1GirlTwinBoys Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 along with your central air unit? It's so hard to get the upstairs to cool down. I keep the blinds closed etc... but it's still very warm sometimes. Does doing this really run up your energy bill? It seems like it would keep the central unit from having to work so hard. ETA: We would only run the window unit at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 all upstairs rooms have ceiling fans. That has handled the problem mostly. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 No, we have separate central units - one takes care of the first floor, the other takes care of the second floor and the loft. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSOchristie Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We have separate units for upstairs and down. When the upstairs one was going out two years ago, we got a window unit because we just thought it was normal. It easily is in the low to high 90's every day here from June to September, so pretty hot. Our electric bill for the months we used the window unit were double! of what they normally were. I don't know if it was a combination of a unit and our actual air working so hard, or it was just the unit, but once we replaced the actual air conditioner (heat pump? I don't know what it's called, the gigantic box in the attic), our electric bill went from over $300 month back to $130-$150. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edelweiss Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 No, we have separate central units - one takes care of the first floor, the other takes care of the second floor and the loft. Same here. We have separate units for each floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1GirlTwinBoys Posted May 12, 2014 Author Share Posted May 12, 2014 Same here. We have separate units for each floor. Doesn't that type of duct work need to be done during the building process? Our house is 17 years old (we've been here almost 3 years). I don't know how we would add an additional unit at this point?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Ceiling fans here too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 I close the vents on the lower levels during really hot times and I think it directs more of the cool air to the upstairs. We also have ceiling fans in all the upstairs bedrooms. I talked with an A/C guy last week and he said they can install dampers in the duct work to redirect the air. They recommend this over 2-zones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We have ceiling fans too, but that doesn't do much, especially in Ds's room. Ductwork was not done adequately when the upstairs was finished, and I suspect the insulation isn't very good. Our house is really considered 1 & 1/2 story and the upstairs was originally just an attic. We just deal with it using window units. Dd can get by with ceiling fans if she keeps her door shut all day. Last year we kept the central air off as much as possible and used fans downstairs for as much of the day as possible. We were surprised at how much we were able to tolerate. Will probably do the same this year. There are some pretty energy efficient window units available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooCow Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 You might want to have a service call and have your ac/heating co check things out. We discovered (after we switched co) that our upstairs unit the builder put in was was too small for our sq footage. We ended up upgrading, it was not cheap, but so far it's keeping the upstairs quite cool. (Knock on fake wood) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyMcGillicuddy Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We have ceiling fans in almost every room in the house. It also helps having dark or thick curtains to cut down on sunlight/heat coming in through the windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Doesn't that type of duct work need to be done during the building process? Our house is 17 years old (we've been here almost 3 years). I don't know how we would add an additional unit at this point?? It could be done, but it would be a major remodel, I think. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1GirlTwinBoys Posted May 12, 2014 Author Share Posted May 12, 2014 We have ceiling fans in every room up there but that doesn't help much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSOchristie Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 So where is your thermostat? If it's downstairs, and downstairs is significantly cooler, maybe that is the problem. Our downstairs is 10 degrees cooler naturally, when we don't have anything on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1GirlTwinBoys Posted May 12, 2014 Author Share Posted May 12, 2014 The thermostat is on the main floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We have ceiling fans, but we have separate A/C and furnace units for upstairs and downstairs. Warm air rises, so it makes sense your upstairs would naturally be warmer than downstairs. With the units being separate, we set them to run when we are in the spaces. Downstairs can be slightly warmer at night and upstairs warmer during the day. But not too warm or it's too hard to cool back down later. I agree with getting the HVAC people out to check on things. When's the last time you had it serviced? It could need freon (or whatever the new stuff is they use), or you could have a unit too small for the area. Have you changed the filter? A blocked air filter will make it more inefficient too. Additionally, your attic may need insulation or ventilation. Adding another one of those whirly things made a huge difference in our old house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkyandtheBrains. Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We use ceiling fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Fan in the stairwell helps here. But there's no good way in a century old house... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We no longer have a 2 story house but when we did we had 2 units, one for downstairs and one upstairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewellsmommy Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We have ceiling fans all over the house. Two of our bedrooms are upstairs and, yes, we use an extra ac window unit in our bedroom. I do not think it adds all that much to the electric bill. I (and dh because he doesn't have a choice in the matter :D ) prefer a cooler sleeping environment. Ds's bedroom is well controlled by the main house unit, and dd prefers a slightly warmer environment; so it all works out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 No, our central unit is plenty to cool our house. Maybe yours needs to be serviced if it isn't getting the whole house cool. Our house is 2200 sqft and we bought a unit made for up to 4000 sqft to make sure it was plenty capable of cooling the house. We also put in an attic fan which helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 No, we have separate central units - one takes care of the first floor, the other takes care of the second floor and the loft. Same here. There is one outside