MY ROOM IS HOT!

[tommie gorman]

And you get those all day breezes off the ocean too. 

[Ryan314]

The whole attic is very well insulated.. the only problem is the high hats in my room arent, so my dad and i figure thats where the heats getting in / or the airs getting out.

so i guess ill have to tough it out for the rest of this heat wave =/

[Dark_Matter]

Yeah during the summer my room with my computers is on fire!!! It's also upstairs, and my house has a tin roof!!!  With the central air going, and the wall ac the temps are still pretty hellish at times.

Winter can never come soon enough for me 

[cholla]

Ryan314:What are "high hats" I'm guessing dormers .

[Ryan314]

High hats are the lights in my room.. they are set up in my roof and have the dimmer on them.

[dlewis23]

ryan the high hats are a way heat could get into to your room i would look there

did you turn off your computer over night like i suggested to see if it would be cooler in your room in the morning?

[cholla]

Ryan314 ;Thanks I hadn't heard the term for recessed lighting.I guess because I don't have any.It would seem these would vent all their heat up into the attic.So if the attic is properly vented this shouldn't be a problem.How many are in your room & what is the wattage per bulb As well as what type bulb do you use?Unless either is excessive I doubt the lights are the problem.Heat rises so what is directly below you computer room?Does it have the recessed lights that their heat could be coming up through your floor.So the problem might be heat generated in the room below.

[tonyswhirl]

LOL - if I would have told my parents my run was hot - after I picked myself up off the floor they would have told me to get a job - in which case it would not matter if it was hot because I would not be there and when I was the heat would not bother me because I would be too tired from working to care about any heat.

[Ryan314]

Cholla, there are two high hats in my room, they bulbs are 65watt phillips.

[tommie gorman]

FIrst try the flourescent replacement bulb that screws in  also. Very little heat whatsoever.

Second if your dad would like there is a thing called a power vent. During these hot times, they are a god send(no pun intended). Lamonco is a quality built one I have installed a few times. They are thermostatically controlled to come on at 90 degrees I believe. They move quite a bit of heat out of the attic. Simple wiring too.

Here is a pic and it should be avaliable most places. If not a roofing supply wil have them.

Lomanco 200h Model: 135-BROWN  $33.50

Also pack one bag of insulation around the can lights(high  hats).

http://www.blackenergy.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=950

[Voltageman]

Do you keep your door closed with the a/c running?  If you keep door open, and other rooms are not air conditioned, you might as well just shut it off, especially if there is a window open in the house.  Unless it is way oversized, it will not do a thing if the door is open.  Keep door closed, and if rest of the house is not air conditioned, put a towel under the door... This will help keep the humidity out to some degree....Air conditioners will not cool very well until they have dehumidified the air as well(takes about 24 hours to dehumidify fully from a dead start depending on humidity level).  If you have windows with major sun exposure, use blinds..Especially if you have a dark rug....Feel a dark rug in the sun...It will radiate a lot of heat, unless you have very good windows.  If you leave, don't shut it off...Turn the temperature setting higher.  It uses more energy to catch up that it does to maintain temperature.

Just out of curiosity, did you check the filter and the coil on the a/c unit...Not just the inside coil, but the outside coil..Get a flash light and look...If either one is dirty, the a/c unit will not work or will not work as well...

Do you have a thermometer?  If so, take the air temp near the intake(by filter), and then take the temp where the air comes out...If possible put thermo inside ducting.  You should get a temp difference between 16-20 deg F.. Ex.  Intake 80 - 60 Supply = 20...But, once the temp gets above 95, especially in high humidity, the units tend to decrease in efficiency, so temp difference will not be as great.  If its over 100, and you are getting a 16 degree difference, you are doing well....

Make sure filter is clean, and look on the inside coil (evaporator).

If you have dogs or cats, the a/c units tend to collect the hair and creates a film mixed with dust and other airborne materials which blocks the airflow.  Usually you can just peel it off.  If its just dirty in general, use an old toothbrush and brush parallel to the fins....Try to collect as much of the dirt as possible so it doesn't block the drain.

Check the outside coil(condenser).  If this is dirty, your unit will also lose its efficiency.  If it is too dirty it also stresses the compressor.

