A 2nd floor room in a 4BR townhouse apt. is always hotter than the rest. What can be done to cool it better?
Question:I thought about the side it is facing and the sun but it also is hotter than the rest of the apartment at night. Their are blinds and curtains in the room. My roommate likes to slide the A/C down to 70 or below to compensate. I'd like to see if we can do something so our utility bills aren't outrageous.
Answers:
In the summer time, I cover the downstairs cold air returns partially with a magnetic sheet. It forces the bulk of circulated air to be drawn from the third floor returns.feeding my AC evaporator with hotter air from the second floor. AND I keep my fan turned ON in the HVAC system so it is constantly drawing hot air from the third floor and mixing it with the whole house. While the cost goes up compared to not doing this at all, it is far less than setting the AC to 70 in an attempt to cool the top floor to an acceptable level while freezing everyone on the first floor and ground floors.
Long term fixes would include more attic venting and better insulation...but if you are a renter those aren't options.
Install a vent on the roof. Foil over the windows on the hot side of the house. Install blackout curtains. Install a ceiling fans on the second floor.
Do you have other 2nd floor room? Is it about the same temperature?
My first thought is that it could be you only have 1 air conditioning unit for the entire townhouse and the thermostat is on the first floor. Since heat rises, your second floor will always be warmer and your thermostat doesn't know it and will not kick the air to cool the upper room since it only measures the first floor. At least, that is my theory as to why.
How would I fix it? If you can afford a second unit, go ahead and get a small second unit (I am assuming you only have that room since you didn't mention others). The beauty is you only need to use this unit when you use the upper room, since it is separate from the top unit.
I see that you already have a ceiling fan to cool it. I say, have a window air unit or window fan unit also. A window fan that my neighbor use cost only $30, does not use that much electricity and can actually be set to temperature control.
An attic fan would pull the heat out and if you have roof vent push it outside.
I had this problem in an apt a few years back, the only way i found to help is to keep the ac vents upstairs open and the ones downstairs slightly closed. it took some work to get it right but it is the chepest way. Remember to reverse it in the winter with the heater.
Try switching the fan switch on the wall thermostat from auto to the on position. This will recycle any cool air that is left downatairs back upstairs. Also pulling any heat from upstairs and cooling it if needed. Leave your tempeture at your desired setting. Your thermostat should be located near what they call a cold air return, usually where youre filter goes.
If its only one room you might have a problem.If you can access the duct work,make sure the runout for that room hasnt been stepped on or crushed somehow,very common in attics.If that ok then your issue is not enough CFM feeding the room or not having enough return air being drawn from the room.Check the gap between the bottom of the door and the carpet,you might be able to increase the air tranfer of the room by increasing the air gap under the door.
Hope this helps
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