My neighbor is having the craziest time trying to keep his house cool in the summer season. Some afternoons he attempts to turn his temperature control dial down to 75 degrees but he’s lucky if it drops below 77 or 78 degrees. He had been using these thicker allergy reduction AC air filters that by nature slow the air flow in the ducts a little so that led us to trying a new type. Once that failed to work, we elected to call a local heating and cooling company to check the system for problems. They ran their full diagnostic on it plus even observed the air pressure and cleaned off the evaporator and condenser coils. The worker was shocked, he kept staring at the thermostat while looking at his readings and he just couldn’t figure out a reason for why the house failed to get colder. He said that everything, from the looks of things, seemed to be in proper order. So before he left, he decided to stick his head in the attic for a few minutes to look at the ventilation ducts and to check their seals. The repairman took a single look at the air ducts and immediately shook his head in total disbelief. He broke the news to my neighbor: all of the ductwork from the AC to every room and back was exposed to the hot air in the attic without insulation of any kind. After they found two dozen leaks he told my neighbor that if he ever hoped to have a properly working air conditioner again, he had to bite the bullet and buy all new ductwork as soon as he possibly could. They scheduled a date to do the installation and when they came back they put in flexible plastic ventilation ducts that come wrapped in thick insulation to replace the old barren metal vents. Although the whole ordeal cost my neighbor a ton of money, he’s said that he’s finally feeling chilly air again and happy to see his energy bills falling now that he is able to keep a set temperature all day when he’s at home.