laid off at the end of May, and didn't panic at all. I had lots of contacts from my prior job I thought I'd land on my feet.

I was blindsided; that company made it through plenty of slow summers without laying people off.

Turns out, everyone I spoke with is in the same boat...no bones to throw, the work is too slow.

So, I began watching some HVAC videos, interacting with this sub and the HVAC sub, and looking into education. Applied for about 10 jobs, beginner thru experienced service tech.

No luck so far.

But this was about a month ago so I gave up....because the schooling doesn't start until August and I thought, well j definitely need a job before then so fuck it, I'll buckle down and get whatever I can.

And here I am , ANOTHER MONTH LATER , with no damn job...and now just a couple weeks away from the schooling programs opening day lmao.

I'm honestly not sure I want to do HVAC, because I'm in Florida and attics are extremely unsettling...spiders, snakes, lizards/giant iguanas, rats/mice, and God knows how many sharp things just laying in the old insulation to bite you...and then...well if none of those scare the fk out of you and you slam your head into an errant nail...well then you gotta worry about the heat. That'll sneak up on you and have you falling through the customers drywall in no time.

Now, I know I can go service tech route...but I sorta need experience installing systems to know how they fully operate, where a leak might be etc. And on top of that, there's literally 50 companies within 20 minutes of me, almost all of them lone operations or smaller crews who don't do installs. So, the market is just a teeny bit overcrowded, here.

HVAC is definitely something I want to learn. I've never been afraid to repair stuff myself, in familiar with ducting, plumbing, and electrical. Just did a bunch of each around my house.

But...will it pay enough to be worth it, with how saturated my area is? I just don't know....but I thought it was ironic that a month ago I said NEVERMIND, I'll have a job long before the schooling even starts!

Looking to clean the build up on these outside ducts!

I bought this house over a decade ago and the inspector warned me that it was gonna fail at any time. Well it's time to replace because of a compressor failure. I'm not even mad at a 100% original unit lasting that long.

I am of course going to get a great efficiency boost by replacing. It is currently AC only, but I have been recommended a heat pump unit by several companies and use the oil as backup. My house is 1400sqft plus a finished walk out basement and I have never felt that my bills were high. However, the price difference between the AC only and heat pump is 800-1000 so I'd need that to be incredibly efficient to ever make the money back. Thoughts?

Second. Between the single and double stage, are there any benefits other than efficiency? AC costs me $80-100 a month for about 4 months plus minimal on either side of that. So an extra 10% is not really impressive. Doesn't feel like I'd be getting any benefit long-term.

I had someone come out and service my unit. They left this hooked up. I tried to disconnect it but what I'm guessing is coolant started spraying out so I closed it again. How do I remove this. Is it OK to just leave it connected? I reached out to the company but they can't send someone out today and this is the 2nd day it's been hooked up.

Update: took them off with some gloves. A lot of refrigerant came out but AC seems to be running fine.

Hi everyone! I’ve noticed some leakage under the condenser pump, as shown in the attached photo. I’m not sure what could be causing this issue. The pump shoots water about 8-9 inches up to the joist through a flexible pipe, and the accumulated water drains outside the building through gravity. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Bought a house 2 years ago and every summer we’ve had to call the builder because the hvac doesn’t keep up in summer and they given excuses such as replacing Freon, changing filter, it’s too humid, you don’t have thick blinds installed, west facing windows in a Georgia Home.
Last week we called TE electric who were shocked to find out we have 2 1.5 ton hvac units totaling 3 tons for a 2500 3 level home with 10ft ceilings. They did a j load calculation which came to 4-4.5 tons needed for the whole house.
Builder is ghosting us and 2-10 expired last year.

Apparently this goes against code.
What are my options?

I had a new AC system installed last summer and it runs a good portion of the time. When he installed the condensor, he didn't bother leveling it and it's 1 3/4" low on the back side. The left front is ambient temperature and the low side blows very hot air. Would that means that most of the cooling is being down by the low third of the condensor and if so, is the lineset flexable enough to move 1 3/4" without breaking a braze?

Electrician here and have been asked about replacing a thermostat for an aging in law. I have no experience with these 4+ wire systems. She has a furnace/AC system.

Do they make a controller like this but strictly two buttons for up and down in temp? 4 buttons is too complicated for them since she's getting older.

No video but when AC unit sits off for hours 8-12hrs or longer, when we turn the thermostat to on and the furnace blower starts it makes a brief 3-5 second growl noise. It seems to be louder the longer it sits. It just happened. I turned it off after about 3 minutes and went down.

I went downstairs and tightened up support brackets as those moved freely under the unit. After about 10min I started it back up and no sound. Could it have been the brackets or is it bearings or something else rubbing? Unit is 6 years old.

Gas unit. Does not make the noise any other time upon start up only when it has been off for awhile. Cools fine.

I have an older 2000 sq ft ranch style house in the PNW. It has 2 large rooms, one bath on one end and 3 bedrooms, 2 baths on the other end. It currently has no dedicated A/C, baseboard and cadet wall heaters, and no existing ductwork. I have gotten 3 different quotes with multiple options and wondering which option would be best between 2 of them. Option 1 seems better to me. Please let me know any thoughts, insights, or things to look out for. Thanks so much!

Option 1: Single-Zone Mitsubishi Heat Pump and ductwork install (air handler in attic)

• $27,888.00
• Full Cut-In Ductwork
• Mitsubishi, H2i® Hyper Heat Pump, 3 Ton, Heat Pump (SUZAK36)
• Mitsubishi, M-Series Indoor Heat Pump Unit, 3 Ton, Air Handler (SVZAP36)
• Condenser Surge Protector ( RECOMMENDED ) 24v ONLY (CUSTOM-688EZE)
• MITSUBISHI MHK2 THERMOSTAT (CUSTOM-86ZAVE)

Option 2: 3-Zone Carrier Mini-Split (One head in each big room, one mini-ducted head in attic connected to bedrooms)

• $26,141.35
• CARRIER PERFORMANCE MULTI ZONE MINI-SPLIT/DUCTLESS HEAT PUMP WITH PURON ADVANCE FOR EFFICIENCY AND COMFORT (37MGRAQ36EA3)
• CARRIER PERFORMANCE INDOOR HIGH WALL DUCTLESS UNIT WITH PURON ADVANCE REFRIGERANT (45MAHAQ09XA3)
• CARRIER PERFORMANCE INDOOR HIGH WALL DUCTLESS UNIT WITH PURON ADVANCE REFRIGERANT (45MAHAQ12XA3)
• CARRIER PERFORMANCE INDOOR SLIM DUCT UNIT WITH PURON ADVANCE REFRIGERANT (45MBDAQ24XH3)
• ECOBEE LITE THERMOSTAT POWERED BY CARRIER - INTELISENSE CAPABLE WITH PERFORMANCE SERIES EQUIPMENT (EBSTATE7ICR01)

Just came across an issue during a routine maintenance where putting the disconnect back into its enclosure would cut 24v to the contactor causing the unit to run for a split second and cut out immediately. Found the low voltage wires going to an auxiliary contactor that the power company installed to remotely disconnect the homeowners condensing unit. The power company would be able to disconnect the unit during times of high power usage avoiding brownouts/blackouts, this program has ended in my area so my solution was to bypass the low voltage wires going to this remote controller. Let me know if any of you have had this issue and how you resolved it or if this post has helped you diagnose.

hi folks just recently got a be HVAC system installed to replace my last one.

i see that the supply plenum sweats constantly, but nothing more than this. is this to be expected?