New house A/C can't keep up... (Phoenix: sales, lenders)

[HX_Guy]

This can't be normal, right? The A/C at our new house has been running literally non-stop, it's set at 77º but the temp in the house won't go below 79º and sometimes goes up to 80º. Seemed to work fine the last 3 weeks but starting yesterday it's been struggling...the A/C ran for 19 hours yesterday (phone app keeps a tab on how long and when the A/C runs).

Guess I have to call and see what could be wrong. We did have a problem with the A/C before we even moved in and they said there was a freon leak, could it be the same thing or is the unit too small for the house?

[Zippyman]

more likely a Freon leak if anything.. yesterday's temp got up to 119, if it was ever gonna run all day, that's the day it should run all day.. (doesn't get much over 119 in the valley).. fwiw, the design spec for Phoenix is an assumed "set point" (thermostat setting) of 76 degrees, and a max outdoor temp of 108.. (99% of the time in Phoenix, the temp never exceeds 108 degrees - from an engineering perspective, it's better to suffer with a higher temp than your set-point 1% of the time, than to waste energy 99% of the time with an oversized unit.. ).. so if it gets over 108, and the unit is *properly* sized, the interior temp can/should climb over the setpoint of 76.. assuming a "properly sized" unit.. which I've never seen, btw - they're all oversized..

Phoenix is on page #4

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...1wVhNfohRBxLXQ

[Desertspiritsteve]

I would be a very unhappy camper HX. You might want to throw back a shot of whiskey before you open that APS bill. Didn't you say that Pulte guaranteed low utility bills? Can you get a reading of the air temp coming out of the registers? My house temp is 72 degrees right now, and the air temp from the registers is 49.6 degrees. That's better than a 20 degree split. My experience with low freon is that the A coil will freeze (solid ice) and there will be no air flow from the vents. If that's the case, turn it off for a bit so the ice can melt off the coil. Then turn it back on. Get Mr. Pulte over there first thing in the morning.

[ji603]

Refrigerant leak would be my guess too. Is the temperature at the supply vent 20 degrees cooler than the temperature at the return? Mine holds 74 degrees inside with the outside at 119, but she runs all day.

[HX_Guy]

What do you guys use to get a temperature reading at the vents? I assume some sort of thermometer gun?

And yea, we already got one APS bill and I was not happy. $300 and it only included 20 days in the bill, horrible. There was some sort of utility bill guarantee but reading the material later, it said something about we were supposed to register for the program at the same time we signed the sales contract...the Pulte sales person said nothing about it.

[LBTRS]

Ours has been running all day and we're cooling to 78 on the weekends and 80 during the week. Yesterday it had no trouble keeping the house at 78 but was running non-stop. I moved it up to 80 late yesterday and today and it keeps it there no problem but is running a lot.

I'd wait until we're out of these extremes to make a determination if things are working ok. It takes a lot of work to get a house to 77 when it's 119 out. Ours does not have to run all day when temps are in the normal range.

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by Desertspiritsteve

My experience with low freon is that the A coil will freeze (solid ice) and there will be no air flow from the vents. If that's the case, turn it off for a bit so the ice can melt off the coil. Then turn it back on. Get Mr. Pulte over there first thing in the morning.

There does seem to be very low air flow coming out of the vents, I have to get on a chair and put my hand right up to the vent to even feel the air coming out.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by Desertspiritsteve

I would be a very unhappy camper HX. You might want to throw back a shot of whiskey before you open that APS bill. Didn't you say that Pulte guaranteed low utility bills? Can you get a reading of the air temp coming out of the duct? My house temp is 72 degrees right now, and the air temp from the registers is 49.6 degrees. That's better than a 20 degree split. My experience with low freon is that the A coil will freeze (solid ice) and there will be no air flow from the vents. If that's the case, turn it off for a bit so the ice can melt off the coil. Then turn it back on. Get Mr. Pulte over there first thing in the morning.

Lol.. my phone shows Phoenix's air temp at 114 degrees right now -

if your a/c unit isn't running constantly, it's too big.

if you can get it below 76 in your house, it's too big.

What that means is that when it's "only" 99 degrees, or 103, or 96 degrees, you're throwing quarters in the trash.

If you want low bills, you want an a/c unit that is running constantly right now.

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by Desertspiritsteve

I would be a very unhappy camper HX. You might want to throw back a shot of whiskey before you open that APS bill. Didn't you say that Pulte guaranteed low utility bills? Can you get a reading of the air temp coming out of the registers? My house temp is 72 degrees right now, and the air temp from the registers is 49.6 degrees. That's better than a 20 degree split. My experience with low freon is that the A coil will freeze (solid ice) and there will be no air flow from the vents. If that's the case, turn it off for a bit so the ice can melt off the coil. Then turn it back on. Get Mr. Pulte over there first thing in the morning.

Wow, 72 degrees in the house when it is as hot as its been the last two days? I'd hate to be the one paying your electric bill this month. For us, 80 is perfectly comfortable when it is this hot outside.

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

There does seem to be very low air flow coming out of the vents, I have to get on a chair and put my hand right up to the vent to even feel the air coming out.

We closed the vents a bit (not all the way) in a couple rooms that are on the north and east side of the house and that forced more air to the hot areas of the house. Everything seems to stay more even now and those rooms don't get so hot while other rooms are cold.