Remember to look at the correct side of the coil(ex.  if air is going Left to Right, check Left side of coil/Right to Left, the Right)...This is where the dirt/grass clippings/pollen/etc will collect...This may be a little hard to see...You can just take a garden hose and spray in the opposite direction of the air flow, so you don't compact the dirt into the coil.  Be carefull not to fold over the fins with the water stream..TURN OFF UNIT BEFORE YOU PUT THE HOSE TO IT.  I have heard a lot of people say to put a sprinkler on the a/c condenser coil during the heat wave...If you cool down the coil too much, you will cause the refrigerant to become a liquid too soon and can damage the compressor(they do not like to pump liquid refrigerant...Makes them very angry..).  A/C uses change of state to gain efficiency also.  If change of state from gas to liquid does not occur in the coil, you lose efficiency.  Same holds true for the inside coil.  If it is dirty, not enough air will pass across to raise the temp enough to boil..Therefore you lose efficiency, plus you chance creating a glacier if it is dirty enough.

And Blunted is also correct, lower voltages result in higher amperage draw....This holds true for every item in your house that uses electric.  The lower the voltage, the higher the amps go, until it hits the point where items overdraw on amps, and you have a brown-out..Transformers like to explode/melt and this point.    Compressors also are reluctant to start when voltage is too low, and can trip the breaker or lock-up(fry..  ) on startup... 

Find out how many BTU's the unit is, and take a tape measure and find out what size the room is.

The unit may not be big enough.  Electronics need to be considered when sizing a/c, along with refrigerators, which also create a ton of heat.

And like everyone else already stated, turn off as much of those electronics as possible...Stereos, TVs, Computers...They all are very inefficient in general..That is why you have so much heat(wasted energy..unless you need it for heat I suppose, but even then, it can't be an efficient heating method)...They will one day remedy this.  Lower wattage high efficiency bulbs work wonders also...Note how cool they stay..

Also, as tommie said, get an attic vent.  I have put them in dozens of houses in the past, and everyone noticed the difference almost immediately.  Attics without a vent can be 140F+(not fun to work in those), and your high hats will have a hard time dumping heat into heat...So where does it go??? In the room.

this small response turned into a book... 

Trying to make up for not posting in a while in one post!

Used to do it for a living....(happy right now I don't lol)

[cholla]

Here most houses have the wind powered turbines but in parts of the country without enough wind The make several types & sizes of powered thermostatically controled attic vents.Like tommie posted.I remember seeing a building show where the put a big one in the eve instead of the roof.Or was that the range hood on Home Improvement.  

Ryan314 ;even with incandesent bulbs I doubt if the lights are the heat problem  with only 2.I though you might have 6 or 8.

tommie I have some of the flourescent screw in ones in some places but to be fair they don't give off as much light as there rated.If you do get these get one with a good warranty.I have taken my 7 year warranty one back 4 times to Walmart.

If you want the best light for efficency (the ballast does give off some heat ) A dual 40w flourscent is good.Use the more expensive Kitchen & bath or warm white type bulbs for a more natural light than the cool whites.The cool or warm refer to color not heat.

Voltageman;Good post on the refrigerated AC.Here I use a swamp cooler most of the time.The honey comb paper pads work the best for cooling.& you need to open windows to allow it to flow.But for humid days I have 2 window unit refrigerated air.It's usually not hard to get the house down to 70 degrees even on a 100 plus day.

[justinlay]

The last time i had the AC guy out (3 months back) i was asking him why it was having a hard time cooling the house down. He told me the unit is to big? My house is about 1500 Sq foot. and it has a 4 ton unit. My paperwork says the max size is suppost to be 2.5 ton. He said what it does is its trying to cool the house down faster than it can take the humitly out of the air? its that ture? When its 95 or below it cools great, but higher that 95 it runs quite longer.

[Voltageman]

The last time i had the AC guy out (3 months back) i was asking him why it was having a hard time cooling the house down. He told me the unit is to big? My house is about 1500 Sq foot. and it has a 4 ton unit. My paperwork says the max size is suppost to be 2.5 ton. He said what it does is its trying to cool the house down faster than it can take the humidity out of the air? its that true? When its 95 or below it cools great, but higher that 95 it runs quite longer.

Yes you can have it oversized...This is the biggest mistake people make...You are almost better being slightly under than way over...

If the unit is too large, it will cool the air down very fast, but since the cycle of cooling is so short, little humidity will be taken out of the air.  Therefore you end up with damp cold air.

You can get condensation on the windows sometimes if it is oversized too much...I have seen it...Boggles my mind who installs the systems.

Best way to tell...Run in place until you sweat.  Stop running.  If your sweat evaporates rapidly, you are OK..If the sweat stays there, and you feel cold and clammy...It is oversized.  You should dry off rapidly when entering an air conditioned house...If you just get cold and wet, its not really working properly or efficiently.

