Air conditioning question

[ichy]

I have a three story row house with central AC. My bedroom is on the top floor, and during the summer its usually the warmest room in the house. The cooling in it used to be abysmal, although I was able to get some significant improvements just by removing the covers from my air conditioning ducts. What I was wondering was if it's possible to buy some sort of fan to put on top my my floor ducts to increase the amount of cool air that's drawn to the top floor. I know that the higher floor will always be somewhat warmer since hot air rises, but it's driving me nuts that my AC keeps my living room significantly cooler than my bed room at night. I've closed a couple of the living room AC vents, but it would be great if there were an easy way to draw more cool air onto the top floor.

 

[Scotteq]

In a 'correct' installation, the amount of AC coming from the house vents should be pretty much equal. If not, then I would suspect leaks in the ductwork. An HVAC guy will have access to a meter to measure flow. That will tell you for sure.

The bad part is that can be expensive to fix, since you're talking about ripping out the drywall to get at the ducts.

 

[Codewiz]

http://www.atrendyhome.com/durebofan.html

 

[ichy]

http://www.atrendyhome.com/durebofan.html

Thanks, I might give that thing a try.

 

[ichy]

The bad part is that can be expensive to fix, since you're talking about ripping out the drywall to get at the ducts.

Meh, I don't care enough to have them go tearing out dry wall. The temperature difference is a bit of an annoyance, but not worth spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on.

 

[oogabooga]

Thanks, I might give that thing a try.

I am in the same situation. Third floor bedroom - hot as hell, rest of the house comfortable. And I don't know if that would help out. The issue I have is the AC thinks the house is cool (and most of it is) so it stops running, while my bedroom is still hot.

I have gone as far as to stick a big fan in front of my duct to try to blow air into the room, but it doesn't make a difference when the AC isn't running.

Hopefully it works for you, but I wonder if there are any other alternatives. I'm considering just getting a portable unit to stick in the room (can't be window unit, stupid HOA).

 

[ichy]

I am in the same situation. Third floor bedroom - hot as hell, rest of the house comfortable. And I don't know if that would help out. The issue I have is the AC thinks the house is cool (and most of it is) so it stops running, while my bedroom is still hot.

I have gone as far as to stick a big fan in front of my duct to try to blow air into the room, but it doesn't make a difference when the AC isn't running.

Hopefully it works for you, but I wonder if there are any other alternatives. I'm considering just getting a portable unit to stick in the room (can't be window unit, stupid HOA).

Try removing the vent covers. That step alone made a big difference for me. My living room is still cooler than my bedroom, but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. I considered getting a window unit and just turning my central AC off at night, but my upstairs windows are tiny.

 

[highland145]

Hard to push air up the duct work. We have an inline fan. Still not a good solution. I close about half of the down stairs registers. Works fair. But that's what I get for doing family a favor and letting them do the job.

 

[Vette73]

Yep close all the ones downstairs, most on the 2nd floor, and full open on top. ceiling fan can also help.

 

[Texashiker]

Can you install a window unit on the third floor?

I know their not the prettiest things to look at, but they get the job done.

 

[highland145]

We did the window a/c for a while. If you do, make sure you seal/insulate around the unit. Use foam board or similar. An amazing amount of heat comes through the slide out partitions they come with.

 

[Turin39789]

We have a cape cod with a half story upstairs, at some point the ducting was replaced with flex duct(I think it was poorly run) or ran and the two rooms up there each have a single vent and there is one return in the floor for the whole space. 74 degrees downstairs, 90+ upstairs.

When I added insulation to the attic, I tried to get fiberglass stuffed above the curved walls/cieling as best as possible, and also blew insulation under the floor between the first and second story(might not have been a good idea). Still need to put some foam insulation on the back of the 3 attic access doors, we mostly don't use the space but I think the only way to make it liveable would be a window unit.

 

[oogabooga]

Try removing the vent covers. That step alone made a big difference for me. My living room is still cooler than my bedroom, but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. I considered getting a window unit and just turning my central AC off at night, but my upstairs windows are tiny.

I'll give that a shot, thanks, I have them on, and they're "wide open" but removing them outright is easy enough to try.

Fortunately it is 67 degrees here, so no need for the AC at least through the end of the week.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

If you have a bathroom up there turning on the exhaust fan can help circulate the air a bit better, at some cost to the rest of the home