Air Conditioning Second Floor Only
If your house does not have this return air ducting on the second floor it frequently can be added.
Air conditioning second floor only. The most common complaint regarding imbalanced temps and hvac units is that it cools the first floor but not the second floor. Positioning a window air conditioner in those places will allow the unit to better regulate the heat on your second floor. The hot summer days and especially the nights bring back one of the most common home comfort problems. Using separate central air conditioning units for each floor allows you to maintain a.
Ductwork services second floor rooms through ceiling registers. Add extra insulation to your roof and attic. The challenge is to install adequately sized ductwork from the second floor hallway to the basement or furnace room. Reduce use of lights and appliances.
Of course this means that your second floor has not yet sufficiently cooled. The second floor is often much warmer than the first so one area of the house often seems too hot or two cold. Trees shading the second floor reduce the impact of direct sunlight. As air heats the density decreases.
Hot air rises so the second floor is naturally going to be warmer. Despite your air conditioner repair man saying the ac is tuned up and running properly the bedrooms on the second floor are so hot many in the family choose to sleep downstairs. Photo by joshua mchugh. Central ac on second floor only.
You can even air seal your attic to prevent heat from seeping in. The hot air from the second floor rooms can be collected in the hallway and sent back to the air conditioner. In some cases it s because the system is outdated. Depending on the size you get you can spend as little as 150 or a good unit and less than 20 each month to run it every day.
Also adding an attic fan will help cool things down by circulating the air up there and decreasing the amount of hot air reaching your second floor. Different temperatures on different floors of your home can signal an issue with how your air conditioning system works. However when the thermostat senses that the temperature on the main floor is the temperature your hvac system has been set for it will turn off the ac. Window ac units are quite affordable too.
You could turn the ac down even more. Ideally we d like a two zone system or two separate systems one located in the attic to serve the second floor and one in the basement to serve the first floor but we aren t sure if we can currently afford that. To maintain balance a return duct allows air back into the fan and coil system and a filter placed inside the duct keeps the cooled air free of airborne dust and dirt. Ducts run through closets on their way to first floor rooms.
Units older than 10 years should be upgraded.