But, you say the house is 1500 sq ft.  Rule of thumb is about 1 ton per 400 square feet.  So a 2000 sq ft house would require a 5 ton unit. 

1500 would be about right for your house. But, that is if you are measuring the LIVING SPACE.  You can not just take the length and width of the house.  You need to add up the sq footage of each room that has a/c in it.  That is the sq ft number you need.  Skylights/Sliding Glass Doors and other items also need to be considered.  Closets or any un-air conditioned space does not count.  Make sure the condenser outside is clean...If you can, powerwash the coil from inside out. Usually you can easily take fan off top, and move to side without disconnecting to get to the coil from the inside. Don't wash from the outside, or you will compact the dirt into the coil.  Even though it may look clean, it can be plugged, and still look fine.  Take a flashlight at night, and try to shine it through the coil...You will be able to find the plugged spots.

If it is oversized, you can also cut an outlet out of the ductwork in the attic, and let one blow up there...It will not do anything but cool attic, and let the a/c dehumidify better.  If the unit is way oversized, it won't hurt your efficiency at all..may actually help.  Best thing is to have it properly sized to begin with.

And when its over 95, and the humidity is very high, depending on how well your house is sealed/insulated, you may be getting the most out of the unit...The slightest leak in a window/door can let a lot of humidity in...

[cholla]

Is there an outside setting on the unit that would cycle the compressor less.In effect turning the larger unit into a smaller one.

[tommie gorman]

Actually justinlay I picked the minds of 3 long time tech's when I had my A/C designed for my house. All new ductwork a/c and all. I live in a 1378'square house, and it works exquisitely. The high heat does nothing except work a little better. I am not so sure yours is too big. What is the "seer" rating of your unit?

[justinlay]

Well my house or a manurfacture Home if you want to call it is only a year old, all i know it has a energy star on it. If I had some trees it would help me quite some bit.All i see is the btus 30990 and says 2.5 Max ton size

[Voltageman]

Is there an outside setting on the unit that would cycle the compressor less.In effect turning the larger unit into a smaller one.

Residential units normally will, if anything, have a time delay for start up.  Compressors do not like starting if pressures are not equalized or they are hot...The time delay of 2-5 minutes is normally plenty of time.  Most digital t-stats have a built in time delay.  The inside fan will come on, but compressor will wait for a few minutes to ensure it has equalized.

You could, if you wanted to, use a time delay(break the 24v going to compressor contactor) and you would allow for longer run cycles..But, in the end it is just going to give you wider fluctuations in temp. and slightly lower humidity..There is a good reason you need to size it correctly.

If it is sized correctly other problems could be:

- improper refrigerant charge.

- contaminated refrigerant charge/non-condensables..ie:water.  If from install, system was not properly evacuated, this can cause havoc, and will destroy the oil, eventually toasting your compressor.

-clogged filter or plugged coil (inside evaporator coil)

-plugged Condenser coil

-Poor insulation/leaky windows/doors

-Leaving a window open...believe it or not, I have had people who refuse to believe it will cool faster will windows closed....

-Leaky return in attic.  If unit is in attic, the return(intake), may be sucking in attic air @ 120+deg ...This will warm intake air and limit you cooling differential.  Check for leaky ductwork in and around the large return grille.

-Weak Compressor.  If valves start to go, so does its pumping capacity...It happens from age.

-improper return location.  There cannot be a supply grille too close to the return.  Also, it must be up high...Some forced air systems have a/c added, but returns are not altered..these work poorly with return on floor.

-Thermostat in the sun or too close to supply outlet.  Thermostat should be as close to return as possible, if not right below it, and out of the sun.

-improper supply outlet size.  Seen it, but normally they at least get that right.  Each size 6,7,8" all carry a certain cubic feet per minute.  This needs to match the rooms square footage.  There are usually dampers in the attic right at the ductwork, where you can adjust the air flow.  For example: if one room is too cold, you can turn down the airflow to that room, which will in turn force more air out the other supplies.  It takes some time to get it right, but can make a huge difference.

I've seen more, but they they are freak things..Like earwigs getting stuck in electrical contacts...

When its really hot, leave the fan on...There is a setting on thermostat for  Fan ON or Auto.  On really hot days, set it to ON.

This will let fan continuously run(compressor will cycle normally), and will mix the air in the house better.  The indoor fans use next to nothing in electric.  Its the monster outside that sucks it up.

