House wont cool off properly

Nakatomi2010

Hey,

So a hear and a half ago my wife and I bought a house in Florida. During the winter temperatures are good enough to the point where we can shut off the A/C, but during the summer. Holy crap. Last year, and again this year, it appears we can't keep the house cool. The A/C unit is constantly running. We're trying to keep thehouse at 77F, but the unit just can't seem to get it below 78. and we had a VERY brief power blip that, according to the company who installed the A/C, overloaded the compressor and forced it to shut off for an hour. The temperature in the house reached 82 degrees. Now it's 81, and I can feel the cold air. Thing is that the air just isn't flowing through the house properly. The smaller rooms can be bone chiling cold, while the larger main room feels much hotter.

So I was wondering, what are some decent DIY temperature dropping things I can do? The main room I'm concerned with has 3 sun facing windows that I'm going to be looking into putting up some of those Eclipse curtains to cut off some of the sun light and temperature difference, but is there anything else I can do?

MushroomStick

Close the vents in those small rooms that are getting colder. Also, get some fans to circulate the air around better.

Nakatomi2010

Each room does have a fan in it. The rooms that are coolest have the doors closed, I'll adjust the fans to put out less air, and open the important fans more I guess.

Iceman.USAF

Nakatomi2010 wrote:

Each room does have a fan in it. The rooms that are coolest have the doors closed, I'll adjust the fans to put out less air, and open the important fans more I guess.

That could be your issue. By closing the door you may be stopping proper airflow before it gets going. As someone said, if you're closing the vents and the doors you should be good but if you're leaving the vent open but door closed you're only hurting yourself. You can also try to cover those vents with some plastic and tape to ensure they're not losing any air.

When was the last time you changed filters? Or had someone clean the vents? It could be the vents are just blocked somewhere.

Skoal Cat

Close the vents in the rooms that aren't often used. I've closed off the vents in the kitchen and the bathroom because they are small enough that they cool off from the ambient cool air.
Properly seal all of your windows and doors. Do you have any jealousy windows? Those things suck so much ass. I'd flat out replace them if you can with a nice double paned window.
Get heavy curtains and keep them drawn, especially on the side of the house that gets direct sunlight. I'm in Florida too and I turn off my AC when I go to work. I leave with the apartment at 75/76, and come home to about 85/86.
Your insulation might suck ass. I live in an old concrete block building, so that helps.

MushroomStick

When I type fans, I mean like ceiling fans and box fans. Am I wrong in assuming central air? Because I meant for you to close the vents on the air ducts in the cooler rooms to try and get more cool air to the rooms that need it more.

Nakatomi2010

Yeah, central air and ceailing fans in every room. We keep the doors closed so our cats don't get into everything. There is one room we hardly use, I'll try closing the vent in there and see if that makes a difference.

Strangely enough, now that I think about it, the coldest room in the house has no fan...

ShimSham

I would look into some do it yourself insulation too. That can make a world of difference really. I've lived in an apartment that had zero insulation in the walls and old crappy windows that leaked air. Needless to say my power bill sucked.

The house I'm in now, I know is packed, absolutely full of insulation. (mostly because I helped do it) The place is twice as large as my old apartment but much cheaper to keep cool and that's with an almost identical AC unit.

MushroomStick

You need to close or at least choke the vents a little in the rooms with the closed doors, especially if the thermostat happens to be in one of those rooms.

Rhino

First, have an HVAC come out and make sure you AC is running properly. Every year (or less) make sure you change the filter and clear the condensation line.
If your AC is cooling, but your house is warm then:

Also verify that your unit is rated for your home size. My sister bought a home with a very inadequate AC. Her home is ~1500 sq feet, but the AC was rated for around 500.

It also won't hurt to get your ducts cleaned/checked. You might have a leak in those.

Find access to a infrared camera. Either find a friend into AV, rent one or get a home energy audit. Take pictures of the outside of your home. That should tell you were you are leaking air (if any). If you are leaking air, then seal it (depends on were it is leaking. Windows, attic, other?).

