So, the first warm-ish day of summer finally showed up in the Black Hills yesterday and I noticed that our central air conditioning was not really keeping up... the thermostat was set at 72, but the interior temperature was 76 and didn't drop a degree after several hours of continuous operation of the A/C. Troubleshooting, I identified the following issues: only two open/unblocked registers in the entire house. Solution: opened/unblocked all registers and delivered a semi-patronizing lecture to my children about not covering the vents with boxes. An extremely dirty air filter. Solution: changed air filter. Stern lecture to myself about remembering to do this every 60 days or so. Thinking that this would solve the problem, I sat on the couch and waited to be bathed in the A/C's cool embrace. Yet, after another hour, the temperature had still not dropped even a degree. The next steps in my investigation revealed the following: the air blowing out of the registers didn't seem all that cool (but it did seem slightly cooler than room temp).

the insulation covering the line coming in from the outside unit were soaking wet and had visible condensation. the outside unit seemed to be blowing cold air. I've taken a look at this question: AC Unit Blow Warm Air Indoor But Colder Air Outdoor but I am daring to risk being flagged as a duplicate due to the additional details I have provided, hoping that they might help in the further diagnosis of my problem. Is there anything else I can try or do I need to call upon the arcane services of an HVAC professional? There is some additional easy trouble-shooting you can do yourself. Check temperature at the vents: Get a little thermometer. Put it right on or just inside one of the air vents so that it's getting the full effect of the air temp coming out of the vents. The air should be about 20 degrees cooler than ambient in your house. So, if your house is 75, the air coming out should be 55 or around there. If it's not, then you may be low on coolant.

If the air filter was very dirty and vents were being blocked, you may have frozen your evaporator coils. In my case these coils sit right above the furnace. I have to take a front panel off to see them. They are literally, copper coils on a condenser / radiator looking thing. If you have a set of gauges, you should connect them at the condensing unit and measure the pressures in the refrigerant lines. If you don't have a set of gauges, you should contact somebody who does. Troubleshooting and repairing A/C units requires special tools, without them you can only speculate as to what the problem is. If I had to speculate, I'd say you're refrigerant is low. If you really want to poke around yourself, you could open up the air handler and visually inspect the evaporator coil. Make sure it's not iced up, or covered in dust, dirt, or debris. If it is dirty, you'll likely want to have a professional clean it, as the fins are easily damaged. One day several years ago it was 118° here, and our A/C couldn't get the house any cooler than 87°.

Eventually I discovered there wasn't enough aluminum tape around the return air duct, so I was just blowing a lot of cool air into the attic. portable air conditioner parts and accessoriesTaping it up solved the problem. air conditioner split system installationI don't know if that even applies in your case, but if so, it's worth a look.electric heating cooling wall unitsUpstairs gets very hot in summer. A/C can't keep up, at least not affordably. Thoughts on window films? HomeImprovement)submitted by I live in Ottawa (Ontario) in a two-storey townhouse with a basement. I have central air conditioning, but I find that it can't cool the upstairs bedrooms effectively on very hot days. The front of the house faces south-west and the bedrooms in the front get very hot during the day and evening.

If it's very sunny out the front of the house just BAKES from about 12-7 pm. Already have ceiling fans. They help, but I'm looking to do better. As far as I can tell there are no operational problems with the A/C, though I'm not an HVAC expert. I'm wondering what the general opinion is of those heat-reducing window films (such as from 3M or others). Do you think they're worth looking at as a means of helping to keep the upstairs cooler? Do they wreck any coating that might already be on the windows? Can they be removed, if necessary? What are the risks/downsides of using these? π Rendered by PID 32375 on app-842 at 2016-09-30 18:07:06.023276+00:00 running 9b22fbe country code: US.We hear these words frequently during hot, humid spells. When we assess the situation, here are the kinds of things we often see:Air conditioning equipment in need of service Is it producing to capacity? Has it been maintained at the beginning of every cooling season (pressures and coolants checked, air filters changed and so on)?

Have a qualified HVAC company check it out. Is the air filter slot covered? Sometimes the cover of the air filter slot was missing or open. That means that the unit could be sucking in hot and/ or dirty attic air, negatively affecting the equipment’s ability to cool as well as indoor air quality. Too big, too small or just right: Inadequate capacity or excess capacity, as designed When central air conditioning equipment is selected, a calculation should be done that takes into account the size of the home, the number and type of windows, the type of insulation and so forth. In our area, the air conditioning design standard is to be able to achieve 75 degrees inside on a 90-degree day, a 15 degree spread. During hot spells, if your system is able to maintain a temperature that is 15 degrees lower than the outside temperature, it is performing as designed. If it cannot cool to that temperature, or if a lower temperature is desired, more capacity may be needed, but check our suggestions below first.

If the desired temperature is being achieved but the house feels damp, there may be too much capacity so that the system is “short cycling”. This means that the system only runs in short bursts because the thermostat setting is quickly achieved, but it does not run for long enough to dry the air adequately. An HVAC company may be able to make adjustments. “Spaghetti” ducts: to maximize air flow, ductwork should run in the shortest, straightest lines possible taking into account other constraints like storage or the physical structure. We sometimes see duct layouts that are overly long or where there are unnecessary bends and loops, sharply bent soft ducts or even ducts to nowhere. If these can be shortened and straightened out, air will flow better to its intended destination. While you are having your ductwork checked out, make sure that all of the ducts lead to active grills. We were just in a home that was having capacity issues and saw that some conditioned air was being pushed into a duct that dead-ended at a solid wall.

Before you order new air conditioning equipment, you may be able to take some less costly and easier steps that can improve the situation noticeably. Seal your air ducts. A lot of air leaks out of the joints and connections of unsealed ductwork. By sealing with Aeroseal or mastic (a rubbery paint), you can ensure that more of the air you are paying to cool reaches its destination. This is a very low cost improvement with a quick payback. Don’t forget the connections to the air handler and to the ceiling and floor grills. Have your ducts cleaned every 10 years (or more frequently if you have pets or allergies) to improve air flow. Program your thermostats to both save energy and to allow your equipment to direct capacity to where it is needed. Usually this means that the bedroom portion of the home can be slightly warmer during the day and the living portion slightly warmer at night. Four degrees of change from day to night is a good goal for hydroair systems. If you have a family member who is away (or a guest bedroom), reduce the air flowing to that room by adjusting dampers.

Also, you can use the ‘hold’ feature on programmable thermostats to hold a higher temperature during the entire time you are away on vacation. If you have not yet installed programmable thermostats, now is the time. Relatively inexpensive models are available and the cost will quickly be recouped in energy savings. While we are on the subject of thermostats, also consider whether thermostat locations need adjusting. Stand directly in front of the thermostat when the air is blowing: does the air from the vents hit you in the face? If so, the thermostat may think it has achieved the temperature setting before the whole zone is cooled. This can often be corrected with wireless sensors or wireless thermostats placed in more representative locations without damaging the walls. Put a “hat” on the house: Adding high performance insulation (the green, non-toxic type) at the top of the house, either in the attic floor or between the attic rafters, will have a significant impact on cooling and heating.