|
Alright an issue I’ve been stressing about for months and months just occurred to me there might be a SA thread for it... Here’s the situation: - 1000 sqft South Florida house built in the late 50s - Year old 2.5 ton 16 seer Trane, handler installed in attic (only place to have it installed in such a small place I guess) - Dark colored asphalt (not gabled, not flat) roof with full ridge vent - Brand new blown in insulation - Brand new low-E impact glass windows and doors - Recently ripped out the old, painted over and debris clogged soffit vents... what remains is a 1.5~ inch wide hole that runs around 3/4 of the house and a series of smallish (2.5 inch) vent holes on 1/4 of the house   Especially now that I’m home all the time I’m really noticing how much the AC is running during the day simply trying to get down to a normal temperature (73 - 74) when it’s not that ridiculously hot outside (84 - 86 at peak recently). For example, here’s yesterday:  Everything I read seems to indicate that an AC should be able to cool 15 - 20 degrees below the outside temps and I’m not really seeing that here and it’s kinda driving me nuts. That said what should I be looking into? Spray foam insulation? Radiant barriers? Bigger soffit vents? At this point I’ll try anything as I’m fearing what this is going to look like once we start hitting hotter temps. testtubebaby fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Mar 29, 2020 |
#
¿
Mar 29, 2020 02:22
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 13:20 |
|
|
Hoping for some thoughts on my quandary... apologies for all the  Situation: I recently bought a 50's era 1000sq/ft house (concrete block) in South Florida that has a dark roof, small attic (4" at peak) with newer blown in cellulose insulation. The house has new hurricane windows and doors (w/ low-e glass) and a 1 1/2 year old Trane 2.5 ton 14.5 seer central AC. I was told by the AC installer that the 2.5 ton was a little oversized, but I have not found this to be the case. Not only do we have warm rooms - more on that later - but the AC has also been struggling recently to maintain temperature in the heart of the home at the living room where the thermostat is. We've had several days lately (90 ~ 91 degree high temps) where the maintaining of a set 73 degrees has slipped to 74 ~ 75 during the afternoons (with humidity looking like 49 - 57% over the course of 24 hours) despite having been constantly cooling at 73 for a long time... basically it's constantly running, never cycling, and still slipping higher. So that's issue 1. As I said before, we also have warm, stuffy bedrooms (east side of house, small - maybe 12' x 14') that seem to stay 2 ~ 4 degrees higher than the living room depending on the time of day, people in them, whether the doors are shut, and how many PS4 Pros are playing God of War in them. About a year or so ago, I attempted to rectify this when I contacted the same people who installed the new AC, and they recommended installing returns in both of the bedrooms to help pull out the hot air and even out the temps... I had the returns installed and the rooms still heat up and it's still difficult - personally - for me to sleep in them with the door shut. --- That said, what should I do to try to solve this issue, prefacing that I would rather not have to replace the roof or the AC as they are both pretty new and expensive, but I do have some money to throw at this. One thing I was reading about was spray foam insulation on the roof decking to combat the heat coming in via the dark roof. This would require the removal of the blown in insulation before the foam could be applied. However, I have read concerning things about the humidity issues you may get once you close off the venting of your attic; the company I contacted for a quote actually pitched it as reducing house humidity, so this is obviously confusing to me. Based on the size of the house, I have been quoted a price of around $3000 for the insulation (open cell). The other thing I was thinking about was having mini splits installed in the two bedrooms to help keep them cool and reduce stuffiness... and hopefully help out with the overall conditioning of the home. Window units are not an option as the windows are casement and even if they weren't I'm not trying to put in window units. I haven't yet looked too deeply into the materials and installation costs associated with this other than getting a general idea of mini split prices. That said, any thoughts or recommendations based on the information? Perhaps there's other routes I should be investigating? testtubebaby fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Jun 29, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Jun 29, 2020 17:29
|
|
|