Energy auditors can also do a pressure test. That'll tell you how much (and some times where) you are leaking air.

spool32

Nakatomi2010 wrote:

Yeah, central air and ceailing fans in every room. We keep the doors closed so our cats don't get into everything. There is one room we hardly use, I'll try closing the vent in there and see if that makes a difference.

Bolded part is your problem. You cannot leave your doors closed in the south in the summer and expect the house to cool off. Do something else with your cats, because you need to leave the doors open.

EggyToast

When I lived in Baltimore, I had central air and my house had poor insulation. The house never got cooler than 79F, unless I had the AC running non-stop, in which case it would get to 77F and no cooler. I closed off the downstairs vents and kept the upstairs ones open, so the upstairs would be cool and keep the house pretty even.

I looked into a bunch of options theoretically, such as insulating the house, shutting certain doors, etc. I already had ceiling fans in every room.

My solution was simply to get used to summers being warm and wearing shorts and t-shirts around the house, and sleeping with just a top-sheet (or less). I'm currently sleeping in an apartment that, due to the heatwave, hasn't been below 83F the past week. It's a little sweaty, but not too bad.

NargorothRiP

cleaning 1 time a year is not enough. you should be cleaning your vents every three months at the least. its super cheap and will prolong the life of your system.

MushroomStick

NargorothRiP wrote:

cleaning 1 time a year is not enough. you should be cleaning your vents every three months at the least. its super cheap and will prolong the life of your system.

When cleaning the vents was suggested, I assume they meant that in the have a place that charges a few hundred/thousand dollars to run a robot through your vents kind of thing.

NargorothRiP

Rhino wrote:

First, have an HVAC come out and make sure you AC is running properly. Every year (or less) make sure you change the filter and clear the condensation line.
If your AC is cooling, but your house is warm then:

Also verify that your unit is rated for your home size. My sister bought a home with a very inadequate AC. Her home is ~1500 sq feet, but the AC was rated for around 500.

It also won't hurt to get your ducts cleaned/checked. You might have a leak in those.

Find access to a infrared camera. Either find a friend into AV, rent one or get a home energy audit. Take pictures of the outside of your home. That should tell you were you are leaking air (if any). If you are leaking air, then seal it (depends on were it is leaking. Windows, attic, other?).

Energy auditors can also do a pressure test. That'll tell you how much (and some times where) you are leaking air.

MushroomStick

Ok, sorry. Cleaning the vents and changing the filter don't mean the same thing to me.

Tejs

Having just replaced my A/C unit, it's a couple of things:

1) Make sure you dont have an AC leak. Check your weather stripping on all your doors and windows to make sure it's not cracked / broken / missing. You could have a champ A/C and never get really cool if your air is escaping.
2) Have someone come out and inspect your system. You could be low on refrigerant (or have bad refrigerant) that is causing the A/C to overwork and shut down. You mentioned that your compressor shut off for a while; that is indicative of a larger problem.

I'd definitely just pony up the money and call the AC technician. Here in Texas (where it's 106 deg outside right now), it's almost a health issue to not have working A/C. I wont go more than one day without A/C before calling someone out.

Djeet

Install weather-stripping on all windows and doors that need it; you can often feel drafts at sills and around doorframes and warm air will enter through there. Install shading to prevent radiant energy coming in through windows and glass on doors. Make sure you swap or clean your air filter on the return when it gets dirty. Make sure your attic is well ventilated, if not install a fan to exhaust air from attic to outside. Install a radiant barrier in your attic (do this offseason or late at night as your attic is probably terribly hot right now during the day).

After that you gotta start looking into your cooling system. Make sure ducts are clean and patch any holes. It may be that your AC is underpowered for the amount of interior volume it needs to cool and the ambient temps you have in which case you may need to upgrade your system.

BlindZenDriver

Blinds or similar outside the windows is the best way to keep sun heat out - much better than heavy curtains and the like.

Also look into insulation and if your roof is black then consider changing that.

Here is a good site to check out http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooling/passive_cooling.htm