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AC not keeping up - tech says its ok - any ideas? zirconx9 07-22-2006
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Posted by on July 22, 2006, 6:41 pm
I'm having trouble with the air conditioner in the house I just moved
into. I know its hard to diagnose anything over the 'net but I am out
of ideas and am looking for things to check on.

The house was built in '85, its 1450 sq ft, split level design. I am
in the midwest. The livingroom and dining room are together under a
vaulted ceiling. I've been in the attic and it looks like there is at
least 12" of newer fiberglass insulation up there. The AC unit looks
fairly new (5 yrs?) and is a 2.5 ton.

The symtoms are: its hot! I had an AC guy come out because the house
was 80 degrees at the thermostat, which is located in a hallway between
the living room/dining room and the bedrooms. He checked the freeon
level, put a new filter in, and cleaned the condenser coils. He said
when its 100+ degrees out, its reasonable to only get down to 80. My
last house, a 1960 ranch, had no problem cooling in any conditions, but
ok.

Today its 84 degrees out, and its 75 in the house. A 9 degree drop!
Seems ridiculous to me. Also since the tech has been out I had the
strongest tint available installed on all the windows in the living
room and dining room.

He said he was getting a -21 degree drop between in the in/out air at
the evaporator, which he said was normal. I've checked the air coming
out of the vents and its around 56-59 degrees. It feels like there is
plenty of air flow out of the vents. Half of the vents in the basement
are closed to push more air to the upper levels.

If you have any ideas I'd appriciate it. My AC pretty much runs
constantly during the day, all the way until 11 or 12 at night. I'm
not looking forward to getting my first electric bill.


Posted by Stormin Mormon on July 22, 2006, 11:11 pm
Cleaned outdoor coils... how? Hope he used chemicals and a water hose.

Twenty degrees is a good temp drop over the evaporator. But is the fan
in the furnace at top speed?

What's the humidity like, there? High humidity takes a lot of power to
dry the air.

The one time I saw this kind of problem, the folks were smokers. It
was a 90 degree humid day, and every time they would step out to
smoke, they would hold the door open for several seconds. And let the
heat and humidity in.

Try opening ALL the vents, and see if that helps. Makes me wonder if
you've restricted the air flow.

Also wondering if there is enough return air ducting?

Please let us know how things work out.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
.

I'm having trouble with the air conditioner in the house I just moved
into. I know its hard to diagnose anything over the 'net but I am out
of ideas and am looking for things to check on.

The house was built in '85, its 1450 sq ft, split level design. I am
in the midwest. The livingroom and dining room are together under a
vaulted ceiling. I've been in the attic and it looks like there is at
least 12" of newer fiberglass insulation up there. The AC unit looks
fairly new (5 yrs?) and is a 2.5 ton.

The symtoms are: its hot! I had an AC guy come out because the house
was 80 degrees at the thermostat, which is located in a hallway
between
the living room/dining room and the bedrooms. He checked the freeon
level, put a new filter in, and cleaned the condenser coils. He said
when its 100+ degrees out, its reasonable to only get down to 80. My
last house, a 1960 ranch, had no problem cooling in any conditions,
but
ok.

Today its 84 degrees out, and its 75 in the house. A 9 degree drop!
Seems ridiculous to me. Also since the tech has been out I had the
strongest tint available installed on all the windows in the living
room and dining room.

He said he was getting a -21 degree drop between in the in/out air at
the evaporator, which he said was normal. I've checked the air coming
out of the vents and its around 56-59 degrees. It feels like there is
plenty of air flow out of the vents. Half of the vents in the
basement
are closed to push more air to the upper levels.

If you have any ideas I'd appriciate it. My AC pretty much runs
constantly during the day, all the way until 11 or 12 at night. I'm
not looking forward to getting my first electric bill.



Posted by on July 23, 2006, 12:15 am

Stormin Mormon wrote:
> Cleaned outdoor coils... how? Hope he used chemicals and a water hose.

With a garden hose.

> Twenty degrees is a good temp drop over the evaporator. But is the fan
> in the furnace at top speed?

I'm not sure. I'd probably have to open up the unit and see what wires
from the motor are hooked up. Its pretty noisy when the system kicks
on, I'm pretty sure its on the highest speed.

> What's the humidity like, there? High humidity takes a lot of power to
> dry the air.

Its been very humid lately.

> The one time I saw this kind of problem, the folks were smokers. It
> was a 90 degree humid day, and every time they would step out to
> smoke, they would hold the door open for several seconds. And let the
> heat and humidity in.

No smokers here. And the doors have not been opened much in the last
few days.

