Question:
Ok, late last summer I had to have my heat pump/conderser replaced as the 20 year old Carrier unit finally died. My home warranty company covered the replacement but install a Goodman. I have come to find out now that Goodmans are not necessarily the best brand and are not all that efficent when the outside temp gets above 100 (which never happens here in AZ…lol). Anyways, I still have the old evap coil/air handler and I am wondering if that is a problem. During the summer months it is tough to keep the house cool at all. Would replacing the air handler with a matching unit be worth the cash or no?

Reply:
It is never a good practice to mix and match indoor units with another brand of outdoor unit. The engineering that goes into making the air conditioning work to it’s maximum ability cannot be matched by another brand.
I am surprised that this situation has occurred as it is definitely not the right thing to do.
I can only assume that to change the indoor unit would have been a nightmare and they opted for the next best thing.
I am not surprised you are having capacity problems during high heat load conditions with this setup.
I would contact the warranty company and make some serious inquiries.
Yes it would definitely be better to replace the indoor with a matching unit but only after you request that a heat load analysis for your home be carried out (by experienced and technically competent company – not joe joe’s backyard cleaning service, if you know what I mean). Just to make sure the machine can do the job adequately in the first place. Believe me all this will save you money in the long run.
Good Luck

Reply:
Portable air conditioners are useful if you want to cool a single room. They also come in handy if you are a tenant living in an apartment with no A/C.
Capacity is limited so the room would have to be small, don’t expect it to cool very much area and keep the room closed to improved performance.
They usually require you to have either a window open in such a way that a small hose or duct has access to the outside air for heat rejection — or — they require a doorway so part of the equipment can expel the heat.
One other type is a split system with flexible hose pipes between two parts of equipment, same situation here requiring outside access.
Portable A/C fill a gap in the market for flexible small capacity machines. They tend to be expensive when you see what you get (capacity) but for sheer flexibility they are ok.
Recommend DeLonghi if you have them where you live.

Question
The seller of the house had the deck builder encase the unit in a crate-like box to match the deck and hide the unit. The unit has about 6-8 inches of clearance but I am worried there may be some air restriction. Should I ditch this covering? A/C works fine but I did have to recently replace a couple of burnt out wires. Could this crate thing be the cause?

Reply:
You are correct in suspecting the operation of your air conditioner is being hindered by the restriction imposed by the covering. No air conditioner should be covered in such a way as to restrict the airflow.
You will find that by removing the cover that your unit will operate more efficiently during higher ambient temperatures, which is when you want it to.
Aesthetics is the only reason someone would do this to an air conditioner with little or no thought to the machines ability to perform it’s function.
As for the burnt wiring, The sheathing on the wire can sustain much higher temperatures than that caused by the enclosed A/C unit. It is unlikely that the box covering has caused the problem. Burnt wiring is usually the result of a ‘hot’ connection where the connection point of the wire is loose.

Question:
I have already installed Central Air into my home, but the job wasn’t finished. I need to know how to crack the lines to let the freon into the house or whatever else I might need. Any help?

Reply:
If you try to do the job yourself you will eventually have to get someone who knows what they are doing to finish off anyway.
It is usual for an installation to stop before completion, if you ran out of money and that is why you are considering doing it yourself you had better wait until the funds are available.
As previously mentioned, if you attempt to do it yourself there is a high likelihood you will either do some damage to the system or it will not work anywhere near it’s capability.
Finally, if you do not install it correctly you will invalidate any manufacturers warranty for the machine. It has to be installed by a qualified and licensed installer.

Question:
Lately my central air hasn’t been working very well. It is constantly running and we have to keep the thermostat turned down to 55 or below to ensure the house stays cool. (My parents live near me and they keep their thermostat around 65). Needless to say, it is always running. Well, today it stopped altogether. When I turn the air on, I can hear the outside unit kick on, but absolutely no air comes through the vents. Any ideas on what it might be and if it is something I can fix myself. My dad said it sounds like the duct is disconnected or something. Any help is appreciated, as I really want to resolve this issue, possibly without the help of expensive contractors. I also really hate to sweat. Thanks.

Reply:
Either your indoor fan motor has burnt out or the relay serving the fan motor is faulty. Either of these requires an A/C technician.
If your ductwork has blown off the indoor unit ( which can happen ) then you need to check in your ceiling space fro this possibility. If you have a zoned system, one of the damper motors could be stuck in the closed position.
My guess is that the fan motor has burnt out as this is usually the problem from what you describe here.
Good luck finding a competent A/C mechanic this time of year ( mid summer ).
Note: if you are having to set your t/stat at 55 and 65 respectively you have machines that are either too small (capacity wise) for your home or there could be a refrigerant leak which causes the machine to be ineffective. They are probably running flat out trying to reach set point, causing your electricity bill to be needlessly high….just a thought.