How do you keep your house cool in this 90 degree heat?

[scottv]

I don't even have my AC running right now (or for the last three days or so), just ceiling fans and it's about 81 in my house...my home is pretty well insulated though...I keep the curtains/blinds closed to keep radiant heat out but still get plenty of light.

[tnprincess]

We have a heat pump as well...two in fact, one for each floor.
We open our vents in the crawl space as well.
We have heavy curtains that remain closed during the heat of the day.
We have UV film on one large window that has no blinds or curtains on it...it is above our front door, this is where our heat comes in during the day. The top of the staircase is our problem...but the installer for the UV flim assured us that we would have 60% reduction in heat, I can't imagine what it would be like without it!

Ceiling fans are also in constant use. They are in almost every room in the house. Check the settings on ceiling fans, most have a summer/winter switch.

Keep in mind that in the South, humidity plays a huge role. When it's really humid out, your unit is working over time.

[LeeB]

Barb.. We got the contract also from the same people that you have. He checked out our system and said it was in Great shape. You have been to our house so you can almost see how our house sets. We close the blinds in the back of the house in the morning and then close the ones in the front in the afternoon. I have our A/C set at 80 degrees and I also have a standing fan blowing down the hallway. Our house stays at 80 all day and so far so good... However we have not got our electric bill yet.... Also we close up the house and turn the A/C on as soon as it reaches 80 on our stat. That way the unit does not have to work to hard to bring the temp down. (it just maintains 80)...
Call me in the morning and I will try and explain more......

[Beretta]

Great suggestions on here. We have poly-vinyl plantation shutters that insulate and block out light. We run ceiling fans and keep lights off as much as possible. The dryer only runs at night or early in the morning. We drink lots of ice water and dress lightly. Absolutely no baking and we are eating a lot of salads, cold foods.

[46Barb]

We called the builder directly and told him what's been going on. He's going to get someone out here to resolve the problem.

I called one of our neighbors and found out they had the same problem last year. In their case, only 1 stage of the 2 stage unit was hooked up so it was putting a strain on the compressor which eventually had to be replaced.

We do have the vents open under the house so we did that right.

Thanks everyone. I'm crossing everything that the builder of this home comes through for us and gets it fixed once and for all.

[eagleriver]

Chiming in here from Oregon, we also have a heat pump in an older home, and we get to high 90's and low 100's many times during a summer - and we keep it at about 71, and the heat pump works fine. We just had a week of over 95 every day - no problems, never have had any. we have it checked at least once a year, usually once in fall and once in spring. I would definitely do as others suggested, and have a specialist not connected with your builder come in - maybe check with the power company, sometimes they will have inspectors that can come out, too HTH, Linda

[artemis]

Don't forget to change your filter every month. I change mine when the electric bill arrives.

[vacation bound]

what a great idea to remember to change the filter- when the bill comes in. How simple but of course I didn't think of it. LOL

[RS-1080]

We bought some undeveloped land about 8 years ago and 6 years ago decided to setup homestead and move here from town ( I was raised country and didn't like living in town with 800 other folks in it ). They were going to install a heat pump but after asking a few questions, I decided to install my own setup rather than a heat pump. They told me the heat pump would blow 15-17 degree colder air than the outside temp, I thought about that and figured on a 100 degree day, it'd only blow 80 degree air ( meaning it'd run full time ) if they installed the unit they wanted to install. I wanted my furnace to be electric heat, and wanted my choice A/C evaporator over my furnace inside the house, and a 3.5 ton unit outside the home. I made sure it was properly charged to specks and on a 98-103 degree day I get a temp reading of 34 degree's on about any vent in the house.It cools very fast. Set at 75 degree my unit only runs about five minutes every 35-40 minutes.The next guy up the holler had a heat pump installed that was said to ''save a ton of money on his light bill'', but he pays 80 bucks more on his light bill than we do,and his house can't cool nothing like ours if I set the temp to 50 degree's just to prove a point. Last years 100 degree temps, his house was never cooler than 85 while his unit ''pumped it's heart out'' blowing only ''cooler than outside air''. For 6,000.00, I'd expect better from his heatpump, and a cheaper light bill than mine being his place is smaller than mine. Mine runs about five minutes on hot days and it shuts off for 35-40 minutes before it kicks on again while set at 75. We run the dryer day or night, we don't feel any difference with the A/C.