re: Ways to keep house cool while waiting to repair AC situation.

Just a thought....

As CrawDude said, something is just not right. So thinking out side the box.

Could some of the inlet air duck insulation have come loose and get sucked up against the cooling coils? This would block air flow coming out of the unit and not cool the upstairs. ie. the air vent temperature would only be 5 or 10 degrees cooler that the inlet temperature.

In my house, the A/C filter is in the hall and I can stand on a ladder and see the A/C coils. Also, while looking at the coils, look at how the cooling coils fit up next to the duck. Years ago, I had a new coil installed. When I changed the air filter a month later, I notice a "big" gap where I could stick a finger in the gap. This allows air to bypass the cooling coils.

Had to get the company to come out to correct this problem.

Several people talked about possible air duct leakage. Also need to look at possible air leakage from the plenum coming off the unit.

Again thinking outside the box....

On the outside unit, Is the air coming off the fan fairly hot and is the fan blowing good?

If the fan is not working properly.... could be your problem? While out there, check the inlet and outlet freon lines. The larger inlet line should be cold and the smaller outlet line should be hot.

Also, IIRC you had the coils cleaned a year ago. Might help some to clean them again. A gallon of coil cleaner will last many years. This reminds me, I need to clean the outside coils. I cleaned the inside coils about 2 months ago. The inside coil had a "black" color build up block a little of the fins. Note: "INSIDE" coil cleaner did not take the black stuff off. I had to use the "OUTSIDE" coil cleaner to get it off. And yes, I rinsed it really good and then lowered the temperature setting for a while to rinse it more for a while running the A/C.

Spray foam your attic. Did it to mine and my unit barely runs now.

My dad has a 2 story and with these crazy temps we’ve had lately, his attic was 96 degrees without any AC usage (his is down as well)

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I think it am attic ventilation issue from the change when the roof was installed,

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well then you need to find out what they changed

did they not reinstall the ridge vents? or other vents?

if it happened after the roof was replaced then they changed something and didnt put back the same ventilation you had before

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I know window units work. Already have one, but they arent cheap to buy one for 6 different rooms

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You have 6 rooms in that 1100 square feet?

Not bedrooms I'm sure.

1 5k unit in the bedrooms alone should do it. $150 a pop is worth sleeping well.

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if I had a space that was hot and an hvac temp left saying ‘sorry I can’t help you’, I’d be pissed.

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I was. Trust me. I called them back out and it was overcast and the whole house was cool. They poked around and said I'd have to call them back out when it was hot to determine what the issue was.

I can't recall why, but it took until early September last year to notice how bad the issue was (remember roof was changed in May). It was uncomfortable during the afternoon, but cooled back down in the evening when home. I guess the problem has worsened since last summer. This past week it hasn't even cooled enough by bedtime to miss it. So, when we started troubleshooting, it was September, and they felt it was just that I needed a cleaning. Gave that a day and realized it didn't work. Scheduled another appointment and we had a cool front. Third one I just canceled since it wasn't acting up and knew I'd get the same response. From then to now, never had a single issue keeping cool. Didn't even notice higher power bills. Admittedly, out of sight out of mind and I didn't follow up. They are coming out today again though.

When it acted up again this past week, I went in the attic to look at the ventilation. I knew they went from 2 hardwired power fans to 1 solar and added ridge vents. When I saw how close the new fan was to a ridge vent, I questioned it and called the roofers to come check. They agreed. It's a hip roof and that particular ridge is only like 6' long, so it's not really doing anything and didn't exist before the new roof. I asked them to also recalculate if the single fan is enough (it is a larger volume fan). They showed me the calcs and I agree they took a very conservative approach and all seems in line. They did notice they covered the old fans, but left the motor and fan in the rafter and forgot to disconnect them, so I had fans just blowing at OSB. They've fixed that, but it doesn't seem to have been the issue.

By the end of the week, I'm hoping to just fix every possible issue. New insulation, cover ridge vent and possibly add another fan, full overview of the AC etc..

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ou should be able to get about a 15-20 degree temp drop, if your upstairs is getting 80 that means it’s 95 degrees? This just doesn’t make sense.

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What do you mean by this? A 15-20 degree drop from return to air vents? I understand that, but I don't have a thermometer to reliably measure that right now. But the reality is the thermostat reads 80-82 at hottest parts of the day.

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What do you mean by this? A 15-20 degree drop from return to air vents? I understand that, but I don't have a thermometer to reliably measure that right now. But the reality is the thermostat reads 80-82 at hottest parts of the day.

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You can get a $30 infrared thermometer from the hardware store to shoot at your vents. The air should be coming out of them 15-20 degrees cooler than the ambient air. So if your thermostat is set at 72 and your inside air temp is about 72, then the vents closest to the inside HVAC system will have air coming out 52-57 degrees usually.

ETA: If its 82 inside your home, the air should be coming out of your vents at 62-67 degrees.

The blower is a good point, but if that's the issue I'd think you'd potentially be icing up. IDK.

The roof very well could be the issue, idk. But it seems like maybe you have an HVAC issue also, and the roof is just making it worse?

If you have just decent insulation, the attic heat should not be THAT much of an issue. I can see it causing it to not get down under say 72 or 74 degrees during the day. But staying at 80*+ IMO is not just a new roof issue.

Just to follow up with what the problem was. Faulty capacitor in the AC unit. Was going in and out. Must have been something that got worse and worse over time. When they came the first times, I guess they took their measurements when it was on. This time, the guy could see it kicking on and off. Was providing enough compressor "on time" to cool off in evenings, but not in the heat of the day.

Still getting insulation quote today though in case and they are addressing the attic ventilation.

Thanks for the update. This solution may help others with there problems.