aeblank
join:2004-09-07
Cadillac, MI
| reply to Sly
Re: 3 year old house will not stay cool
From what I can see, it's really just a heat exchanger, a circulator, and some controls. The controls maintain a hot water temp in the useful range (120+) by varying the flow through the exchanger.
A perfect system would be a heat pump (that dumps its heat into the ground--therefore very efficent) but with a desuperheater inline before the ground loop to create some hot water for free (less purchase price and electricity).
I've never understood dumping the heat into the air. The air is 100 and the ground is 50. Not to mention fan noise. |
|
Sly
Premium
join:2004-02-20
Johnson City, TN
clubs:
 ·Packet8
·Callcentric
 ·Comcast Formerly ..
| Yea, me neither. What you described is a ground source heat pump with a desuperheater option. They do exist but are very expensive to install...
--
"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
- Plato - |
|
joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| reply to TooHotToday
I've been following this, and understand there are potential multiple issues involved. Have you checked Attic temp? If attic is not well insulated from second floor ceiling, and circulation is bad, you can have a temp 20 degrees hotter than outside. Still a builder issue, but not the HVAC guy. And a different path to address (insulation and vent fan VS the AC system). This doesn't take much effort to check. |
|
aeblank
join:2004-09-07
Cadillac, MI
| reply to Sly
said by Sly  :Yea, me neither. What you described is a ground source heat pump with a desuperheater option. They do exist but are very expensive to install... I have access to a back hoe, I can run the ground loops. I plumbed my entire furnace setup, so I can tie in the desuperheater. I just need to find a kickass hvac guy to work with me on this. That's all. =) |
|
cowboyro
join:2000-10-11
Shelton, CT
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
·Optimum Voice
1 edit | reply to TooHotToday
2.5 or even 3 ton is undersized for such a big house. I had a CA system installed last year, calculations done by me with the help of various websites and the ones done by few contractors yielded 4.5ton for my 2300sqft colonial. I figure that the OP has a ranch style house, therefore more roof surface - and more heat coming in. I have a 2.5 ton unit servicing the 1400sqft of the lower level and a 2 ton unit servicing the 900sqft of the upper level...
Edit: the system handled cooling very well last year, was able to keep up with heating up to 25F during winter while maintaining 70F inside. |
|
dwhitener
@verizon.net
| reply to TooHotToday
I live in North Dallas and have the same problem. AC is fine until the outside temp gets above 95 deg. I keep the thermostat set on 76 and that is where it stays until about 3PM on a 100+ day then it will climb to 79 or 80 and stay there until around 9PM than it starts falling back to 76. I have had the AC unit checked and serviced and was assured that it was sized properly for my square footage. I am considering adding more insulation and having a radiant barrier installed on the underside of my roof. Some summers we have 40-50 days of 100+ temperatures and although 80 feels pretty good when it is over a hundred outside, I still want my system to keep the temperature where I set it. |
|
scooper
join:2000-07-11
Youngsville, NC | Radiant barrier isn't a bad idea - what's your ceiling R factor ? It should be at least R35 - and R50 wouldn't be out of line. |
|
nocannothave
join:2006-10-14
Kennewick, WA
·Charter Pipeline
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| In the summer we routinely reach 100+ with very low humidity. On these days, I set the thermostat to 66 at about 10am. It reaches this temp (and will sometimes shut off for a bit) and steadily climbs as the day wears on. By the time outside is 102, inside is now at 72 or 73.
The A/C unit runs pretty much from 8 am until about 1 am on the hottest days. At this point, I don't even care.
1800 sf
vaulted main room facing north with windows on the west - 13'6" height
8 ft ceilings in the rest of the house
Blown in insulation in above the ceiling. Not sure how deep.
My office is always a couple degrees warmer (2 computers), and that annoys me. I'd like to make the office cooler, but it's ok most days.
Try a cooler setting (than you would prefer) on the thermostat earlier in the day. The idea is to get a jump on the heat. It works for me. |
|
dwhitener
@verizon.net
| reply to scooper
I'm not sure what the R rating is. I have a lot of windows facing west on the front of the house. I had them tinted, which helped some. I believe that insulating more and radiant barrier would help. The only other alternative is to put an auxiliary unit in to run only when we have these super hot days. I don't want to over size my central unit and cause moisture problems. |
|
joepa
join:2000-08-02
Allen, TX
clubs:
| reply to dwhitener
Sounds exactly like my house here in Allen, TX. I really think my problem is a combination of issues. It is poor ventilation in the attic (soffit vents blocked by insulation, not enough of them) and some insulation problems with all the knee walls in my attic.
I am calling them knee walls but they are really the parts of the walls that stick up above the rest of the attic floor. My bedrooms and gameroom have higher ceilings than the foyer and hallway. These higher ceiling extend further into the attic. They are insulated but not that well.
I would double check that you have good ventilation in the attic before going for the radiant barrier. By the way there was a great article in the Dallas Morning News a few months back on radiant barriers.
»www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent···bd0.html
Joe |
|