Thank you all for your responses and advice. I'll try to answer your questions as best I can so that hopefully I can drill down further on things to investigate. Also, on the advice of skipdogg, I have a tech from another AC company - very, very well regarded if online reviews are to be believed - coming tomorrow to look it over.skipdogg posted:I'm not an HVAC pro, but I would guess you have an airflow issue, not a capacity issue. I had a 2.5 ton 14 seer unit in my last house, and it was 1750 sq ft in South Central Texas. It kept the house at 71 even on 100 degree days. The filters are clean and replaced fairly often; it's a 2019 Trane, so I'm assuming that the normal filters I get from Amazon or the Grocery store should be fine, but I'll make sure to ask the tech about that when they come tomorrow. I was told by a duct specialist from the company that installed the A/C and later blew in the insulation and added the returns that the duct work is good, but perhaps this is not the case? I do know that the force of the air coming out of the central vents ~feels~ much more forceful than the air coming out of the bedrooms and other more perimeter-located vents. Should the same force - for lack of a better term - be felt at each vent? I'm assuming that might better help equalize the house temps, but would it correct the fact that it's slipping from a constant 73 to somewhere around 75 in the late afternoon on 91-92 degree days? H110Hawk posted:Modern system with modern insulation and modern windows you should call the original installer and say it isn't working. At 1.5 years old they should just good will or very cheaply fix that. My 2.5 Ton cools my 1250sqft 1947 house with those same amenities just fine. For all you know the trunk has sprung a leak or your piping has leaked all your refrigerant into the atmosphere. Water should basically be trickling out of your condensation pipe as well given it's Florida where you can get hydrated by just taking a deep breath of air. Even here in SoCal I get a steady drip while it's running. I have a tendency to agree... the only outlier is the dark roof, so I was (am?) afraid that the issue was one related to a potentially abnormally hot attic that isn't being insulated enough. That said, as I stated earlier it has new blown in insulation, although it was done by the same people who installed the AC and the returns, so I guess it's possible that the application of the insulation could not have been done well/properly? Unfortunately my installer seems to have the feeling that "South Florida is hot and AC sounds like it's performing normally" despite my instance that it's not the case. Not sure what recourse I have there other than to write a bad review, which I did... they promptly called me up and offered a $500 partial refund, so I guess that's how they try to fix things. I did check the condensation pipe and it is dripping and there is pooled, mossy water in the area where it drips/drains... I can take video/pictures later if that's helpful. kastein posted:Yeah something ain't right there zenintrude. Have you cleaned the condenser coil? Replaced the filters? Those can have a huge impact on performance, especially the condenser cleaning. Mine only had a 1/16 skin of fuzz and pollen this spring but you wouldn't believe the difference it made simply shopvacing it clean. I haven't cleared the condenser coil, but I have replaced the filters. When the tech is here tomorrow, I will ask them about it and possibly have them clean it then and there if that is part of the visit.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2020 16:34
|
|
|
Thanks with the previous issue... solved simply by adjusting my AC schedule, now I’m cool all day. But now a new issue has arisen: I noticed that a small dark line had appeared near the edge of the air diffuser/register in one of the bedrooms. When I took off the diffuser, it was wet with pooled condensation on the inside edge/frame (pic 1 bottom left). The ceiling drywall was also wet/crumbling near where the water had pooled (pic 2 top left):   I checked out the other diffuser/registers and returns and didn’t see any additional darkness or wetness... so at this point I’m feeling like I shouldn’t be that worried about mold since it looks like it’s isolated? That said, what would have caused this (incorrectly installed/insulated diffuser?) and what should I do to keep it from happening again? testtubebaby fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Aug 24, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Aug 24, 2020 21:42
|
|
|
I recently moved into a condo and I’m trying to figure out why it’s so humid (65 ~ 70%) all the time. The AC appears to be working to cool the apartment to the 72 degrees I have it set at (I get a reading of 58 ~ 62 degrees from the vents when cooling) but I noticed that when it starts a cooling cycle, it just blows normal fan air (69 ~ 71 degrees) for a few minutes before the compressor kicks in it’s the cold air. I’m assuming that this warm fan air is at least a contributing factor to the condos relative humidity, but why is it behaving like this in the first place? Is it a compressor issue, a thermostat issue, or something else?
