I rent a 3 bedroom townhome, and being as how it's been in the mid 90's here for about a month, it is unbearably hot upstairs. Anyone have any tips other than putting a window unit upstairs?
*****************************************************
05-25-04, 11:12 AM
teeceeum
You might try closing some of the downstairs vents. And a ceiling fan wouldn't hurt either. I'm afraid that I don't think that there is much you can do short of putting a unit upstairs.

05-25-04, 11:20 AM
keninem
Actually from everything I've read, closing vents in other areas does not help at all..and I do have several fans upstairs, but they all just blow the hot air around.

05-26-04, 07:36 AM
Walks On Water
You did not state if you have whole house A/C or not. I am assuming you do.

Being on the coast, you not only have to beat the heat, but the humidity also.

80 at 40% feels like 83. 80 at 60% feels like 90.

If you do, cold air sinks to the lower levels of the house. Even by installing a "Room A/C" the cooler air will try to stay as low as it can. By shutting down some of the lower level vents, you will force more cool air upstairs.

Now the problem. As in most houses, the vents are at the floor level. This leads to cool air just flowing back to lower levels through the "Cold Air" returns or down the stairs. They do make deflectors that force the air to blow up towards the ceiling. This is a little bit effective.

Some how you need to circulate that air in the rooms so it mixes with the warmer air at the "Living Area" of the room. Lets say 6 feet or so. Ceiling fans, or better, "Hassock" fan on the floor blowing up etc. Ceiling fans force hot air down from the ceiling in any direction you run them.

Next, do you have an attic. If you do, you might try to have a "Power Vent" installed in the attic. This will cut down on the heat build uop that may be coming down through the ceiling of your second floor.

Without checking out your house in person, this is hard for me to make an educated guess. It just may be that that your A/C, if you have one, is not as efficient as it could be.

If you are talking about just keeping 1 bedroom cool in the evening, a small window unit with the door closed will help and even be more economical then runnig the whole house A/C.

WOW

05-26-04, 03:50 PM
JerseyTomater
Here's another idea, hefty price tags though. I've never used one though.

Portable Air Conditioner Smile

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JerseyTomater, 05-26-04 04:45 PM

05-26-04, 04:00 PM
DvdGStwrt
Um, short of re-insulating the walls, running central AC from the top down, or putting in a window unit there is nothing you can really do to change this kind of situation.

Heat rises. Ideally in a multi-floored structure, one would heat the bottom floor in the winter, letting the heat go up, while in winter cooling the top floor letting the cool air sink.

Being in VA I assume that a swamp cooler (Uses water evaporation to cool) is a useless venture due to the humidity.

How is the attic insulation? If it is good, you may want to try opening the windows at night, setting up a fan to blow the hot air out and the cooler air in and then in the early morning shut the windows and cover them with a thicker curtain (Quilted comforters are excellant insulative blankets to use for windows, but it leaves the house darkFrown). This would trap the cooler air in. This could make it easier to keep the interior cool without running the AC as hard.

Also turning on the AC before it gets too hot tends to help reduce the energy costs. It is far more expensive to lower the temperature than it is to maintain a lower temperature set earlier in the day.

David

05-27-04, 07:55 AM
Walks On Water
Just a side note. I read somewhere that turning off your A/C while away at work sometimes cost more to operate then to just leave it on. Now this is not true in all cases for all homes.

I had a lady one time that complained that her A/C was not working right. I checked it out completely and found nothing wrong with it. Properly size and a good brand.

After questing her on it's operation is when I found the real problem. She would turn it off and open the windows durring the day. When it started getting warm in the afternoon, she would close the windows and started the A/C. Sounds good so far. It ran continuously and late in the evening, it finally feel cool.

There are two types of heat. Sensible heat, this is the heat that you can read on a thermometer and Latent heat, this is heat stored as energy. Humidity is a latent heat. Heat water on the stove, you are putting sensible heat in to the water changing it to steam. Remove the heat from steam, you have water. A/C systems have to work the hardest on latent heat. Pulling moisture from your furiture and surroundings. By removing this latent heat energy, you cause the moisture to condense out drying the air.

When the lady opened her windows durring the day, she was allowing humidity to infiltrate the house. When she started her A/C, it had to remove this humidity to make the room feel comfortable.

Wondering if your A/C is running as well as it could? Here is a quick test. Check the temperature of the return air entering the unit. Then check the temerature of the supply air coming out. This should done at the same time. There should be a 15-20 deg. difference. This is a variable as the effecency is dependent on outside air temperature on air cooled units. I would say it would be true at 85 deg. outside air temp.

05-27-04, 12:38 PM
coldfuse
A couple of less expensive things you've probably tried already:

1. Replace air filters to improve system efficiency

2. Get a small fan to help cool yourself at night

As mentioned, turning off the A/C during the day can be self-defeating. The problem is not so much cooling down the air by itself, but keeping heat removed from home furnishings.

