AC system hardly cooling

I'm at the end of my wits with this one, I'm hoping someone here can tell me something. About 3 weeks ago i moved into this house, I noticed that it wasn't blowing very hard in the vents but the thermostat that was in was one of those scheduled thermostats so i assumed it was just finicky and i was changing to a smart one after i got settled anyways. I changed to a new "Ecobee" thermostat when i did, i noticed the blue wire (common wire) wasn't connected so i connected it. That was the only problem i had on install.

Not one day we've had has really been a cool day, we've had random odd nights that's been able to get the temp down below 70 but it's rare and seems to have no pattern. We called the landlord and the he sent someone the next day, it was his usual guy, the guy went around with a wind meter device and said the output was fine and the only thing maybe he could see was low insulation but it wasn't bad. I was confused because it's freaking 75°at best in my house on normal days.

I started thinking, maybe the unit isn't big enough and the landlords tech might be lying because he talked the landlord into a bad purchase. We decided to come out of pocket and pay for another tech to look. The other one came and he did pull 2 filters out that had 6 inches of dust on them and he mentioned the insulation being low as well but he said everything else was functioning as normal. We got a 250$ power bill recently estimated 350$ next month and it's hot as crap in my home. We have a big tree so that helps but if you put your foot over the vent to check, it's colder than normal, just barely and hardly has air flow, my last house would puff up your shirt with air, this one can almost be mistaken for being off. It's now 4am and my AC is set to 58° and my house temp is 75°.
​​​​​my wife and i can't sleep, we have a ceiling fan in every room and two floor fans in my bedroom. I've tried opening doors, closing some, reversing fans and different thermostat settings. We explained this to the tech and he said we might be able to just get a window unit. I have central air for a reason. I'm hoping someone can help me, maybe some wiring is wrong or a thermostat setting or something the techs missed.
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The AC is not functioning, simple.

Measuring air flow does not have anything to do with the functionality of the AC system.

Even a grossly over/under size unit, a dirty air filter, even a lack of insulation a unit should be able to do something. Did they check to see if there was even any Freon in the system?

 

Whenever I have a AC service call one of the first things I do is stick a thermometer in the air return and note the temperature. Then I go to a register and stick the thermometer in and record the temp. The air coming out should be at least 15f and hopefully around 20f cooler than the air going in. If the temp difference more than about 15f then it's not an insulation or thermostat issue. The unit is simply not cooling.

If it's cooling half way and air filters haven't been changed regularly then I check to see if the coil is clogged with dust & dirt. I also check all the registers to make sure air is blowing from them all. If one or two don't have air blowing it can mean a duct is collapsed or disconnected.

Then there is the usual, there is something wrong with the AC itself. Maybe low of freon or the compressor isn't coming on at all.

 

Hi, do you know where the outside unit is? if so locate the 2 lines that are going into the house, the larger pipe should be insulated, that line should be cold to touch and in most cases should be sweating, this is a simple indication that the unit is working correctly.
Geo🇺🇸

 

I went outside and the outside thing isn't running at all, that happened when the first tech and when he came back in and i was asking him about it being off, he said that it wasn't off and that it was running normally. But i know for a fact it was off that morning before i left for work. It's now 76°in my home.
I'm not sure if there is freon or if anyone checked. The first tech just said it's a brand new system when i brought up freon.

 

 

Wow.... that is a very old and small sized standing pilot furnace.
Probably not capable of producing much airflow.
That would indicate a fairly small house size.

That looks like a fairly new and large condenser. Wouldn't surprise me if it was oversized for the furnace. That would cause coil freeze ups. I'm seeing the refrigerant lines going into the concrete. Why is that ?

Those filters are disgusting. There may be a clogged evaporator coil in the furnace now.

 

I'm told that our house has vents underground so maybe that is why it's going into concrete, my house is 1000 sq ft from what I'm told. I haven't measured it.
That unit isn't even running today for some reason, it's now 78 in my home.
We called the landlord and he's sending another tech. This time they're checking for collapses. Any suggestions if what i should specifically ask them when they come?

 

As noted, turn the AC on and measure the temp coming out of a register, confirm the compressor outside is, is not running. After they are done, confirm air temps are 15-20 degrees cooler and everything is running before they leave, your and/or the landlord is getting the run around!

