Since we've moved in 3 years ago - our master bedroom has always run hot.

-Early 90s two-story house with decent tree shading (bedroom gets almost no direct sun)
-Two ACs that are probably 10-15yo, not certain of SEER and such, but no service tech has mentioned them being in bad shape.
-Rest of the downstairs, which is open concept to the upstairs cools reasonably well. Our front room office, which is more closed off is very cool.
-The bedroom above our master also runs hot.
-We have an Ecobee setup, at night we use the bedroom sensor as the only downstairs input reading and the system cannot keep up to where it gives an error/alert. Regardless of what we set the thermostat to, the bedroom will be 74-77, while the rest of the downstairs will drop to high 60s.
-There is barely any airflow coming out of the vents - either in that room or the one in attached bathroom.
-In that room there is one small 1x1 return that is low to the ground. Just outside the room in entryway is the main return for the downstairs. The bedroom door is typically closed when occupied.
-Windows are all new and high quality. Home has fresh blown in insulation in the attic. Roof is very overdue to be replaced although it survived Beryl seemingly unscathed.

I am about to call someone else in, as it seems even worse post-Beryl outage...thinking maybe something went further wrong. I've discussed it with some other AC techs that have come and none seem to have any good suggestions and until now I wasn't frustrated enough to address it. I feel like even if I replaced our ACs it would still be bad and wonder if something like a dedicated mini-split system in the room will be required.

Anyway, curious on next steps or good questions to ask a tech. Thanks!

Thanks! I'll be sure to mention checking that out. It would not surprise me.

Unfortunately we see this ALL the time. Multi floor houses are the worst because architects NEVER leave chases for ductwork and seldom do the joists go where we need them to. If I had to guess the air handlers are in the top attic and ductwork goes down behind a closet. It could be as simple as a damper closed or installed improperly but it's likely a design issue. The installers used what fit and made it work during install.

You might try and figure out which duct feeds your master and check for a damper handle near where it comes off the main plenum.

Happy to answer any questions as time allows.

Fresh attic insulation could be a clue to someone in the process contributing to enlarging a duct leak that now needs repairs if not a) backwards dampers, I read above b) undersized ducts, too many bends (poor design) to be redone, c) mini-split or PTAC solutions that abandon what doesn't work

SOAP BOX
Over the decades. of all the plans we have created or proofed (VHA examiner in the day), seems that all of the Licensed Architects and some of the top local residential draftsmen Have provided HVAC duct spaces, even if only via "HVAC floor trusses" noted. The main source of such thoughtless or omitted HVAC space design has many fingers pointed at the Internet Plans & some regional Plan Houses. That said, I understand that many still use the term Architect to anyone that draws plans, even if unlicensed. Texas Law: misdeameanor to represent one's self or services as Architect or Architectural. A recent "tresspasser" was fined $10,000.

So sorry to read TruService is getting more of these thoughtless plans than their share. Certainly any state board would be interested in his report on such poor architecture design while providing the license # for a clear ID.

If you don't have dampers at the plenum, Have you tried closing the registers some on all of the other cooler rooms to force more airflow to the master ? To properly balance temps you really need multiple thermostats in each room and then it can take time to get it as equalized as possible using slow incremental changes on each damper/plenum.

I'm curious to pick your brain about it to be honest. I don't do a lot of new construction as that's not my market. When I do a new build it's generally a custom home, generally they are not small or done by internet draftsmen. I have seen those and yes you're correct about the lack of forward thinking. I bid a set of plans on a 7-8,000sqft house drawn by a licensed architect from Bryan that had ZERO chases for HVAC and also zero consideration for the 10" kitchen hood duct that was in the middle of the first floor and directly under the middle of the game room above. Talk about dumb.

Unfortunately, many of today's engineers and architects lack common sense. They're generally good at math or very artistic and leave it to the change order to fix it. The same can be said about AC guys too so don't feel like I'm singling out designers.

But really, what laws or rules does an architect break by not drawing mechanical chases? I'd doubt any. It's dumb and embarrassing and like the client I bid the job too it's infuriating to spend the thousands on a licensed architect to have dumb ol me take a chunk out of every closet upstairs.

