Medallion Energy Efficient homes.. (house, to buy, live)

[mojokitty]

Ok, so this might be a really dumb question, but here goes. We have a Med. energy efficient home (2 yrs old) and we have 2 air conditioner units. Our upstairs unit is NOT cooling the upstairs at all. We have it set at 75 degrees and it will not get below 79 right now. At night, we are roasting and not able to sleep, it's hotter than heck! Is this normal (since heat rises, etc.) or do you think there is something wrong with our AC? Do you think we need to bump it lower? We keep bumping the temp down on the thermostat, but it's not budging! Any info would be appreciated! Thanks!

[TXtrkgrl]

Did it cool last summer? If so, then it is something wrong with your unit. Is the air coming out of the vents cool?
If it is only two years old you still have warranty.

[mojokitty]

I'm not sure about last summer. We just moved here in December and it's been pretty hot here before and it seems that it cools down upstairs. All of a sudden, it's stuck at 79 degrees. I hope this is not the norm for this house! We even have all of the ceiling fans going and we still can't get it below 79 degrees even with two units!!!

[firstclassflyer]

Do you have a room over the garage? That'll make it hotter too. I made sure to buy a house with no room over the garage. Is there cold air coming out of the vents at all?

[mojokitty]

Our bedroom is over the garage, but every room in the whole upstairs is hot. Like I said, thermostat won't go below 79, it always used to. The vents has air coming out, but it doesn't seem like it's cool air, just air. Also, it doesn't matter what time of day it is, 9am, 12pm, 2am, it's always 79 degrees. Also, the air doesn't seem to be blowing out very hard.

[firstclassflyer]

There is a problem with the unit then, it should not be like that. It's not even hot yet. You need to call for repair, it could be something simple like freon...or maybe not. You have a warranty?

[mojokitty]

We have a home warrenty- so repair is covered, and we do have someone coming out right now. I'm just wondering if this is the "norm" for Tx. I've never lived outside of Ohio and even on the hottest days there, with one unit, we were able to sleep upstairs without a problem. Here's hoping there IS something wrong with it and it will be repaired soon!

[TXtrkgrl]

Sounds to me like it is just something wrong with your unit. No it is not the norm in Texas, yes it is hot here but your A/C should cool down no matter what. I'm sure they will get it fixed and you will be chillin soon

[banker]

I would guess that you have a problem with your unit. It sounds like it isn't chilling the coolant at all. Of course I have known builders to not put enough tonnage in a house so that even when the unit is running it can't properly cool.

A few things to check - is the line coming out of the house cold at all?
Room over the garage - as noted this will heat up the entire second floor...I specifically didn't buy a house with this "feature".
Do you have radiant barrier? If not - then this compounds the garage heat issue making the second floor hard to cool.
Where is your second floor return air? I have seen some builders place the return air under neath the unit which means it is pulling the air from the floor level instead of at the ceiling where it is hottest. This is one change I had made to my house while building it - adding return air in the ceiling to make sure that the unit is pulling the hot air out of the room and cooling it first!!
Does your house have enough return air for each unit?

Could this be part of the reason the original owner sold? And in December?

Hot air rises and with a room over the garage and the possible lack of a radiant barrier and proper return air ducting - you could have long term cooling issues. Even if you can get your upstairs unit to work properly - you may pay dearly to keep that upstairs cool.

[cheermomof4girls]

Don't ask me how I know this... but, do you change your filters regularly? It sounds like maybe the coil needs cleaning.