New Air Conditioning System (finally)
This post really has nothing to do about being a landlord but … anyway. Last week I had to finally break down and replace the air conditioning unit in my primary residence. The one that was installed was about 15 years old and apparently not very efficient when it was new. For the 5 years I have lived in this house the unit mostly de-humidified the environment, but cooling? Not so much.
I got a recommendation from a local real estate agent for a good AC company here in Melbourne Beach, FL. The guy that came out is the president of the company, installer, salesman and service technician. Basically a one man show.
What impressed me with this guy is that there was no sales pitch. He spoke about the product line (Trane) and his recommendation for the size of the house, etc. I asked some questions which he answered intelligently and completely. At the end of the meeting he said, “I’m not a salesman, I’m just an A/C guy.”
That impressed me because when I used to go to potential client’s offices, back in the day, to talk with them about their computer networks, I basically did the same thing. I expressed what I thought they would need to solve their specific problem and that was it. I think they sensed that I wasn’t trying to “sell” them anything.
In fact, it was true. I really didn’t care if they bought anything from me at all. As far as I was concerned, I was there to help them solve a problem. If I could help, great. If not, great.
In the end, I chose the system with the highest efficiency rating (and probably the most expensive), the 17.5 SEER Trane XL19i.
Boy does that thing rock! I turned the thermostat down just to see how low it would go. It was only about 81 °F outside so it cooled pretty quickly. I realized it was pretty cold when I noticed my Husky-Shepard mix was curled up on her wool bed with her tail covering her nose (which happens all the time in the one winter month we have here in Florida) 
