Air Conditioning - Air-conditioning not cooling upstairs
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Magoulias
06-11-08, 01:42 PM
We have a 2 story house - one air-conditioning unit - upstairs is 10-15 degrees hotter than main level. Any suggestions? Heating is about the same - that much cooler in the winter.
electronbee
06-11-08, 04:04 PM
In the basement, or wherever the air handler is, you should have dampers that allow you to adjust airflow via opening and closing them.
With two people and some yelling --or walkie-talkies-- you can close one and have the other person walk around the house and tell you which vents no longer have the airflow. Then, once you know which damper(s) control which part(s) of the house you can adjust them. In my lace it seems more like they control vertical sections: front of house, middle of house, and back of house. I wish it was by actual floors.
You can also open and close the ceiling and floor registers. I recently adjusted my ducting and registers so that more air goes upstairs to cool off the bedrooms. The cooling is a lot more even now between the 1st and 2nd floor. Basement is still the coolest but that's expected.
I strongly suggest you mark their current location so you can always go back. Also, I'd buy some of that foil duct tape, not that cheap plastic stuff, but the nice metal stuff. Use that to tape up your air handler and the ducting before the damper. Once you close a damper the pressure will build up and you'll feel air blowing out of the cracks where the ducting with the damper connects to the air handler box. I actually taped up as much as I could in my basement. Also made it somewhat quieter down there.
I'm also going to install an attic fan. I think that will help out as well.
eb
With two people and some yelling --or walkie-talkies-- you can close one and have the other person walk around the house and tell you which vents no longer have the airflow. Then, once you know which damper(s) control which part(s) of the house you can adjust them. In my lace it seems more like they control vertical sections: front of house, middle of house, and back of house. I wish it was by actual floors.
You can also open and close the ceiling and floor registers. I recently adjusted my ducting and registers so that more air goes upstairs to cool off the bedrooms. The cooling is a lot more even now between the 1st and 2nd floor. Basement is still the coolest but that's expected.
I strongly suggest you mark their current location so you can always go back. Also, I'd buy some of that foil duct tape, not that cheap plastic stuff, but the nice metal stuff. Use that to tape up your air handler and the ducting before the damper. Once you close a damper the pressure will build up and you'll feel air blowing out of the cracks where the ducting with the damper connects to the air handler box. I actually taped up as much as I could in my basement. Also made it somewhat quieter down there.
I'm also going to install an attic fan. I think that will help out as well.
eb
Saturn
06-11-08, 04:37 PM
Common problem with 2 story houses with a single unit. If you have lots of disposable cash the best thing to do is rip out your old system and install 2 new systems properly sized for the loading one for 1st story and one for the 2nd story. If you are like me though you fiddle with the branch dampers and do the best you can. Not much disposable income for me. A ductwork zoning system can also help but you will need to do some duct change outs and the complexity can be problematic especially once the controls and motor driven dampers get some age on them.