I was reminded a couple of weeks ago just how valuable it can be to have a smart and knowledgeable service technician work on your project. In my case, it was my upstairs air conditioner.

I put in a new AC unit probably 2 or 3 years ago. When I received quotes from different contractors, they were split on what size unit to install. About half said put a 3 ton unit in and about half said to upgrade and put in a 3.5 ton unit. I put in the 3.5 ton since my upstairs is having to heat/cool a lot of square footage. Anyway based on what I’ve seen over the past couple of years, I probably should have gone with the 3 ton. Our 3.5 ton unit seems to short cycle and doesn’t get rid of humidity as well as I would like.

So a couple of weeks ago I contacted a local company to come out and check my upstairs system and see if there was any way that we could make the situation better, possibly with a whole house dehumidifier. The first company that I contacted came out and gave me a price on a whole house dehumidifier which I had requested. But he also pushed his company service agreement as well and how great that would be. He and I agreed the best thing to do would be to have his service technician come out the next day and see if he could slow the HVAC blower down or make an adjustment on the thermostat settings. Continue reading →