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Cake day: June 22nd, 2023

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  • Just had to solve this problem myself recently. Same issue, upstairs stifling while downstairs stays nice and cool. For a whole year I just ran the system a bit colder, but that made the downstairs freezing in order to make the upstairs feel normal. Not to mention all of the energy waste running the system for so long, my home is 2300 ft.² so I went for the dual zone with a mechanized damper. You could save on the cost by installing a manual damper that you could adjust as needed so far the system marks very well and my upstairs can get nice and cold, while the downstairs is a cozy warm temperature. I paid an HVAC company $2,300 for this to be done, but the manual damper would have been just $600.

    Other options I considered though were going to mini split route like the other comments suggest, or if your HOA is strict about even that, you could even use an indoor AC or two, and have the exhaust vents blowing out the window.


















  • OK so you wanna go back to it then. Let’s say your three months in on a new rental home. Landlord may be averages $100-$200 per month profit, so reasonably they’ve only collected $600 in total profit from you. AC now breaks and needs a $10,000 replacement. Who pays? Have they collected enough money from you so that you are paying for it?

    At that point, you might as well start arguing that every business ever pays for things because of money, they’ve collected in their patrons. Same reason how you, assuming you’re a W-2 worker, get paid by your business. They collect a profit from the service or product they provide.


  • Yes, you are certainly right about that. The landlord or rehab investor making a profit was never part of my argument. Operating rentals or investing in real estate is a business like any other, and thus needs to turn a profit in order to continue operations. In order to address the point you are making, I see what you’re saying about the flow through and how that gets used to repair properties. However, you may agree that we would both look at a $10,000 capital expenditure on a new AC unit differently if we were renting a home, which is generally for shorter terms (perhaps 2 years in Austin, TX on work assignment) than resident ownership for life.

    If you are not someone who needs a rental home, or a rental apartment, then don’t use one. These types of businesses exist, however because they serve a need in society, hence their ubiquity. I invite you to consider the possibility that there is a valid reason for rental homes in many situations and areas that are beneficial for the right people. Yes, there are scummy landlords and yes, the landlord intends to make a profit, but this is not always at the sole detriment society.