How in the world did we live before A/C?

05-27-04, 01:01 PM
teeceeum

quote:Originally posted by coldfuse:
How in the world did we live before A/C?


I don't know. But I sure do remember those days as a child.

05-28-04, 01:14 AM
DvdGStwrt
What WOW said reminds me, there are dehumidifiers on the market. VA is a fairly humid place, if you can cut the humidity in the house you may feel cooler.

David

05-28-04, 06:33 AM
Walks On Water
Dave, the reason I don't recomend a dehumidifier as a "Cooling" device is that as it removes that latent heat, it puts it in to the room. In most cases it is a trade off. As the room gets drier, the temperature goes up. You really don't feel any cooler and you wasted all that energy for nothing. You would do better running a window A/C. The heat is ejected outside.

They are great to get the dampness out of the basement or to keep your furniture from warping.

05-28-04, 11:56 AM
Lydia

quote:Originally posted by Lydia:

quote:Originally posted by coldfuse:
1. Replace air filters to improve system efficiency



Is that true??? I have central Air and an air purification system...they (the maintenance folks from the company that installed it for me) tell me that if you replace it too frequently, it doesn't work as well. Supposedly, as it is used, it does a better job filtering...not true?


05-28-04, 03:20 PM
Walks On Water
It is true that a dirty filter filters better then a clean filter. The dirt that it picks up makes the openings that lets the air pass smaller there by able to trap smaller particales. But along with this goes reduced air flow. Low air flow, reduced efficiency. whether heating or cooling.

Under normal operation, filters should be changed or cleaned about every 6 months. In the Spring for cooling season and in the fall for heating.

Because of the nature of electronic "Electro-Static" air filter, the need to be cleaned more often. They can pick up smoke from smokers in the house. Cooking vapors and grease from the kitchen. This coats the surface of the "Plates" and reduces it's ability to attract more while still being able to pass large amounts of air.

How often you clean/change your filter is a fine line balance of filtering efficiency and heating/cooling efficiency.

05-28-04, 04:04 PM
DorianGreyed
Another downside to not changing filters often enough is that more strain is put on the fan or blower motor. Filters are very cheap compared to a new motor, and you can change the filter in a minute or so; you may have to call a repairman to replace a motor. With proper maintenance, a good AC unit will last a long time. My father had a 38 year-old Sears central unit that finally gave out in 1997. He changed filters monthly, and oiled the fan when he felt it was necessary.
If you stay with the central unit, and your vents are near the floor, place a fan, aimed upward, near the vents.
If you get a window unit for upstairs, blocking the space under a closed door will help keep cool air in that room. I had an old bath towel, sewn into a tube and stuffed with old socks. It also works in winter to keep cold air from entering under exterior doors.
If I remember correctly, this is WoW's area of expertise. I would definitely listen to him.

05-28-04, 06:37 PM
frankvan
I agree with all of the answers posted with one small quibble. The load on a fan motor is actually less, not more, when the filter is clogged, or the fan is moving less air through it. Of course, since the cooling effect, or heating effect, is diminished the fan motor would run longer to accomplish less.

05-29-04, 10:05 AM
Walks On Water
Frank is right. On "Squirrel Cage" blowers, thats's what all home units have, the load drops off if restricted.

You're wondering why they call them "Squirrel Cage"? Next time you look at one, think of that hamster wheel you see them running on.

Just like your vacuum cleaner, if the suction or discharge tube gets blocked up, there is no air for it to move and it "Free Wheels". You can hear the motor speed up. Remove the restriction, the motor picks up the load and you will hear it slow down.

Keep that in mind the next time you are vacuuming the rug and your vacuum is not picking up as well as it should. Check your bag or filter.

06-10-04, 06:11 PM
kittypal
Hey you guys, what about an attic fan...are those for homes without AC or can they be used with AC??

06-11-04, 07:12 AM
Walks On Water
An attic fan will help lessen the load on the A/C only if it does not draw air from the house.

An attic fan is used to remove the heat build up in the attic by pulling cooler, outside air from one end of the attic and exhaust it out the other. Attic temperature can reach 120-150 degs. By pulling in OA at, let's say, 85 degs. this will keep the attic a little cooler and not radiate this heat through the ceiling below.

If you do not have A/C, a "Whole House" attic fan pulls warm air from the top floors pulling cooler air from outside through open windows on the lower floors. The only down side to this is the outside air can be very humid. At least the temperature should be no higher then outside. Do not run this type of fan if you have A/C going as it will try to cool to whole out doors.

Typically, the attic fan is not as large as a "Whole House" fan. It only has to move enough air to keep the attic cool.

06-11-04, 10:49 AM
kittypal
Thanks WoW, I remember having an attic fan in out ranch style home as a child and the cool breeze it created. The home we have now has central air, also the "attic" is located only in the unused portion of the dormers where the window seats are not, it is a Cape Cod. Our upstairs gets awfully warm too, even when the air is cranked up.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,