I have central air in my house, and it's currently 79* upstairs, and 71* downstairs. Is there any way to get the cold air downstairs to go upstairs? All of the downstairs vents have towels shoved inside of them, but it doesn't help. Any suggestions?
Closing the vents should force most air into the open vents, how far are you from the AC? How well is your house insulated? If your house is insulated poorly, that could be the source of your problem
The house was built in the 50's and is solid brick. I know the windows are crappy (they're very old, single pane's). We've got the blinds shut on them to help keep the heat out. There are 7 vents open upstairs, and all of the basement vents are closed. I'm debating buying a couple of fans and setting one at the bottom of the stairs to blow air up and another at the top of the stairs to move it into the kitchen. Think it'll help?
It also might be that poor insulation and the fact the colder air sinks. I like in a 40s brick house and deal with the same problem; I just learned to hang out in the basement.
Just replaced the filter 3 days ago. I replace it monthly because my 2 cats seem to shed directly over the intake vents lol.
Insulate the fuck out of the attic and you should trealize some positive change. inside an attic can easily reach 140 degrees in the summer. That is what heats up the upstairs. get those windows retrofitted with low-E insulated dual panes when you can. a brick, stone, or block house should be able to insulate itself, cool in the summer when the masonry is cooled down and warm in the winter when the masonry is warmed up...a thermal mass, if you will. your weak spots are the attic insulation and your single strenth glazed windows. You wouldn't believe how much nicer it'd be with a well installed home full of new windows.....quieter too!
Getting an attic fan may help as well as getting a whole house fan. Both are relatively easy to install if you have some basic do it yourself skills. The only issue you may have is tapping into or creating an additional power line to power the new fans.
Warm up the cooler air so it rises What I do is cut a peice of fermica (sp?) to fit in side the vent then cut a hole in it.
Wiskas hit the highpoints, insulate and vent your attic, retrofit or replace your windows, If you have storms, close them.
Well most likyl your attic insulation sucks. the two biggest heat gains in a house is the roof and your windows. keep your blinds closed, it helps to reduce solar load. An attic fan is also a good idea. is cold air coming out of the registers upstairs? if not you can add inline duct fans to boost airflow. they're about 200$ a pop tho.
There is quite a bit of air coming out of the vents. The ceiling doesn't feel hot, except in my bedroom closet where the attic access door is, it's hot in there. My dad's the person that remodeled this house, and he said there's 10" of insulation in the attic. I'll look into getting some new fans to help circulate the air, and I'll look into getting a whirly bird for the attic.
get a thermometer and measure the return air coming into the furnace and the supply air going out. should be about 20° difference. if its less than that you may have a problem with your air conditioner. best way to measure is to drill a hole in your ductwork and insert the probe. but your could take it at the registers, it just might not be as accurate. It would also be a long run of poorly designed uninsulated ductwork. in that case your fucked. is your stat downstairs? if could also be shutting off the air prematurely.
Miller, would closing returns on the first floor make a difference or might it choke the system down too much?
if you've got attic access through your closet, then the cieling to the downstairs is probably insulated with 10" insulation.....how about the walls to the upper rooms? The ones that are adjacent to the attic space. Those walls will get hot and transfer heat to the upper rooms. need to insulate them walls, as well as between the ceiling joists of the upper room. That 10 inches of insulation is only going to benefit the downstairs areas.
what the heck is you T-stat set for? Your condensing unit shouldn't shut off until that T-stat reads 70 or 72 which is a normal setpoint. Try setting your stat even lower and see if it can reach the temp, like 68. Your unit might be low in charge and your temperatures will be higher. Which in return will cause the upstairs to be higher. Your Air Handler should be putting out 55-60 degree temps if you have the correct discharge superheat. Might also want to look into checking that you have good airflow in the registers.
My thermostat is set to 70*, but it doesn't hold that temperature, even with it running all day. It's 74 in here right now, it'll be 78-80 by 5:00. It's hot as hell outside though. Probably be over 100* today . My house has 2 floors, but was originally built with 1 floor. The basement was dug out about 20 years ago.
What's wrong with 79*? We keep the house at 84*, but then again it gets up to 115*+ here in the summer.
i think the problem might be with your condensing unit. Seems to me like it has lost some charge over time and maybe need a few ounces of refrigerant. Might also want to check that your coils are clean on the unit.
I work in a shop without any air conditioning at all. It was 97* in the shop when I left work today, and I've been torching angle all day so I get very hot and tired. When I get home I want to be able to cool down, not stay hot.
iIt would cause to little airflow over the coil and might cause a freezeup. also the colder the return air, the colder the discharge air will be. hubcap. i doubt hes low on charge as he said downstairs its holding 71°.n sounds like an airflow insulation problem to me did you ever check your supply and return temps?
