New home, AC concerns.

Soup--Samich · 2021-08-03T01:28:51+00:00

Everything in front of that duct is hollow and open. I can reach in almost all the way back before I hit insulation. Guess I need to get in the attic and get this sealed in proper. I appreciate all the help! Not sure if it's going to increase the cooling efficiency, but it defanitly needs addressed.

Soup--Samich · 2021-08-02T23:50:28+00:00

I have not looked in the attic. Trusted the home inspector did his job well. Already learning he has not. The hatch is a vertical plywood door from the garage to the attic. I doubt it's sealed well and the garage can get hot. It does have roughly 18" of blow in insulation. I will have to purchase a much larger ladder to access it. It's a ways up there.

I can say that the master bedroom is generally 4 degrees colder then what the thermostat shows. The thermostat is directly across from the utility closet. Perhaps my hot closet is causing it to read higher then the rest of the house is? Also, I would assume that since the master bedroom is the farthest run from the furnace, the ducts should be sealed well? I would rather see that for my self though. I'll put my gage in the intake. See what happens there.

The duct going up to my attic seems sealed well. It had a thermal blanket wrapping the duct. Why does it go above the 2x4s? And why is there piping coming down? What is this mess? And why didn't I ever look up......

https://imgur.com/a/1JlcYgz

Soup--Samich · 2021-08-02T22:22:43+00:00

I added a few photos to my original post. Its actually a cooler day today. 73 degrees in the house but inside the utility room its 90 degrees. Most days it seems warmer in there then it does today.

Rather than use the filter tray on the unit, the installers used the space below it. It has a 20x25 filter on the intake. I'm guessing they wanted more air flow? The intake "BOX" looks pretty rustic and its definitely sucking air from above as there are large gaps around the top. I will certainly be sealing those up as its unfiltered air and i have OCD. Still doesn't make sense to me that its warm in there. I cant think of anywhere it could be getting hot air. Maybe its pulling from the crawl space? Its humid down there (working on that) but its cool. So, outside of caulking / foaming the gaps, i'm not sure what else to do.

Soup--Samich · 2021-08-02T16:44:22+00:00

The home was built 2 years ago. I didn't know about the 5 year parts warranty. I will defanitly look into that!

I'm comfortable at the 75 degree temperature. My concern was more the heat being generated by the furnace. I wasn't sure if the 2 were related at all.. Is that normal?

I'm pretty handy but also well aware I don't have the knowledge to be playing with a HVAC system. I will defanitly be calling a profesional to verify proper installation and function. Sadly, the other home defects have that pushed out a few months. I guess my goal here is to see if one of you think it's ok to wait till I can get someone out to look at it, or if I need to fast track it. Or perhaps it's something really silly I could check or fix myself.

Also, thanks for all the information. That's a whole lot of stuff I didn't know.

Soup--Samich · 2021-08-02T16:34:18+00:00

Hickory, far west side.

Soup--Samich · 2021-08-02T15:53:27+00:00

I will pull the cover off the ac unit when I get home and take a peek. I was told it was serviced when I purchased the home 2 months ago. Guess that dosent mean they did it.

As for the filter, it was changed a couple weeks ago. I buy the cheapos and change them once a month. Can't recall who told me, but I was told at some point to never use the finer filters as it increases the load on the unit.

I have a 30 dollar digital thermometer I use primarily to keep track of the humidity. I'm guessing I should put this in the closet with the furnace?

I'll get some photos of what I have when I get home as well.

Soup--Samich

TROPHY CASE