Maybe I should get a different thermostat

[elizilla]

It is hardly ever hot enough for me to feel like it's more comfortable running the AC than not. If I close the windows before it heats up too much outside, it doesn't get too hot on the first floor of the house - the killer heat all goes upstairs. I just wish the air would circulate and the humidity would drop, because it gets stuffy. I set the thermostat to 80 and the AC never comes on. So I kick it down to 79, and it comes on. I start shivering long before it turns off, and I have to go back and move the thermostat back to 80 to make it stop. I wonder if a different thermostat would turn the AC on for shorter time periods?

Oh well, it's only for a few days. The weather reports show the heat will end this weekend. I might not have to use the AC again this year, after this week.

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the thermostat's hysteresis is all wonky, and the A/C is not cycling properly.

[elizilla]

I'm thinking it's either that, or the thermostat's location doesn't chill down as quickly as my home office does. Maybe I should relocate it. Or adjust the ducts to change where the cool spots are.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

AIUI duct sizing and placement can really influence air distribution, and if it's done badly, it can mean that one room is too cold while another is too hot. I've been in some homes with really horrible ducted central air. Another problem is that duct placement that works well for heat often doesn't work so well for A/C.

[(Anonymous)]

Mess with the different vent openings to balance the rooms. We have to do that. When seasons change (summer to winter) I have to them reverse which rooms are full-open and which are throttled down.

Come visit us, we're finally going to get back up into the hundreds this week and next.

-B

[pi3832.livejournal.com]

Maybe if you run the separate AC up in your bedroom, the cold, dry air will roll down the stairs and warm up before it gets to you, but still be dry.

Have you cut the vegetation away from that thing's compressor?

[elizilla]

The vegetation has been removed, yes.

[foms.livejournal.com]

I think that the temperature range problem is most likely as already commented.
I've had good results with a ceiling fan at the top of a stair-well for moving air around in a multistorey space.

[elizilla]

I put a fan in the stairwell in my previous house, and it did indeed work well. I don't think it would work here, though. The loft mastersuite ceiling is too low; I'd chop my own head off with it.

[pi3832.livejournal.com]

Vornado fans will move a lot of air, if you don't mind the whirring.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Is there an attic? I have a whole-house fan in my attic, and it's awesome. I turn it on in the evening when it gets cool, and it sucks all the hot air out of upstairs.

[elizilla]

It's a cape cod type house, so the tallest part of the attic is finished space - there is a loft mastersuite. There is access to a crawlspace attic out over the addition, and maybe an attic fan could go in there, but I suspect it would be less effective than one at the top of the house.