That is what I was going to say. RandomSD has hit the nail on its head. This is a common problem with this design, and I hope the resistors are not too hard to access.

The system warranty was just for 5 years, regarding service history; last time the system was checked by a tech was at the end of the warranty period and it was OK. The tech who checked my system yesterday is from the same company how installed the system in my house (the system was installed at the time when the house was built) and therefore I believe he is a qualified tech, but it does not make since to change everything because of a leak! The tech mentioned that to locate the leak it is going to cost me $300, and after finding out where it is leaking from, then he can provide me with an estimate for fixing it (if possible . . . that what he said) and therefore the total cost could end up close to replace the full system. So his advice is to replace the system because in this case IâÂÂm going to get another a 5 years warranty. Is it a good idea to ask for adding Freon and see how long it will hold? So based on that I can predict if the system has a serious leak or not before spending the $2000. Thank you all

Thanks, Ryan. I forgot to mention that my house, which is rectangular, is situated so the the garage corners face SE and SW and the bedroom corners face NE and NW. Helps with the sun. Except for one spot the sun never directly comes into the house due to those wide overhangs. Prior to the leak, the current system kept the house cool unless we topped 100 which happens during the summer. This summer is shaping up to be very hot and dry. I am on an averaging billing system for my gas/electric from CPS, our local utility company. In the winter, they average around $90 and during very hot summers can go as high as $125.00 The Ruud consultant/contractor has given me three bids. Bid 1 is $6946 for a complete heating and AC 16 SEER 3 ton Ultra1 2 speed condenser, 4 ton evap. coil (RCFM Hm48), and 70,000 BTU furnace (Model UGPRO7E) with a new thermostat as this unit won't work off the power company's. Bid 2 is $5206 for a complete system Ruud 14 SEER 3 ton system (don't this this has the 2 speed condenser though). Bid #3 is $4116 and is for a 14 SEER 3 ton condenser/coil and keep the present furnace which is still working. If the furnace goes out later, it can be replaced with new one. Both bids 3 & 3 leave the free power company thermostat in place. All bids include a new 3/4" plywood bas for the furnace, an E-Z filter bas , setting and leveling A/C pad, upgrade PUC Sch 40, inspection and resealing all existing air duct and adding an a AC grill & boot in my sewing/ironing room adjacent to the laundry room by tapping into the laundry room duct. I can get a Guardian Air filter with either system for an additional $626. Is it worth it? I passed on the UV light. Only the 16 SEER qualifies for the $375 Energy Star rebate from the electric company and he will match it. If I go the 14 SEER route, he has a $300 coupon in the yellow pages. Plus, he's offering zero financing for 12 months. I have the money in savings, but might just put it in a six months CD at higher interest and pay off everything on month 11. The Ruud guy said unfortunately, he finds the duct work in San Antonio to be of poor quality. So I will definitely have that checked. Are there companies that only evaluate this or should I trust the AC contractor's evaluation. The Lennox guy is coming next week. I'll call Trane and set up an appointment next week. My daughter-in-law's mother has had them for years and had very little problems.

Well itÂs time for another: The new Goodman, managed by a whole lot smarter people, so as typical the new head of manufacturing, Bill, had to show immediate results in the form of increased profits, so as it goÂs the first and easiest place to have a short term success is to reduce labor costs. Now remember, Bill is of this new breed of self proclaimed manufacturing geniuses that could live 10 life times and still never achieve the level of success as Harold Goodman. So to get back on track, the first coarse of action was to change the way they hire people, so as you guessed they went to temporary labor from a temporary labor source. Every time I went over there on a service call, I saw fewer people that I knew and a whole lot of new faces. The people that I had seen over the years were all suddenly disappearing. As this was taking place, I was receiving phone calls at all hours to assess and repair pre mature stamping die failures. They would bring a temporary worker in and put him or her to run a progressive die, with practically no experience. As you can imagine the beating that the dies took was becoming evident as seen on the finished parts coming off of them. Then to make matters worse, they decided to operate their coil fin dies with a water soluble lubricant rather than the recommended lubricant that is recommended by the fin die manufacturer. Well it seemed as if quality and production were suffering, so rather looking for the manufacturing experts that can put the wheels back on the track, they chose to hire these alleged new, cheep wizards of manufacturing from India as well as the United States. So, I found myself teaching these people all that they needed to know to perform their jobs. Apparently, these highly accredited Indian,Bangladesh and U.S. universityÂs left out of their manufacturing engineering curriculum anything that had to do with manufacturing equiptment. So you ask, what credentials do they need to earn these positions? Well guyÂs I am sorry to say that all of you out there as well as my self that are shop and hands on trained people mechanical experts in or relative fields are no match to these types of people that tout there college degreeÂs as their merit badge of superiority over us. And the use of these new wave manufacturing terms like lean manufacturing, kaisan , six sigma, black belt mba, iso 9000 and so on. These goofy inadequate engineers end up taking these kinds of correspondent courses and then for some reason believe that they carry the same credentials as a Harold Goodman. So letÂs start to add all this up so far, we have Bill from the looser company, we have inexperienced temporary seasonal labor and we have some inadequate manufacturing engineering people. I have more to come so stay tuned because as Bill paves this type road to the companies alleged success the competition starts to pave the same type of road.