I'm a facilities manager by profession. I've managed HVAC service crews for almost 15 years. Because I've been traveling a lot on business in the last few years, I thought I'd take advantage of the reasonably priced assessment of my home HVAC system.
I was curious to follow up on the technician's opinion when I got home from my most recent business trip.
I found his description of my system inaccurate. He told my wife that her double-coil condenser was plugged with dirt in between and that only a special coil cleaning tool could help. In fact, he said, if we tried to clean the coils with a garden hose it would make the problem worse by impacting the dirt.
The truth is that I have a single-coil condenser and that thing is virtually spotless inside. I rinsed the coil down with my own garden hose and that was that.
I expected some resolution or at least some direction regarding hot and cold spots in my house. The basement has always felt like the AC or heat just didn't make it all the way there.
The tech's solution was "coil cleaning". Never mind the fact that air isn't blowing out of the vents.
Solar Bear seems to see every problem as a nail. Perhaps that is because their only tool is a hammer. Coil cleaning.
more