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My mom keeps hers on 70 and with this extreme heat she and has the same issues the OP has. It's normal plus the extreme temperatures do not help. Her house was reading 74 yesterday. PSEG cuts back power on hot days like this. I have a small home with 2 window A/C's going all day and night set at 68 and on hot humid days like we've been having my house has been reading 72-73 degrees. Normally on less humid days the house reads 68-70 degrees. She changes her filters every 2 months. She buys them online through amazon (Filtrete brand) She buys like 6 at a time.
The house was built in the late 50's and the central air was initially installed in the 70's (wall units prior to that). I replaced the compressor and air handler about 3 or 4 years ago.
Non smoking house, air filter just changed. Compressor is clean and clear of leaves and is not frozen.
I called the air conditioning company I purchased from, they are sending a technician on Wednesday. Other than these last really brutal days and even today, the system works flawlessly.
Status:
"Let this year be over..."
(set 21 days ago)
Location: Where my bills arrive
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OP two factors may be affecting your cooling. One is were the existing ducts used when CAC was installed or were new ducts added? Existing ducts on older homes (you said the 50's) are very often inadequately size to handle a/c they run on the smaller size which works great for heat but not a/c. Second and the most likely problem is that a/c is sized to handle the average load during the cooling season, this current weather is considered extreme and to size a system for these few days a year would not be cost efficient. Even were I live the indoor temp is running 2 degrees above where we keep it but by bed time it has lowered down to where it should be and for these short periods it is not worth enlarging the tonnage of my systems. You said it normally works fine when the temps are running more normal.....
The house was built in the late 50's and the central air was initially installed in the 70's (wall units prior to that). I replaced the compressor and air handler about 3 or 4 years ago.
Non smoking house, air filter just changed. Compressor is clean and clear of leaves and is not frozen.
I called the air conditioning company I purchased from, they are sending a technician on Wednesday. Other than these last really brutal days and even today, the system works flawlessly.
We'll see on Wednesday if there is an issue...
Yeah highly unlikely there is anything wrong with your CAC itself especially only a few years old. Still certain,y dosent hurt to have it checked.
I've had the same issues in South Carolina and now up here. As others mentioned before, your unit will not keep your house at a low temp when the heat index is pushing over 100.
I like to keep our house at 74 during the day and 72 at night. We don't have issues with the evening temps within the house but our house usually runs 76-77 during the day despite the 74 setting.
My advice to you is to lower your setting by 5 degrees at 6am and let your house cool. Keep it at a cooler temp until the sun is over your house which is usually 11 am. Around then I will set our temp back to the 74. Having your house at a cooler temp before the dead heat of the day will help you keep your temps down by a few degrees throughout the day until the sun starts setting later.
The way I understand it - it will only blow 15-20F cooler than the air at the return (the big grill somewhere in your house). It's one big cycle. Couple that with an extremely hot environment where your ducts are in the attic, it's going to have a tough time maintaining cooler air.
I'm having a problem. All weekend it was barely cool with the CAC on and fans blowing it. I would accept the arguement about the 20 degree difference but my wife came from the house across the street (2 houses actually) and said both are way colder than ours. She said it felt like when you walk into a grocery store over the other houses. So, some ac units must be able to get colder than 20 degrees for home use. Not ours though. I will say that I was freezing last night after the sun went down.
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