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Houses in Simi Valley, and what actually goes wrong in them
Long uniform tracts, ducts in attics that get genuinely hot, and additions hung off systems that were sized before they existed.
An hour and a half, a sheet you keep, and ten minutes of showing you things
Everything found and identified, rating plates photographed, model and serial numbers recorded. Then the readings: static pressure across the filter and the coil, total airflow, refrigerant charge against the manufacturer’s target for that model at that condition, temperature split, and the airflow at the registers in whichever room is the problem.
If there is a gas furnace, a combustion analysis and a heat exchanger inspection happen on that visit whatever you rang about, and where there is a gas appliance and no working carbon monoxide alarm we fit one.
And before we leave: where the filter is, what size it takes, where the disconnect is, how to clear the outdoor unit without damaging it, and what to look at before ringing anybody next time. That part is free and it is deliberate.
Four findings that account for most of it
The ducts are in the hottest part of the house
An uninsulated attic here is far hotter than the outside air on a summer afternoon, and every foot of duct crossing it loses cooling before the air reaches a room. Measured leakage on older runs is routinely a large fraction of the total airflow, and sealing and insulating regularly does more than replacing the equipment would.
The filter has been the problem all along
It sounds too simple to be true and it is a real and common finding. A completely blocked filter starves the system, can freeze a coil in summer and trip a furnace on a high limit in winter, and it produces symptoms that look exactly like an expensive fault. We check it first, every time, and occasionally that is the whole visit.
The system is bigger than the house needs
Oversizing is the fault we measure most and the one mentioned least. A unit that is too large satisfies the thermostat quickly, shuts off and never runs long enough to move the air around the house. A room-by-room load calculation settles it in an afternoon and stops the same mistake being repeated.
The garage conversion was never part of the plan
A converted garage or a rear addition tacked onto a duct system sized for the original house will always lose, and it does not get better with a bigger unit. A ductless head sized for that room, or a properly extended and rebalanced duct run, is the honest answer.
What we do in houses
- Diagnosis and repair
No cooling, no heat, short cycling, noise, a room that never matches. Measured, costed and repaired where a repair is right.
- Load calculation and replacement
Room by room, on the house as it stands now rather than on the size of the unit coming out.
- Attic duct sealing and insulation
Leakage measured, joints sealed, runs insulated, registers balanced against a target.
- Ductless for additions and conversions
Sized for the room it serves, with the line set routed where it can be serviced.
- Gas appliance safety
Combustion analysis, heat exchanger inspection, flue checked as installed, carbon monoxide alarms fitted where there is none.
- Annual service
The same readings every year on the same sheet, so a slow change is visible before it becomes a breakdown.
Three things we will not do in your house
Top up the refrigerant and leave
Refrigerant is not consumed. A system that is low has a leak, and adding more without finding it sells the same repair every year. We will find it, tell you what the repair costs, and tell you honestly when the leak is in a place that makes repair a poor idea.
Condemn a heat exchanger without showing you
It is a real reason to shut a furnace down and the most abused finding in this trade. If we call it, you get the camera image or the combustion reading, and you are welcome to get a second opinion before spending anything.
Work on a landlord’s equipment on a tenant’s say-so
Without the owner’s authority we cannot, and a tenant who arranges work on somebody else’s equipment can end up paying for it. We will tell you that on the phone rather than take the booking and sort it out afterwards.
Tell us what the house is doing
Which room, what time of day, and how long it has been like that. If you have already changed the filter, say so — it saves us both a step. 2916 Tapo Canyon Rd, Simi Valley. Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.