I'd welcome you to come to my office and I'll show you what we are getting now days. The days of architects of your vintage that understood all that it takes to make a home work are gone.

Well in spite of hijacking this thread (sorry) and airing laundry in public,
know that I am very aware of your Bryan Architect problems that illustrate your biz problems.

Since the 70s other HVAC biz & those friends have suffered the same.

Even great works on campus with the really high-$$$ arch/eng out of town experts have seen this.
You would think all the designers Hate HVAC guys but from the other side, sometimes working with HVAC guys, results in their need to have a one carage garage room for all their equipment & elbow room ... haha!

Internet plans certainly have no consequences to those sales sans HVAC, WH, foundation & site drainage solutions, even though these days the PRICE can be more than designing from scratch with locals.

The Bryan situation problem you mention SOPs include:
1. am designing a curb appeal "billboard" for myself, how cool it looks from a car window to attract/advertise to others, unaware of HVAC problems, at al ahead
2. since there's no big nor biz growth money in residential design for a large office, we'll give residential work to our novices & interns to cut their teeth on and hopefully we principals will have the time to train & fix such problems such as HVAC system spaces on the fly

Reporting these HVAC blind eyes to TBAE who holds their license and can impose fines for lawbreaking would of course only highlight problems with a firm for future reference, with no other action expected but it's something.

Your problems may be solved eventually with a) visiting the designer office to gain a mutual solution, which may involve their redrawing, b) alerting the builder of the problems, costs, time, etc. such plans as these creates for him & his client, asking what he/previous HVAC has done about such and if there's other designers better suited to his work, c) Google/public reviews might not be effective + could come back to bite you, esp. in a small town, d) certainly voice your designer preferences & reasons why in private to all your regulars, be they builders, friends, family, e) social media always asks for referrals, so if a bad designer gets mentioned, you could trump that card with your suggestion & why this would be best, avoiding why-not torpedoes and the fallout that may follow.

Someday when 24/7 time is less involved in biz, caretaking/TxAgging, senior exercise, medicals would love to visit yor office & vice versa (at beertime?). Beautiful facebook fam, kudos. Best of success. Roger over & out.

Well to update...

Had two well reviewed AC companies out today and they basically said the same thing.

-Motor is dead on downstairs compressor which explains poor performance post-Beryl. Guessing the 15 overnight power ups/downs we got before power died for good caused it. I guess upstairs compensating for the heat relief we do feel downstairs.

-There are no dampers in our system period. They both said our duct work looks decent but the bedrooms with poor flow have long runs to them.

So basically our options are....

Replace motor for 1500-2k and maybe buy some time. Compressor and basically everything is 14 years old.

Replace that compressor and the linked evaporator, one of them said they'd address dampers and such when doing that. Awaiting official quotes but looks like 10-12k.

They said our furnace looks remarkably good for its age. Upstairs AC is old but fine. So not sure a total overhaul of all our systems (including upstairs which is also 14YO) make sense to keep everything at the same level. Only issue there is if we don't replace the furnace they need to keep the replacement AC single-stage. Is that a big deal?

They didn't seem to push one solution over the other. One said just doing just the motor may be dicey as they can't guarantee other parts of the compressor didn't take damage before/after the failure. Its been trying to run constantly since Friday and they said it was hot as hell when they got to it.

Thoughts on Amana vs Trane? The two companies each deal with a different brand. The Amana people state that Amana has better warranty support?

Should I add power surge protection and soft-starts if I replace? Don't think its standard. I don't have a generator currently and doubt I'll get one.

Any thoughts welcome!

NOT HVAC pro advice here, just 50+ years dealing with all that as Owner (ugh) and designing spaces for them & hearing the praise/fallout from them.

Trane
Variable stage
System 1 for down
System 2 for up
No need to share one system = will cost more at first but saves every month in power bills for the life of it all
Only the ducts may be worth saving, so long as fully inspected/sealed and while their at it, throw some insulation blankets over them!

I know, only 16yo BUT 20yo dead systems may be around the corner ... the longest mine ever lasted as heat pumps. Throwing good money at bad/risky/unhappy results or good/new?