5:00PM yesterday … 98ºF/80ºF (attic/2nd floor) AC constantly running.
10:40PM yesterday … 97º/78º AC constantly running.
12:30AM this morning … 75º/78º AC constantly running.
6:15AM this morning … 71º/75º AC constantly running.
7:30AM this morning … 74º/75º AC constantly running.
Note: Must be a problem. Master bedroom use to cool to set temp, but now cannot get within 4º of set temp. All above temps in NE-facing bedroom.
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Replies
What color is the roof shingle, how well vented is the attic, how well insulated? I have the same problem with heat gain in the attic. I have to get up there and add insulation thats better than the blown fiber glass.
From the temperature you're showing on the attic it looks like you are trying to cool it? What has changed before you started having this prob.? You have to give more info., FYI attics are not normally cooled, sorry.
"If all else fails, read the directions"
Roof shingles are medium to light gray in color. The pitch is fairly aggressive, with the centerline being ~18' high. Soffets and ridge venting only. Not trying to cool the attic as much as I am trying to cool some of the rroms immeidately below the attic. :)
Just bought a Fluke 62 Mini and learned the other portable temp meter was actually reading two degrees (F) low! The Fluke is pretty much on the dime with the HVAC control panels.
3:10PM ... 100º/83º AC constantly running. Note: attic temp is measures at its lowest elevation and just on the other side of the drop-down attic ladder. Highest point in attic is ~130ºF, and 120ºF at the top of the HVAC unit in the attic.
The room that is getting overly hot was just discovered why it is getting overly hot. Underneath the twin double-hung windows the wall is open (another problem being that reason). The OSB sheathing which sits behind the brick facade is reaching 88-91ºF on the interior side.
Also, there is a gap underneath the window sill of the Anderson windows that provides air to the brick-OSB air gap. This gap is exposed to the mess in the room directly below on the first floor where I had a standing seam metal roof replaced and running down other water infiltration problems (its the Anderson window above). Well, that first floor room is generating a lot of heat and its coming up.
Igh, I hate my house.
The HVAC is in the attic? All of it, or is there some in the basement? How well is the ductwork sealed? Where is the AC's condenser (outside) unit located?
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
He states that the AC at one time cooled to set temp if I read it right.I'd start with a PM. First off is the air filter in the FCU clean?Second would be is the condenser (outdoor unit) been cleaned? Pollen and air borne junk get sucked into the coils and are not able to do a proper job.Third is are the gas pressures correct?
Yeah, we're just getting the info in dribs and drabs.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Doesn't seem like the attic temp is the major part of the problem, since you've got the same 2nd floor temp yesterday evening and this AM, with majorly different attic temps.
It's pretty much normal for the second floor to not be able to cool adequately with a standard single furnace/AC setup. Problem is that the ductwork to the 2nd floor is long (and often narrow) and the cold AC air doesn't want to move up it very well. (Heat rises, cold doesn't.) Sometimes shutting off most/all registers in the first floor does the trick (air "tumbling down" from the 2nd floor cools the first adequately), other times you need a booster fan or an aux window unit to manage.
The "right way" to do it is with a zoned system.
DanH, I may have not have been clear. I have a two-story home on full basement.
First and second floors are independently zoned. The 1st floor zone HVAC resides in the basement, and the 2nd floor zone in the attic. Both zoned systems employ flex-duct (hate it) and are installed along the home's centerline (bottom of stairs in basement, top of attic ladder). This is county code. The HVAC comprised of separate gas furnace and AC.
The AC condensers are on one side of the home. The home itself is about 55' in length and 25' in depth with the long axis running from NW to SE. The condensers are sitting on the wall facing the SE. They get plenty of morning sun and a little of the afternoon and evening sun. No shrubs around it.
RobWes, air filters are replaced every 60-days even though they are rated for more. Inspection of an out-going filter isn't terrible even in my dusty home.
Well, if the system used to keep up and now doesn't, and there've been no changes to the system or the area cooled, and the filters are clean, and you're reasonably confident that all registers are open (or adjusted the same as they used to be), and you're also confident that no ductwork has come undone in the attic, then I'd say the AC is low on gas or the compressor is shot.Though it's also possible that the fan isn't kicking into high speed mode.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin