Residential
The threat to their new floors wasn't the floors
They'd just put new floors in an older home and called us to check the AC. What they didn't know was the real threat to those floors was sitting at the base of the unit, disconnected and draining where it shouldn't.
Diagnostics
·
Home Inspection
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Remodel
Boise, ID
2 min
read
You buy an older home. You finally get the new floors in. And then you find out the next threat to them was something nobody told you to look for.
A young family had just bought an older home in Boise. They were deep in pre-move-in projects, with new floors in and nothing yet in the way. They brought us in to check the air conditioning before they settled in.
The equipment wasn't the story. What we found at the base of the downstairs unit was.
What we found at the base of the unit
The condensate drain on the downstairs air handler was pulled apart. The line that's supposed to carry water away from the unit was disconnected, sitting loose on the closet floor, draining where it shouldn't.
The condensate drain on the downstairs unit, disconnected and sitting loose on the closet floor.
That closet opens onto the new flooring they'd just put in. Water leaving the drain there has a straight path under the door to the floor just outside it. On brand-new flooring, that isn't a someday problem. It's the next thing that damages what you just paid for, and nobody had told them to look for it.
Why an AC call became something else
This is the part most people don't expect from an HVAC company. We weren't there to save a piece of equipment. The unit was never the thing most at risk. What they'd put into the house was.
Catching that is the job. Not the box outside, the investment the box sits next to.
What the equipment actually needed
The equipment itself was in good shape. It didn't need replacing.
The outdoor unit, in good condition. The equipment didn't need replacing.
Two other companies had quoted them over $40,000 to tear it all out and start over. The real work was different, and smaller: older ductwork, rough access where a water heater sat in front of the air handler, and drainage that needed proper fall to carry water away the way it should.
Those are things you repair. They're things you can stage over time, around a family's life and budget, instead of one large bill on a move-in week. We gave them options and a plan, starting around $2,000, to fix what mattered now and schedule the rest as it made sense.
Move-in day
They moved in on a 95-degree day. Both systems were running, clean and cooling, the downstairs unit holding a 6 degree subcool on R-410A, the charge set to the manufacturer's spec.
The downstairs unit, reading a 6-degree subcool on R-410A. The charge was right where it should be.
The drain carries water away from the house now, not toward their new floors. The threat is gone.
We weren't there to save a piece of equipment. The unit was never the thing most at risk.
The result
Both systems running, on a 95-degree move-in day
They moved in on one of the hottest days of the year with both systems running clean and cooling. The downstairs unit held a 6 degree subcool on R-410A, the refrigerant charge set right to the manufacturer's specification, the reading you want to see on a unit that's doing its job. The condensate drain now carries water away from the unit the way it's supposed to, off the closet floor and away from the new flooring just outside it.
The verified customer review, in their words:
"[He] gave us a very thorough explanation of what he found (with photos)... good/better/best pricing tiers so we knew what should be on our radar to fix short term and long term... didn't try to sell us on new units but did explain how we should optimize and care for them to last as long as possible... work is solid and pricing is transparent."
— the Boise homeowner
Built for predictable performance
If your AC sounds different than it used to.
Northstead provides residential and commercial HVAC evaluation, repair, and predictive maintenance throughout Boise, Eagle, Meridian, and the greater Treasure Valley. Bi-annual maintenance is recommended to identify component wear before it becomes a system failure.