Hot 2nd Floor - Any Suggestions? - http://www.hvacmechanic.com/ Forums
Original message
| mpsteele
 |  "Hot 2nd Floor - Any Suggestions?"
, posted Fri 23 May 10:26  
I have a home with seperate AC and furnaces for the first and second floors.
In the summer the first floor AC will run very little, even on 90 degree plus days. The upstairs, however, runs 24 hours per day, once the outside temperature gets to 80 - 85 degrees. Once the outside temperature hits 90 degrees, it isn't possible to cool my upstairs below about 76 degrees.
My attic has soffit and ridge venting. I was considering a gable mounted attic fan, but have been reading that it won't work because it will simply pull outside air through the ridge vent and blow it right back out.
I'm considering a whole house fan to blow hot 2nd floor air into the attic, but believe that the first floor windows would have to be opened to create the balance to move enough air. The negative of allowing hot/humid outside air into a nicely cooled downstairs area seems too inefficient.
Any thoughts or suggestions on how to cool my upstairs? Even small tips that might net 2-3 degrees would help a lot on almost all but the hottest days.
Thanks.
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Replies:
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| theduke03
| "Re(1):Hot 2nd Floor - Any Suggestions?" , posted Fri 23 May 17:50
You cannot run a whole house fan and a/c at the same time. Think about this, All the conditioned air from your house will be wasted and blown outside, while drawing the same amount of hot,humid outdoor air into your house at the same time. Bad Idea. You should call a good service company to take a look at it.
Answer me this: Turn on the a/c and go to outdoor unit, is the large pipe cool and sweaty or room temp?
Is it possible that filter and/or a/c coil are dirty? You may want to open up the indoor unit and check the cooling coil(both sides of coil). If it is dirty it will restrict airflow and reduce it's capacity.
"My dad was the most feared furnace fighter in Northern Indiana."
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| | mpsteele
| "Re(2):Hot 2nd Floor - Any Suggestions?" , posted Sat 24 May 01:19
It's still cold in Michigan this year, so no AC running yet.
However, I've had 2 service companies out in last few years. Charge is fine. Always clean. Agree that whole house fan is a loser idea.
Anyone with experience with a Gable fan WITH RIDGE VENT? I've read in 2 seperate places online that they don't work together, b/c the fan just sucks air in through the ridge instead of pushing out the hot attic air and pulling in cooler air through the soffit vents. If it was easy to test, I would, but it's a pretty substantial project since my house doesn't have gable vents - so holes would need to be cut.
Thanks.
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| | theduke03
| "Re(3):Hot 2nd Floor - Any Suggestions?" , posted Sat 24 May 07:22
I'm no attic fan guy but I can tell you that an attic exhaust fan can only help you. It is also supposed to extend roof life.
You may want to inspect your duct system in attic for broken duct connections. If a return duct is broken it will draw in hot air and cause a problem like yours.
What is approx. sq. footage of 2nd fl.?
What is the model# of outdoor unit for 2nd. fl.?
Can you run the a/c and measure the difference between return air temp and supply air temp?
"My dad was the most feared furnace fighter in Northern Indiana."
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| dwcaveney
| "Re(1):Hot 2nd Floor - Any Suggestions?" , posted Fri 23 May 16:25:
The gable fan will help a lot. It is not uncommon for temperature in the attic to reach 130 degrees in the summer. While you're at it, add more insulation.
DW
[this message was edited by dwcaveney on Fri 23 May 16:33] |
| | danw13
| "Re(2):Hot 2nd Floor - Any Suggestions?" , posted Fri 30 May 09:08
Forget the attic fan idea all togeather !!! All you will achieve is that you suck the cold air from the first floor up thru the second floor and outside making the AC run pretty much all the time, Not too mention it will in effect suck air thru any openings you may have in the second floor like ceiling boxes ect ect... You would be better served by adding insulation to the attic, sealing your duct work and making sure there are no unknown obstruction in the duct work. How many codl air returns do you have in the home? Do you have any cold air returns in your upstairs? If not you would be wise to have some installed as well as some high wall reutrns for when the AC is running during the summer months and have some floor returns added as well for the heating season will help tremendoulsy, you also might want to run your blower on your air handler or furnace on low speed to help circulate the air will help in moving the air thru out the house as well as keep the air filtered along with sucking air off the ceiling in your second floor. If you have any ceiling fans upstairs you may want to have those run on low speed to help move the air until you can have the proper return air vents put in either by you or your contractor.
Dan
Cedar Grove Wi
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