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What goes wrong in a house here?
Humidity, salt and a system that was probably sized by whoever fitted the last one. Those three account for most of what we are called out to in Pompano Beach.
It is cold but it feels damp. Why?
Because the system is reaching temperature before it has had time to take the moisture out — usually because it is bigger than the house needs.
An air conditioner dehumidifies as a side effect of running. Warm, wet air passes over a cold coil, water condenses on it and drains away. That takes sustained run time. A system with more capacity than the house needs satisfies the thermostat in a few minutes, shuts off, and leaves the moisture where it was.
The usual response is to set the thermostat lower. That makes the house cold and damp instead of warm and damp, costs more, and in a bad case puts condensation on supply grilles and inside wall cavities.
The fix is not always a new system. Fan settings, duct leakage into an attic, an oversized coil paired with an undersized blower and a thermostat in the wrong place are all worth checking first, and all of them are measurable.
Why does my drain line keep blocking?
Because in this humidity an indoor coil produces a great deal of water, and anything living in a warm wet pipe will eventually fill it.
- It is the commonest cause of ceiling damage we seeNot a compressor failure, not a refrigerant leak — a blocked three-quarter-inch pipe that nobody has looked at since the system went in.
- The overflow switch is the whole defenceIt shuts the system down before the pan overflows. It is inexpensive, it is often missing, and it is the first thing we check.
- Clearing it is routine, not an emergency jobDone on a maintenance visit it takes minutes. Done after a ceiling has come down it involves other trades.
- We show you the access pointSo that between visits you can look at it yourself, which is entirely reasonable and which we would rather you did.
My outdoor unit looks chalky. Is it finished?
Not necessarily. Surface corrosion on the fins is very common near the water and it is not the same thing as a failed coil.
What matters is how far it has gone. Fins that have gone dull and powdery on the windward face but are still attached to the tubing will keep working, though they will move less air than they did. Fins that have parted from the tube are not transferring heat at all, and no amount of cleaning brings that back.
We will tell you which of those you have, and we will say plainly when the honest answer is that it has years left in it. Replacing a unit because it looks weathered is an expensive way to solve an appearance problem.
What happens when you replace a system?
A load calculation first, then the ducts, then the equipment — in that order, because the last one is the only part most companies talk about.
- Load calculation, room by roomFrom your building: orientation, glazing, insulation, shading and occupancy. Not from the badge on the old unit, which may well have been wrong when it was fitted.
- Duct measurement before capacity is addedAir lost into a hot attic is paid for twice. Where the ducts cannot carry the new airflow, that goes in the quotation, not into a conversation after the install.
- A coastal conversation about the outdoor unitWhere it sits, what it faces, how it is mounted and whether it can be rinsed. If you are close to the water it is worth discussing coil coatings and mounting height before you order anything.
- Permit and inspectionFiled with the relevant Broward County jurisdiction for your address. It is not optional and we do not treat it as optional.
- Commissioned with numbersAirflow, temperature split, static pressure and refrigerant charge, recorded and handed to you.
Can I do anything myself?
Three things, and together they are worth more than most of what gets sold as an upgrade.
- Change the filter on a schedule you actually keepWhatever interval you will really stick to beats a better interval you will forget. Write the size on the cabinet.
- Rinse the outdoor coil with fresh waterPower off first, a garden hose, no pressure washer, from the inside out where you can get at it. Near the water this is the single most useful thing you can do.
- Keep the drain line in mindLook at the access point now and then. A pipe that is starting to slow is a five-minute job; a pipe that has stopped is a ceiling.
None of that needs us. We would rather tell you and lose the call-out than have you pay for something a hose would have prevented.