I went over a talked with my neighbor today, and his house was 79 when
mine was 75. He said thats just about all they do around here, and
that these open floor plan houses run pretty warm.

> Try opening ALL the vents, and see if that helps. Makes me wonder if
> you've restricted the air flow.
>
> Also wondering if there is enough return air ducting?

Return ducting could be an issue, I don't see a whole lot of it. We
sleep with the bedroom door open, and when I open that door I can feel
a ton of air flowing out of the cracked door. - I just went and looked
and only found two returns on the upper levels of the house. One in
the hallway between all the bedrooms and main bath, and one in the
living room. Cheap construction I guess. My last home had returns in
just about every room.


Posted by Stormin Mormon on July 23, 2006, 5:01 pm
> Cleaned outdoor coils... how? Hope he used chemicals and a water
hose.

With a garden hose.
CY: I've used a garden hose. Had good results with a pressure washer,
but that's a skill to be learned. Som eof the coil cleaing chemicals
sure help loosen the dirt.

> Twenty degrees is a good temp drop over the evaporator. But is the
fan
> in the furnace at top speed?

I'm not sure. I'd probably have to open up the unit and see what
wires
from the motor are hooked up. Its pretty noisy when the system kicks
on, I'm pretty sure its on the highest speed.
CY: A slower speed can give you a higher temp drop. But that doesn't
mean you are moving heat.

> What's the humidity like, there? High humidity takes a lot of power
to
> dry the air.

Its been very humid lately.

> The one time I saw this kind of problem, the folks were smokers. It
> was a 90 degree humid day, and every time they would step out to
> smoke, they would hold the door open for several seconds. And let
the
> heat and humidity in.

No smokers here. And the doors have not been opened much in the last
few days.

I went over a talked with my neighbor today, and his house was 79 when
mine was 75. He said thats just about all they do around here, and
that these open floor plan houses run pretty warm.
CY: Hmm. Maybe needs better window shades, or more air flow. Or some
more cooling, like a window unit upstairs.

> Try opening ALL the vents, and see if that helps. Makes me wonder if
> you've restricted the air flow.
>
> Also wondering if there is enough return air ducting?

Return ducting could be an issue, I don't see a whole lot of it. We
sleep with the bedroom door open, and when I open that door I can feel
a ton of air flowing out of the cracked door. - I just went and looked
and only found two returns on the upper levels of the house. One in
the hallway between all the bedrooms and main bath, and one in the
living room. Cheap construction I guess. My last home had returns in
just about every room.
CY: Very possible. Might be depending on people leaving doors open.
I'm starting to think that poor return air is a serious problem in a
lot of cases.




Posted by JimL on August 28, 2006, 12:53 pm
On 22 Jul 2006 21:15:43 -0700, zirconx9@yahoo.com wrote:

>
>Stormin Mormon wrote:
>> Cleaned outdoor coils... how? Hope he used chemicals and a water hose.
>
>With a garden hose.
>
>> Twenty degrees is a good temp drop over the evaporator. But is the fan
>> in the furnace at top speed?
>
>I'm not sure. I'd probably have to open up the unit and see what wires
>from the motor are hooked up. Its pretty noisy when the system kicks
>on, I'm pretty sure its on the highest speed.
>
>> What's the humidity like, there? High humidity takes a lot of power to
>> dry the air.
>
>Its been very humid lately.
>
>> The one time I saw this kind of problem, the folks were smokers. It
>> was a 90 degree humid day, and every time they would step out to
>> smoke, they would hold the door open for several seconds. And let the
>> heat and humidity in.
>
>No smokers here. And the doors have not been opened much in the last
>few days.
>
>I went over a talked with my neighbor today, and his house was 79 when
>mine was 75. He said thats just about all they do around here, and
>that these open floor plan houses run pretty warm.
>
>> Try opening ALL the vents, and see if that helps. Makes me wonder if
>> you've restricted the air flow.
>>
>> Also wondering if there is enough return air ducting?
>
>Return ducting could be an issue, I don't see a whole lot of it. We
>sleep with the bedroom door open, and when I open that door I can feel
>a ton of air flowing out of the cracked door. - I just went and looked
>and only found two returns on the upper levels of the house. One in
>the hallway between all the bedrooms and main bath, and one in the
>living room. Cheap construction I guess. My last home had returns in
>just about every room.

Almost None of the 500 homes in my neighborhood have room returns.
Only those that were added by a few homeowners after the fact.

The main 20x25 return is in the common area next to the furnace and
all the interior doors have a large gap at the bottom for return air.

But my doors are seldom closed anyway so no big deal to me and in 22
years, I have no complaints about no returns.





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