I don't know about what to do in this case, but I do remember as a teenager; not knowing or caring about skin damage from the sun, that we used aluminum foil to draw the sun to us by making these odd contraptions and putting them under our chins. I'm sure you've checked this out but my first instinct would be, why are you doing this if you want to keep the house from being over heated? Again, I am a novice and am just giving my reaction. I am looking forward to what other experienced people say. I'm in Pennsylvania, 25 miles outside of Phila - North West of Phila. Today is in the high 90's and I'm afraid we're not going to get another family this year. Still hoping.

cindywhitall - No worries, your comment is spot-on and pretty much sums up my situation. Jackfre - I hear you, but despite my well-earned cynicism I'm too honest to take that path (tangled webs and what-not). If there's only one party acting with integrity through this, I want it to be me... ...but today was an interesting day and there may be hope for a decent resolution. First, I talked to my homeowners insurance company about my claim - and they seem ready to cover any damages from the lighting strike and support replacement of the HVAC system. However, they will only cover the replacement - not the repairs that have been done so far. Second, I had a technician visit from the HVAC company - someone who has yet to be involved with my repair. He was interested to hear my story and as I gave him the rundown - and he saw the status of my system - he clearly felt that it had not been handled correctly. There were sloppy connections on the zone board (as I found) and the air handler error code indicated deeper damgage - which he confirmed with testing. He agreed that with lighting damage the repaired unit could have lingering isssues that would only get worse over time and replacement is the best solution - a real concern for a brand new system that we hope to get 15-20 years of service out of. He didn't have the authority to offer me any immediate help, but will be taking my case to one of the business owners tomorrow morning. As I see it, the first diagnosis was hasty and incomplete which set us up for a series of repairs that have been both expensive and ineffective. I'll ask them to refund the repairs and replace the air handler - which will be covered by insurance. Hopefully I find a sympathetic ear. If I knew three weeks ago what I know now, this all would have gone much more smoothly. As I've been reminding myself since the storm, at least no one was hurt (my wife saw sparks in the lving room when the lighting sruck), nothing caught fire, and the weather has been relatively mild while our AC is out. Plus, I've finally gotten around to making some nice window screens for the kids' bedrooms.

Tigerdunes, thank you for the reply. Yes, we should have known about the filter location. When the installation was in progress, we didn't think to ask and they didn't bring it to our attention. I looked this morning at the thermostat and it showed 80% humidity. It was after pre-sale inspection that the new vapor barrier was installed. Some areas had no vapor barrier whatsoever. The inspection was done after a heavy rain and it was discovered that one corner of the crawl space had water. That is where the sump pump was then installed. It worked only for a short time. I could hear it run but there was not even a dribble of water coming from the pipe. I phoned the company that installed it last fall ( probably Sept), but they told me if there wasn't standing water, it was working. Recently we had a new sump pump installed and that, too, didn't start up. The company does not warranty the pumps. The serviceman was here yesterday and adjusted the float which made it start up. I don't think I will ever use that company again. Yes, we have vents and they are open. We are in an area with underground springs and have water flowing along in part of the back yard. We also have a drainage culvert pipe system ( concrete) that was failing when the flanges deteriorated so we had major digging in the back yard to replace much of that old line of pipes which is well below grade of the house and not close to the house. At that time we had almost all of the downspouts hooked into that drainage system. Only one downspout in the front goes above ground. The rest( 5)are piped away from the house. I have an extension ladder and clean out the gutters at first sign of a problem. We placed sieves at each downspout to keep large material from clogging the underground drainage. I guess we felt the inspection and subsequent recommended course would take care of things. Obviously it did not. Another potential problem is moles. They have tunneled and dug up so much of the property. When I would walk next to the house, the ground would sink. I've tried all sorts of repellents from granular to sonic, to castor oil. So far nothing has worked. I believe that constant digging is a problem as the ground along the house foundation should be firm and higher than elsewhere. I keep pounding it down. We are not in a floodplain. At least that is good!

Do you have over 600 square feet of southern exposure roof top on the roof? Is it contiguous? Is it visible from the front? Many don't like seeing the array from the front. Is this a windy area? Windy locations require somewhat larger arrays. How long will the sun hit this area? How high is this area? Two stories is pretty much the maximum. What size is your existing pump? How far away from the equipment pad is the roof? How far is the pool from the equipment pad? Is the plumbing 1-1/2" or 2" plumbing? Lots to think about before you move forward. Scott