Hey Guys. It's hot as hell in my condo. I never had central air before so, I'm not 100% sure if this is normal. My place is 15 years old and the central air is the original one. It checked out really well when we have the inspection. PSE&G are coming out to check it out today.

With this heat wave are you guys having a lot of problems keeping your homes cool? It works really well during the nights, but I get home and it was 84 degrees inside the condo yesterday. And obviously the thermostat was set lower. About 72. I had to set it lower to cool the place off when we went shopping. I changed the filter 2 days ago. It was a bit clogged because of all the crap that got into it when we changed the carpets.

The other piece of info is that I have a really high ceiling in the living room and it's a 2nd floor end unit in a 2 floor building. I know that it should be a lot warmer than if it were a ground floor or interior unit. I just wanted to check.

Thanks.

 

Well since the unit is 15 years old you probably have a couple of problems.

1. The unit is 15 years old.
2. It's probably undersized for your condo. When builders cut corners on condos the size of the AC unit is one thing they cut.

If PSE&G says the unit is fine then you need to make sure that you are protecting your condo from the sun. That is, pull all the shades down over your windows. Any window that can let direct sunlight in will greatly increase the temp of your condo. There is no way your unit can keep up with that.

Also make sure your filter is clean.

 

That's what I figured. The filter is clean. I changed it a couple days ago. The blinds are all closed with the exception of the one large semi-circular one in the living room.

I'm sure it's the heat. Just no real way around it other than changing the unit, which I don't want to have to do. Anyone knows what ballpark that would be in?

 

We have central air and a lot of space to cool. We really do not run the A/C at all during the day. It turns off around 9am and doesn't click back on until evening. No point in running the A/C when the sun is shining through the windows (we get AM sun in the back of the house and PM sun in the front of the house since our house faces almost due east/west).

During the day I run a ceiling fan... so even though the house is warm (lately it's been getting between 83-85 degrees), it doesn't feel so bad b/c I have the fan blowing on me. Then the A/C kicks on as the sun moves and stops beating through the windows, and gets the house comfortable pretty quickly.

With a newer house the unit (and house itself) are very effecient, so that could be your #1 problem since the unit is older. Otherwise, maybe running it more when the sun isn't as strong will help cool your unit better since it's kind a losing battle for the A/C when the sun is beating on or into your place...

 

^^^

The thing is that I can't have iot turned off during the day. My wife and 6 week old is home all day. It's too hot for them to be outside and the wife doesn't have a driver's license (she was a New Yorker....no need for one).

I get home, and it's a bit uncomfortable, but it really gets hot if you're in it all day and the baby hates the heat. So he's a bit pissy.

 

You can get 20degrees F cooling at best from AC units

 

See if your power company offers a home energy audit.

 

Ahh, didn't realize the wife was home wih the little guy all day. Should have probably guessed b/c of the avatar .

I agree with NSX... maybe you can get the place checked out. Also, installing some ceiling fans throughout the house probably wouldn't hurt either...

 

Have you actually put your hand over a vent to make sure the air coming out is cold? See what temp reading you get by putting a thermometer on the vent for a little bit. Maybe you just need a recharge. (certainly if 15 yrs old). If the air is cold coming out - really cold then you know you are blowing good air, then move on to finding places where cold air is escaping or you are cooling uncecessary and unused living spaces.

 

you might need a recharge like tbone said...the pseg guy should figure out the problem.

Replacing the entire central air unit can be expensive, especially if you have two components, compressor, which is outdoors, and the coils which are indoor, usually in the attic. The laundry room if its a condo.

I wonder if the compressor is bad, if the condo management takes care of it for you, since it is outside of your walls.

 

I'd say it's undersized. My moms unit was. Was fine until the temp went past 90. took hours to cool off if it wasn't left on. She had a 1 ton, needed a 2.5 ton. It was $4K installed.

 

I think it needs to be re-charged or is too small. Although, every one seems to have the same looking units outside, and in the same condition, so I'm guessing they are all original.

T-bone - the air is coming out of the vents cold. I think it's just not cold enough. When I had it tested for the inspection (2 months ago), the inspector said it was working really well. It was off by about 1 degree.

 

I have ceiling fans in the master bedroom and kitchen. I think I'm going to put one in the dining area and hopefully one in the baby's room.

Yeh, she's going to go nuts at home all day if it is always hot. Thankfully it should be just about done.

 

I also think our neighboors on the bottom and side are not home at all during the day and they have theirs set at a higher temp. It wasn't bad at all on Saturday and Sunday when we moved in. I actually had it set at about 75 and it was comfortable. The temperature never spiked like it is now.

And I also have an attic. Which doesn't help much.

 

I keep my place at 75 when its 115+ outside.

 

That's what I want it set at. I just spoke to the wife and the thermostat is set at 72 and the temperature reading is 82.

 

Sh*t dude, that is frustrating. Upstairs reading 82 or downstairs?

 

Single floor unit. Couldn't afford another floor. But since we're the top floor, there is an attic, so if they used crap insulation then it's just going to make it hotter in the condo.

 

Noway.

 

The service guy came by and he said that everything was working great. It was serviced recently and it does not need to be re-charged.

The problem is that the previous owner had a "Cool Customer" device installed on the central air. It regulates the system during the day and it's supposed to save you some money. It shuts the compressor on and off during the day. It will cool for 7 minutes and then the compressor will shut off, and then I guess it will circulate the air for 7 minutes and then the compressor will turn back on. It sounds great for people that don't need the air during the day, but it sucks for those home during the day. They said they will come by ASAP to remove it.

 

Yeh. He's right. I meant to say that.

 

Ahhh, the culprit is revealed. Very cool (hehe). Keep us updated as to how it works after they remove it...

 

Good to know.

I figured they take care of everything else that is a problem outdoors, like a leak in the roof.

 

Glad you got away without a big expense. My parents' AC went out in June during that heatwave we had, and didn't have air for about 4 days till it could be replaced. It was a new unit that had been added when the previous owners finished the basement just a few years ago. It crapped out and the whole thing ended up costing $5500. Not cool. And the best thing was that a guy from the maintenance contract company had just been out to check it less than a month before and said it was fine. He turned out to be a new guy who didn't know what he was doing yet. My parents had just bought the house last summer, too, so they weren't expecting a big expense like that.

 

The thing you have to remember about the HOA is that the money has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is the pockets of the members. So being a member of the HOA, do you want to pay to have your neighbor's AC fixed/repaired?