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| I purchased my home two years ago. The AC is older but still functioning well. I have it serviced every year. This summer I've noticed that there is an extreme difference between the first and second floor. To got the 2nd floor cool enough for comfort, the temperature ha to be set very low (72 or so) and then the first floor is freezing. Last year, things seemed fine. Any suggestions? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Second floor always hard to cool because heat rises. But same house, same AC should not be different one year from the other. Did you change anything ? close or open any of the air registers ? The only thing you can do is try to close some of the downstair registers and force the air go upstair. (but don't close too many/much which will damage your AC itself.) |
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- Posted by tigerdunes (My Page) on Fri, Jun 29, 12 at 12:10
| Typical summer AC problem for two stories operating off one system. Unfortunately, there is not a down and dirty answer to your question. Do you know if you have separate returns on both floors? How's your attic insulation? How are your windows? Do you know if you have manual damper control on the supply trunk lines to each floor? If you don't know, you need to find out. Unless. You are having some mechanical problem with your system, I doubt if anything is amiss. You may just be noticing the problem especially if you are having high temps. I would get a cheap digital thermometer so you can take readings of your supply vents at different locations upstairs and at different times of day. Of course, your ductwork system in attic should be checked for any leaks. IMO |
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- Posted by tigerdunes (My Page) on Fri, Jun 29, 12 at 12:12
| I think closing registers is a poor choice. Yes adjust dampers on the trunk lines but not room registers. IMO |
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| Thanks for the follow up. I just checked the temperature on each floor. Thermostat is set at 72 and thermometer reads 72 on the first floor, upstairs it is 80(!!!) and in the basement, it is 68. I understand that the 2nd floor will be warmer, but isn't 8 degrees a bit extreme? I can close the vents in the basement which is always too cool when the AC is on. I don't know about the returns (separate or not), but my windows are old and in need of replacement. There is no attic here. How do I know how the returns work? |
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| Tigerdunes: Do you think there's really a big difference between adjusting a damper vs a room register? Please explain. In cases where there's no damper and one room (often close to the source) is blowing too hard, what do you suggest be done? Sorry for the mini-thread hijack. |
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| Check your ducts. Something might have become unhooked. I'd say that closing dampers is better than closing registers for at least one reason. Ducts leak so the less duct you have pressurized, the less leakage you will have. If the ducts are outside of the house envelope this is a much bigger problem than if the ducts are inside the house, |
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- Posted by energy_rater_la (My Page) on Sun, Jul 1, 12 at 11:50
| shutting the air flow off at the supply grill doesn't put the air back into the supply plenum to be redistributed throughout the house. it simply stops it from exiting the duct. the full force is still in the duct. by not allowing it to exit, you can increase the static pressure of the duct system. manual dampers are best located at the plenum. if ducts leak..they leak at any pressure. mastic best of luck. |
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