Short version:
I am seeking advice on how to hire someone to give advice on making my air conditioning system work at its best, preferably someone who is not interested in selling me whatever it would take. I.E. an inspector/engineer type.
Longer version:
We had a top of the line Trane system put in 2011, complete with the CleanEffects filtration system. Although we were never happy with its performance, it was able to keep the house “comfortable”, by which I mean it could hold 72°F even during the 105° days of the last few years at a comfortable humidity/turnover rate. Fast forward to today, where anything over 95° leads to corresponding raise in interior temperature. The technician from Company X came out. He seemed knowledgeable about this system (being a dual pump system, most techs seem confused that they exist) and competent about A/C in general. His advise was:
- Clean coil because: lint buildup in the plenum, and, therefore, most likely, on the coil, although the pressures and seat-of-the-pants airflow measures don’t really support that (but if there’s lint buildup in the plenum, which there is, it stands to reason there’s some on the coil, which makes sense). So indictment #1 of the CleanEffects and/or its installation.
- Pull the plenum and replace it, rerouting the ducting properly. So in all the visits we’ve had over the years (4+ years of annual checkups from other-than-the-installers) nobody’s ever mentioned that you can’t have ducts exit the top, bottom or sides too far from the ends of the chamber. I’m clueless about the voracity of this, so I seek second opinions, hopefully to corroborate my impression that this technician/company knows their stuff.
- add an air return, because the one we have is "borderline and “more won’t hurt” (paraphrasing)
- no mention of how to “seal up” what I presume are air leaks allowing non-filtered air to get into the fan to begin with. Why else would there be lint in there?
So any advice on hiring an inspector/engineer to do small-fry inspections like this for advice on whether my proposal is sound, and/or needs augmented in some way?
General advice on this topic?
Always like to seek the benefit of the collective life-lessons here.
Thank you for your time.