You are not my HVAC tech...but I don't trust my HVAC tech

Post date: 2020-07-13 09:08:50

We had central AC added last summer. It sucks. I am trying to understand if our expectations are reasonable, and what next steps (if any) might be to improve the cooling of our home.

During this heat wave (but also in more reasonable summer weather) the central AC really struggles to keep up. Most days, only cooling to say 76 degrees (we are trying for low 70s). Even in cooler temperatures, I don't think the house could ever be chilled to say 65 degrees. J

I have had the company that installed the system out twice (once soon after we got it, once last week). They say the house and duct work are to blame. I feel like that's not the whole story and am wondering if we were sold an undersized unit (if so, how could we tell?)

Details on the house: 100 year old double brick 2 story + finished basement. The basement gets really cold, and all vents there are closed in effort to force air upwards. The main floor (which is open concept) can get down to mid 70s, the 2nd floor whose rooms have 1 vent each, is always significantly hotter. The furnace is 15 years old, in decent shape (we have no trouble with heat in the winter, even deep freezes), and the furnace filter is changed regularly. The outside compressor of the AC is clean and doesn't seem to have developed any ice. In general, the air that comes out of the floor vents is cool but not cold. If a door to the house is open for more than a few minutes, the system really struggles to get back to the set temperature.

Other info - the layout of rooms upstairs is not great for adding a mini-split (we did think about it). We have window coverings drawn in the upstairs all day, it doesn't seem to help much.

Questions: is our expectation of being able to achieve 70 degrees reasonable ? Is there merit in having another company come and look at the system? Would replacing the furnace help?

Adding window units seems to be the one viable option, but it feels like defeat...

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