Get yourself a hygrometer ($30), and monitor the relative humidity in your home. Keep it between 40 and 60% if you can.
Until recently, I was working as an electrician on million dollar homes up in the Highlands/Cashiers area. The contractors installed the crappiest, cheapest systems in those homes that I had ever seen. The rich saps paying for those fancy lake homes will be uncomfortable forever in them.
I saw one unit that was installed in an almost-inaccessible attic space above a bedroom. There was just no way that anybody was ever going to get up there and clean the coils or change the filter.
Yeah, mine was designed fairly well for the upstairs of the home. My particular problem was that the basement wasn't considered part of the house despite its being insulated from the garage. They didn't put any registers down there. Seems to be a trend down here in the south. Up north, the basement was always conditioned space even unfinished.
Get yourself a hygrometer ($30), and monitor the relative humidity in your home. Keep it between 40 and 60% if you can.
I second that advice. I have a digital. I will be getting another to put in the basement (which I do dehumidify).
Until recently, I was working as an electrician on million dollar homes up in the Highlands/Cashiers area. The contractors installed the crappiest, cheapest systems in those homes that I had ever seen. The rich saps paying for those fancy lake homes will be uncomfortable forever in them.
I saw one unit that was installed in an almost-inaccessible attic space above a bedroom. There was just no way that anybody was ever going to get up there and clean the coils or change the filter.
I've seen that kind of thing - put the air handler in a tight corner of a hot attic, or in the smallest closet they can get away with. I like mine right out in the open in the middle of the basement for easy access. As I finish the basement, I've made sure to leave a large space around the unit, and am installing a 72" opening with folding doors in front to allow easy access.