 

If this is a rental then this really isn't your problem other than notifying the landlord. It is the landlord's responsibility to get the AC working.

 

Well i agree it shouldn't be my problem but if people are telling him that everything is good and leaving me with an 80°house in the end then it becomes my problem because the last time they came out, they lied to the landlord and said that we had it on 58 and were complaining that we weren't getting that temp, I had it on 58 to turn it all the way down to see if there was any change at all in the temp, i wouldn't expect it to get to 58°ever but at least lower than 75 would be nice. When we called the landlord today that's what he was under the impression of is that expected it to get to 58.
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Hi, I might put the old thermostat back on and see if it works, or try jumping out Red, Green and Yellow and see if the outside unit runs, then again it is the Landlords responsibility, any town department you can complain to?
Geo

 

The condenser kicked on 20 mins till 2pm, we hadn't changed anything, the HVAC guy is here now so we'll see what he says. I told him to check The ducts for collapses as well as the temps and i already informed him of the low insulation so he can't just attribute it to that or use it as a crutch. This is a different company at least.

 

All he mentioned was the insulation and said that on a 95°day his house doesn't get below 70 and i told him that this morning at 4am it was 75° in my house and 70°outside and he just said i"don't know, I'm going to tell the landlord my findings about the insulation" and he left. I don't know what to do. I guess I'll get window units because i can't keep paying 300$ power bills. I asked him everything you guys suggested.

 

It's kind of hard to tell from the pictures but I'm guessing that the house is on a slab. The freon lines are thru the concrete and it looks like the return line is as well. It looks like they replaced the outside condenser to fix the problem but did nothing inside. They may have kept the same evaporator coil and more than likely it's nowhere near clean. We can't be of much more help without being there.

You may be forced to use window A/C's as it looks like the system is old and needs works.
Keep you fingers crossed you get enough heat.

 

Well i thank you for what help you guys have given so far, he said he checked the condenser coil but it seemed like he was just trying to get rid of me.

 

Honestly, this is one of those post where something just doesn't add up.

The OP is saying nothing is working yet indicates 3 techs were out and only found dirty filters yet appear to just walk away from the call without fixing anything.

Maybe the system is grossly inadequate for the task, but a 1000 sq ft house shouldn't require much!

 

Hi, it ran for 20 minutes and shut off, have you tried to jump the wires out as I mentioned in post 12? I wouldn’t be to concerned about insulation or collapsed ducts if you can’t get the unit to run.
Geo🇺🇸

 

by any chance did the tech's check the hi and lo side pressures on the condenser unit. as mentioned if the unit is to big it may not be running long enough to actually cool and send so much freon to the evap coil that the evap coil freezes. do you know if the tech's actually removed the evap coil inspection port /cover and checked the a-coil. if not and you do have a cover that you can open maybe you can do that. because your filters were so blocked maybe the a-coil is also that dirty.
so if the techs come out again have them test the hi and lo side pressures at the condenser
have then remover the a-coil cover and check the a-coil for freezing or just plain dirt.

one thing you can do is with the unit actually running at the furnace is to feel the insulated line for being cold even if you have to move some insulation out of the way. and feel the small line at the furnace to see if it is warm or hot. that line should be at leas warm if not hot and the large lind should be cold or at least cool. if not warm and cool then the condenser may not have a charge good enough to do anything. if your not sure the condenser is running when you do that at the furnace check then go out to the condenser and check there whey you see the top fan running. and do that est mentioned already by jumpering these wires to force the condenser to turn on one more thing you can do if you want it do a search to see how big that unit is or ask the tech. anything over 2 tons is to big for a 700 sq ft home.

 

Thanks for the advice, I'll pass it along to the tech that comes today. My wife and I are going to pay for another one but this one is supposedly one of the best in my city. Everyone I've talked to says they're good. Last night we used a window unit with my bedroom door shut.

 

It's not an easy unit to service. It looks like the evap coil is under the burner. It looks like the lineset is thru the floor and into the bottom. May have to remove the return duct work to see the coil. I don't see any "easy to peek thru" access there. Basically the furnace is sitting on the evaporator.

 

So i have some decent news, my landlord is sending some people over for the insulation and some other people over to replace the ducts. I'm not sure what that means but it sounds good