Too hot! Landlords, which is better, attic fan or insulation?

[Vishakha Penney]

We are in the middle of a hot North Carolina summer, and one of our older, C class properties is not cooling properly. 

It is unclear to me at this point if this was an issue before. We've owned this house for nearly 4 years but no previous complaints about too hot or cold. The HVAC is four years new. Previous tenants may have just tolerated it, but I really have no way of knowing. The HVAC people have tried and tried to fix it, and at this point their conclusion is that the unit is now working properly and the final issue is with the house, ie, basically no insulation. 

Now, we do not generally put money into insulating class C rental properties. However, we have to do something as the house will not cool below 80 degrees despite running the HVAC continuously.

The HVAC guy recommended an attic fan because of the very high temps at the ceiling. However, I looked online, and many seemingly knowledgeable people recommend against them, and recommend just doing a lot of attic insulation. 

Its probably going to cost around $800 either way.

Would love to hear your experience on this matter. Thanks!

Some references for those interested:

http://www.homeenergy.org/show/article/year/1995/i...

https://www.energyvanguard.com/blog/38676/Don-t-Le...

[John Underwood]

@Vishakha Penney First I would get a second opinion on your HVAC. You air handler may need to have the coil cleaned or the outside Condensing unit may need a good cleaning. I assume that you don't have a leak and that the pressure was checked as this is the first thing they check.

Did they take a temp reading of the inside vents to see how cold the air is from the AC?

If your house was cooling before then it should still be capable of cooling the house.

I have a hand full of Mill houses with next to no insulation and single pane windows and a 2 ton unit can properly cool a 2 bed 1000 sq ft house.

Insulation in the attic should help but your exterior walls still probably have no insulation. There might be someone that can drill small holes and spray foam in the walls.

First thing get someone else to make 100% sure your AC is working as it should.

I have had people who think there house should be 60F in the summer and 90F in the winter, find out if this is the case.