So I’m in the middle of an air conditioning nightmare and losing hope. To give some perspective on how dire the situation is I have had 4 professionals come to the house, refuse to fix my current AC, and tell me there are literally zero options to install a new AC anywhere in my house. 4 companies, zero paths forward.
So here’s the situation:
My house is a 1962 rambler, originally built with no air conditioner and hot water baseboard heating. The finished area is 3200sq ft, probably 1800 upstairs.
In 1988 the previous owners installed an air conditioner in the attic, the air handler and condenser coils are roughly in the middle of the house, the main air intake is in the middle of the house, and then there are a half dozen lines with the cold air with vents in the ceiling. All of the stuff is in the attic, nothing in the walls and nothing in the basement. The compressor is outside, next to the house.
The attic is miserable to work in. There is loose blown fiberglass installation, exposed rafters, a really narrow pitch roof (maybe 4’ headroom in the very middle), 3 skylights, and all of the duct work making it not only uncomfortable but practically impossible to maneuver to some places.
The air conditioner has broken the last 3 years in a row, and previously I’ve fixed it. The current problem I’m struggling with. Basically the house has settled over the years, and since the air handler is hanging from the roof it is now angled the wrong direction, so instead of the water going to the drain it floods my ceiling. The fix is easy on paper (correct the slope), but in practice it is logistically near impossible. It’s also possible this has been the case for the past decade - there’s decent odds the condensate has been flowing down a wall or something since I moved in, the House was not used for 5 years before I got it (previous owner died, kids didn’t want to sell during recession is my theory).
So I want to replace it. I won’t go in to the reasons why, but other traditional options such as a mini split or a traditional split with the air handler in the basement won’t work. See above, many professionals told me there are literally zero options. Pros are not known to be as creative as Mustachians though.
So I have two classes of questions. The first is regarding replacing it with a new unit of the same style. The reasons why they won’t do it are because it’s too miserable to work up there, and there is not a big enough hole to get a new air handler and condenser up there. So:
-how do I make it less miserable up there? Right now it’s exposed rafters and blown fiberglass insulation. Can I put plywood covering the insulation so at least it is contained and you can move around without needing to step joist to joist? What else could I do?
-the best access hole to get a new air handler in is the air intake, which uses a 20x24” filter (not sure how far I could take it apart without ruining the ceiling. Are there options for really skinny air handlers and coils ? Or one that comes apart easily. The one up there now is probably 30x40x24 or so.
The other class is regarding other options.
-there are no options for a traditional horizontal mini split (won’t go in to why...). Does a mini split exist that mounts inside vertically? Something tall and skinny?
-the basement is finished and we may demo and remodel eventually, but not now. So ductwork throughout the basement is not an option. However, I could put a mini split (or just cheap window units) in the basement easily. To cool the upstairs I was then thinking about putting a few fans through the floor that literally just suck air from the basement and push it upstairs. So then air flow in the house would have those fans pushing air up, and it would wonder down through the stairway. Would that work at all? It seems like a great way to cool since basements are always cold, but I can’t find a single person online that put fans in the ceiling of their basement to push air upstairs through a small duct - so i feel there is some reason it wouldn’t work
I don’t love the above two options, but they are better than nothing. I’m also really really worried about resale. In this price point and area not having central AC is laughable and a deal breaker, and even having a paperweight in the attic, unused vents in the ceiling, and 3 ugly mini split fans on the wall would make it a tough sell. So I really want to make the attic work again.