|
|
#
¿
Sep 12, 2021 00:49
|
|
|
Bird in a Blender posted:That warm air is just recirculating the air inside your condo. You need air flow before turning on the compressor, which is why the fan is running for a minute before everything turns on. Thanks for the response! I’m in a high rise (42 floors) that was built in 2008 and I believe the A/C unit was installed at the same time. It’s in south Florida, so some elevated humidity is to be expected. The air inside the condo ~feels~ less humid than in the hallways (it’s also cooler) so perhaps it’s just the outside air factor… the A/C unit is in an A/C closet that is not in the condo itself but off of the hallway. I don’t have too many windows/doors - just one large floor-to-ceiling sliding door out to the balcony with two other fixed windows adjacent to it and a sliding window in the bedroom - all are heavy duty, hurricane grade stuff. Maybe humid air from the hallway is coming in through gaps in the front door? Is there a good method to test for this? Given the age of the unit, would the A/C need servicing? I checked the filter and it looked (to my eye) to be alright but I’ve ordered some new ones for peace of mind. I’ve also been running a dehumidifier since last night that has captured about 20 pints of water in 14~ hours.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 12, 2021 16:15
|
|
|
Hey AC friends… Cooling went out this morning, noticed that breaker for AC is in middle position. Switched the breaker off and then back to on, but it keeps immediately popping back into the middle position.  Is this an AC issue or an electrical issue? I have a service tech scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, just kinda wondering what sort of issues/diagnosis I should be expecting.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 6, 2023 23:28
|
|
|
devicenull posted:Turn the thermostat off (so it's not calling for cooling). Does the breaker still trip? If so, you have some weird electrical gremlins (like someone put a screw through a wire, like happened with my AC). Thanks for the suggestion, hadn’t thought to try that. Unfortunately, still tripping after I did this… so, I guess electrical gremlins
|
|
#
¿
Jul 7, 2023 00:50
|
|
|
devicenull posted:Did you do any sort of work before it stopped working? Not HVAC, stuff like hanging a picture or shelf? Reorganize the basement and hang stuff from wires? (don't do that) Does it only happen when it's raining or something? The more info like this you can provide the tech the better (especially if it's not a short run from the panel to the AC) Thanks again for your help! I probably won't be messing around with the breaker tbh... not experienced that way so I'd probably do more damage than good, either to myself or the system. Nothing out of the ordinary was happening when I noticed the AC wasn't cooling any more; basically woke up, took a shower, and then felt the air was warmer than normal. Hasn't happened before, so can't really say what may be a cause that I can think of. I live in a condo, so no basement reorg or exposed wires for hanging; my AC handler unit is located in a small AC closet in the building's hallway and nothing appeared to be different in there either. MRC48B posted:dont cancel that service call though. Definitely won't cancel... thanks for the insights.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 7, 2023 14:28
|
|
|
Bad news bros, apparently it’s the compressor and my unit is too old for repair? Anyways… thanks for the help, gonna be getting a new AC for my birthday! 🎉
|
|
#
¿
Jul 8, 2023 01:31
|
|
|
devicenull posted:Probably R22? But yea... labor costs dont really win versus just slapping in a new unit entirely.  Received a quote from the company that told me my unit is dead. Checking to see if you all think this is reasonable or if i need to put in some work sourcing lower quotes. Another big question is about the model... googled the number and it's by a company - Climate Master - that is unfamiliar to me.  e: So I guess the quoted unit itself goes for like $2700 https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...HfN9CwwQ9pwGCAU which means that they are wanting $4300 for installation/disposal and... that's about it? testtubebaby fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Jul 10, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Jul 10, 2023 17:56
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 13:20 |
|
|
MRC48B posted:climate masters are fine. or to be specific they're no more or less poo poo than the other people who make water source heat pumps. Thanks for this info… do you know of any where I can read up more on this? I got a slightly higher quote for a York and even higher quote for a Trane that I was considering based on brand and the previous install, but if this style AC is more or less a level playing field, that’s good to know.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2023 18:36
|
|