Seer rating does effect cooling because of the larger condenser coils, but normally the difference in cooling capacity is not noticeable(or at least should not be) until temps near 100.  They do however use less electricity.  This is due to a combination of the metering device used inside the evaporator, and the larger condenser coil.  Scroll compressors are also sometimes used.(more efficient)

There a many factors that determine how well it works.  When its cool, you can get away with a number of them, and you will not notice..But as it gets into the 90's, these little things will start to impede the systems ability to cool.

Most important thing is too keep everything clean.  If you have pets this is very important.  The inside coil can get very dirty even with a filter when you have pets.

Think of the outside unit as the radiator on your car.  If you packed dirt, glass clippings, leaves, pollen, and what ever else you could find on it, and then drove around on a 100 degree day, it would probably overheat.  Same thing happens with the Condenser.  The hotter that unit gets, the higher the pressures are...Too high a pressure will cause compressor failure.  Thats why it is important that it stays clean..

[cholla]

tommie  & justinlay;I think what the too large unit does is turn the evaporator into an icecube that doesn't let air flow through it.If the compressor could be set to cycle less regardless of the thermostat setting this would allow the evaporator to warm & let the air flow evaporate the moisture on the evaporator coil.Then when cold again the air would flow through it.

I could be wrong on this my AC experience is mostly automotive.

The only other thing I could suggest is to see if a AC tech (A good one) could install a smaller valve to the evaporator.

Voltageman answered my question but I'm posting this anyway

One more thing can or have you observed the evavprator coil when the AC is running.Is it an icecube that doesn't let air flow through?

[Voltageman]

Well my house or a manurfacture Home if you want to call it is only a year old, all i know it has a energy star on it. If I had some trees it would help me quite some bit.All i see is the btus 30990 and says 2.5 Max ton size

Yes, there are 12,000 btu's to a ton of a/c...So if you are reading it correctly, you have approx. 2.5 tons of a/c(if this is what unit says on it)...You may be under sized. if the house is more than 1000 sq ft living space...

Humidity should be low, but cycles will be very long when its hot out, and it has trouble in really hot weather.

[Voltageman]

Oversizing will not make it ice up...

It will ice up if:

-too little refrigerant....and in some cases too much refigerant(you have to go way overboard)

-clogged filter/coil

-plugged orifice/expansion valve in evaporator-(rare)

-Duct work is undersized for unit. If your return is too small, or there are not enough supplies, you will be unable to move enough air.

Oversizing(meaning ductwork and unit is oversized).  Will just cause house to be more humid at same temp than a properly sized one.

[justinlay]

The paper from my last work assignment its says size 4 ton. I dont know if i should go by that or the house paperwork, and its almost a 1500 SQ foot home. So far today its running pretty good i have it set to 82 and its runs about 5 mins every 20 mins and so on

[cholla]

If it is a 2.5 ton then it might be a little too small.

Interesting that oversizing will not cause ice up.

& you say the air intake should basically be located high on the wall & not near a supply vent.

Like I said for me where I live humidity is almost never a problem & I'm able to use a swamp cooler most of the time.My 2 refrigerated window units will do a pretty good job for the rare times humidity is high.

justinlay ;Is the AC tech that the work assignment from affiliated with the home warranty some way.If so he may be giving you a "snow job"  because the home contractor installed too small a unit.

I would beleive what the metal plate on the unit says.Or get an independent evaluation if the AC tech you used is affiliated with the home warranty

[Voltageman]

The paper from my last work assignment its says size 4 ton. I dont know if i should go by that or the house paperwork, and its almost a 1500 SQ foot home. So far today its running pretty good i have it set to 82 and its runs about 5 mins every 20 mins and so on

4 ton would be right for 1500..

Get the model # and make off the outside unit, and I can tell you how big it is.

If you can, take door off unit in attic(the door where the pipes go in..either 5/16 or 1/4" nut driver will do), and take a look at the coil.  It could just be dirty.....Make sure they didn't leave the factory filter in the unit(will be right after where the return ductwork is attached...I've seen it left in, and people don't know about it, and only change filter in the grille...Over time, that second filter will get plugged, and decrease cooling capacity.

And wash down outside unit.  It may look clean, but look inside..The crap will collect on inside.

[dlewis23]

4 ton would be right for 1500..

Get the model # and make off the outside unit, and I can tell you how big it is.

4ton would be actually a little high for 1500sq feet. my place is 1475sq feet and mine is 2.5 ton.