Your trunk line should have dampers at each branch line takeoff. This is how you "balance" the air supply to each of the rooms. If the three companies you've had in so far don't know how/want to do this, then keep looking. It's not rocket science!

As I said in the first post we are looking for room specific cooling options for bedrooms only. The rest of the home is fine. We are concerned investing in AC when there are heat distribution issues two of the bedrooms mean those spaces won’t cool as well and it won’t be worth it.

The problem as I see it --- your furnace isn't that old, has issues related to heating the 4 rooms isn't great... some of that is ok because kids in those rooms don't care. In summer there's more care because those rooms get hot.

HVAC works from a whole system perspective those areas that are fine become not so fine when you start dampering (if a manual damper is in your future due to money concerns) -- you take air from where the comfort is "good" damper down to try to force that air further out / down stream while hoping the system doesn't cycle too quick and ruin your plans. (Zoning fixes this, but there are limitations -- zoning in this fashion is a tool, not a miracle cure for a system with performance issues / design issues.) Maybe as you've been told zoning won't work for your house OR they've tried this function before and got a lot of call backs. OR they'd rather sell you a house full of mini splits? Like I said I don't know, never been there. I am merely suggesting what "could be."

You could ignore the heating system problem and install mini splits for each room. In my view this could put you in a worse spot than you are now in the very near future.

Why? because you already have a not so good HVAC system that it seems like you'd rather ignore and jump to some other thing (mini splits).

I think you said the furnace you have is like 5 years old? I don't truly know if zoning is feasible or not for your structure as this is more of an in person job than chatting in forum board.

If this is temporary, select the rooms put in the saddle mount window units for those rooms. It doesn't sound like you're in an extreme summer climate. Like more than a few months of cooling need.

If the options for mini split are R32 refrigerant, that would not necessarily be a bad trade off as regular ducted HVAC equipment has yet to implement this. Then at least if the unit(s) get a refrigerant leak at some point the cost to fix won't become a reason to replace the unit that is leaking again. (see next paragraph)

Just realize mini splits tend to be "more of" a throw away product than traditional ducted HVAC. Part of this very heavy equipment changes that include discontinuation of mini split models. They are sold in pairs and trying to mix match pairs isn't going to work. Like putting a head of one and mixing it with an outdoor unit of another because xyz unit model was discontinued.

Usually warranties for these run out sometimes as little as 5 years. For a low use climate that might be ok for 10 years depending on a long list of variables.

So again, it’s two rooms that aren’t the temps we want. Two in a big house where the rest are.

Window units are super ugly and won’t work for our window type.

I’ll wait and see what the companies here suggest.

You should have an "emergency heat" setting on your thermostat. Turn that on. It will cost more but is the accepted temporary procedure until you can get the issue resolved.

Did they come back to repair it?

The fan control on the thermostat is for the fan inside. The fan outside turns on when it's in air conditioning or heat pump mode.

"If (a new) unit needs a hard start it is either malfunctioning or should have included one from factory. "

Agree. Get a second opinion. The current dealer should be doing far more than offering you a questionable $600 boondoggle.

File a warranty claim.

It's "assuming" because I didn't see the actual meter readout, so at the very least it's a valid hypothetical question that any HVAC should be able to answer. If you're a tech, or a tech on this thread cares to answer, given what the Lennox manual indicates as noted a couple times above, if a system's LRA is 15 amps above the LRA spec, and voltage is within specs, what do you advise the customer?

If your pay would go up if you sold a $600 part. (A conflict of interest you'd rather ignore.)

Sales Rep says: (buy this, buy that, buy, buy, buy - he's in sales what do you really expect him to say?)

The manufacturer: The system is designed and engineered to perform as it's listed from it's specific efficiency page. They then put a warranty of a usually 10 years maybe more on the parts of that machine to cover the life of those parts.

Now you think the manufacturer has intentionally left something out so they can get a costly warranty claim against a part of the machine that is the more expensive part?

With the large “boost” of capacitance from the Hard-Start Kit, compressor failure WILL occur after an extended time running without the motor-run capacitor, accompanied by the repeated “hammering” the motor takes from “high-boost” over-capacitance starts.

Meaning that if the system wasn't "engineered" to require a hard start, death of the so called part you're trying to protect is going to die anyway.

The clue is "over capacitance" starts. The kit was not sized properly to the specific compressor. There is more than one type of compressor and some models have / use different compressors depending on size (capacity) of the machine.

Some manufacture models protect the compressor if it detects a motor-run capacitor fail, which will prevent the compressor from trying to run in that state.

This is all upper level classified info that companies that sell these devices regularly do not want you to know. (The device they claim is protecting your compressor, is probably killing it one start at a time.)

The LRA reading is insignificant "ONLY IF"

• The compressor starts normally. Does not go into "off on over load" state. Compressor OL over load is a protective device that if the compressor does not start it will take the compressor winding out of circuit. (Typically less than 1 second upon engaging)
• The breaker to the compressor is not tripping / does not need resetting at any point. Continued tripping breaker? A problem that should be investigated.

The reason (my guess) why they use an LRA reading to suggest you need something is because they know it's a grey (gray) area in which to talk you into to buying something, for a problem (that appears to me) you don't have.

I know there's a problem here some where. Let's fix it. (fine if I am on the clock) not so much in a forum board. LOL.