Sep 18, 2026 · 14 min · 16 segments
In this episode of AskTom, Tom Tynan and Courtney Currie answer questions that were sent in under the AskTom Tab. HVAC is a big concern. Jay’s bathroom sinks aren’t draining properly because of the…
Tom TynanHost
Courtney CurryHost
She says, what are the most likely causes of a system running continuously but being unable to bring the condo below 78 degrees? She says her return air temp is 78, the supply air temp is 58, and then the temperature splits approximately 20 degrees.
She's not opposed to replacing the system if that needs to be done, but she wants to rule out airflow, duct work, heat gain, thermostat, installation, or other issues.
Usually if it's the first time and you've lived in the house for a long time and now it's not keeping up, It's probably got a refrigerant issue.
You just need to have a good service done on there to make sure it's all back up to where it's running properly.
It's just a car that's running on three cylinders instead of five, but there's no reason to get a new system if it's running and cooling, but it's just not keeping up.
The other thing is if they're new in the house, and this is their first summer or second summer of the really hot summer, which we've had this year, it could be undersized.
You either have to get a bigger one or you have to rough it out during the hot months, which most people don't want to do.
Either it's not balanced right or you need a bigger system because it can't keep up with the load.
Lanny writes, his church in the woodlands needs some new air conditioning units.
He had a manual J report done and it says he needs two eight and a half ton units for the area being addressed.
He's been told rather than 8.5 tons, we would be better off with two traditional 10 tons.
And if it's big enough, and what happens in something like a church, if it's a bigger church, a group of people in there, or it could be a business, it could be an amphitheater, it could be a lot of different things.
It's all the bodies and all the people coming in that are creating the heat source.
So you have to kind of balance your systems, not just where the house, like a house, you just do it for where it is and how many windows and stuff.
But when you get into something like that, On the calculations, you need to make sure that you have enough capacity because if you really fill that place up with a lot of people, it's not the exterior heat.
That has to be done by someone who understands that aspect of it, who does commercial or high-volume buildings.
She says, what are the most likely causes of a system running continuously but being unable to bring the condo below 78 degrees? She says her return air temp is 78, the supply air temp is 58, and then the temperature splits approximately 20 degrees.
She's not opposed to replacing the system if that needs to be done, but she wants to rule out airflow, duct work, heat gain, thermostat, installation, or other issues.
Usually if it's the first time and you've lived in the house for a long time and now it's not keeping up, It's probably got a refrigerant issue.
You just need to have a good service done on there to make sure it's all back up to where it's running properly.
It's just a car that's running on three cylinders instead of five, but there's no reason to get a new system if it's running and cooling, but it's just not keeping up.
The other thing is if they're new in the house, and this is their first summer or second summer of the really hot summer, which we've had this year, it could be undersized.
You either have to get a bigger one or you have to rough it out during the hot months, which most people don't want to do.
Either it's not balanced right or you need a bigger system because it can't keep up with the load.
Lanny writes, his church in the woodlands needs some new air conditioning units.
He had a manual J report done and it says he needs two eight and a half ton units for the area being addressed.
He's been told rather than 8.5 tons, we would be better off with two traditional 10 tons.
And if it's big enough, and what happens in something like a church, if it's a bigger church, a group of people in there, or it could be a business, it could be an amphitheater, it could be a lot of different things.
It's all the bodies and all the people coming in that are creating the heat source.
So you have to kind of balance your systems, not just where the house, like a house, you just do it for where it is and how many windows and stuff.
But when you get into something like that, On the calculations, you need to make sure that you have enough capacity because if you really fill that place up with a lot of people, it's not the exterior heat.
That has to be done by someone who understands that aspect of it, who does commercial or high-volume buildings.
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