and one in the attic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 You may want to have your central unit checked. It might be too old or not big enough. Check your attic insulation and consider attic fans. We installed more insulation as well as fans which kept the upstairs temperature down; the fans also kept our attic cooler. Closed curtains as well as blinds can help keep the room cool. Ceiling fans in each room are helpful to circulate air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 The thermostat is on the main floor. That's probably the crux of the issue. The downstairs is going to stay cooler than the upstairs. To get the upstairs comfortably cool, you're going to have to lower the thermostat so that you're probably way too cool downstairs. Sometimes, depending on how your duct work is configured and how powerful your central unit is, you can add a zone. The HVAC people can fix it so that your upstairs has its own thermostat and your central unit can run to cool both the downstairs and the upstairs at the same time, or just one or the other. We had it done at a former house that had a bonus room we wanted to divide into two rooms and use as a den and office. The zone system worked very well. IIRC it cost a few hundred dollars to have it done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We are currently having a high velocity AC system placed in a house built in 1915. Like I expect workers to show up in an hour for day 3! Do you have an older home? Most newer homes do not have this problem. We lived in a 2 story house that was less than 10 years old and we had no problems with ac at all. I have nighbors that had forced air heat in an older home and had ac added to that and it does not work well on level 2. The duct work was designed for heat. I'd have someone come out and look at your duct work. Some is definitely added or modified after the fact. If our sytem does not work well on the 2nd level, the AC guys will be coming back! Eta what I am trying to get at is these guys should know what they are doing in terms of laying duct work for cooling. If you just drop ac onto existing ductwork optimized for heat, it is not too surprising it is not super efficient for cooling. My parents certainly have to close ducts in different places in their home depending if they are heating or cooling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We have a portable unit that we use in DS's room, which for some reason only has one vent. It's the coldest room in winter, which is fine, but with it being the hottest room in summer, the ceiling fan does not cut it for sleeping. It allows us to set the thermostat for the rest of the house a little higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We have a bungalow and ds's room is the dormer. We have a portable unit for his room. We we moved in we had ductwork ran to his room, but it still doesn't work well, probably because it's a dormer. The portable unit functions as an AC and fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 One more suggestion: We were having the same problem in our 3 level house. Downstairs were comfortable, but upstairs was hot. Somehow DH remembered that the former owner mentioned something about a duct at the house closing (you know, because ducts were on our minds at closing! I had no memory of this at all.) ...After some thought, DH went into our furnace room and climbed on a ladder. He looked forever, but finally found a duct where the air needs to be diverted for summer differently from winter. It took some work to find the right balance, but he found the right summer setting/winter setting and labeled them. Our next door neighbors, who'd lived there for 5 years before us, and were the original owners, had no idea about this. They complained about sleeping in the living room during a heat wave, and we told them. You might want to look around your furnace room and see if you can find anything like this. Just one more idea. This reminds me we need to change our settings, it's getting hot upstairs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We're not allowed to have window units in our neighborhood. Usually the central unit does fine, but we have a portable AC that we use to make a single room cooler . . .its either in the dance room for class or my bedroom for Dh's post-work power nap (which coincides with the hottest part of the day IN the house. We can keep it cool with curtains and such, but by 6 p.m. The upstairs rooms are as warm as they're going to get and haven't cooled down yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Separate units upstairs and downstairs here. When we had a house that did not have separate units, we had ceiling fans going in all upstairs rooms but it was never enough. so then we had the duct work updated and added insulation, which helped quite a bit. Window units were not permitted (city code, not HOA rules) so that wasn't an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Well we don't have central air here. But some years ago we lived in a 5 family home (on 2 floors...3rd and 4th) that had central air. I'll say it did not work very well on those top floors. I can imagine wanting to get a window unit. We currently have 3 floors. I'd never consider central air because I doubt it would work out very well so we only use window units. It would work fine as long as each floor was its own "zone" (controlled by its own thermostat). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venia Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Our home has no A/C and we live in Northern California up in the mountains. It still gets up into the 100Fs, but just less of the summer than the valley. We installed a whole house fan at the highest and furthest point in our home to help out in the summer months. By opening windows strategically on the first floor (plus screen doors), we can pull cool air at night and early morning through the whole house and also cool down our attic. Then we shut the house up during the heat of the day with thick UV/thermal curtains. It helps, but sometimes is just not enough especially if there is smoke from forest fires or it does not cool down enough at night or is too humid. We have existing (but inefficient) ducting for our (currently broken) propane furnace. We have debated replacing the furnace with a heat pump for cooling and heating options, but there is no return air in the second story so we would still have a "hot" second story. If we went this route, we would definitely install a window unit in the second story. Our other option is to go with a "ductless mini-split" heat pump. These are relatively new in the US, but used frequently in Asia and other continents. It consists of a single condenser unit that sits outside like a traditional AC, but then there are individual air delivery units installed inside, each with their own thermostat. They connect to the condenser through a pipe/line that goes through a 3" hole on the exterior of the home. Then the line runs down the exterior to the condenser, hence no ducting needed. Because its new technology in the US, the costs for installation seem to be higher. The units cost about the same as traditional units, you just have to factor in what the costs would be if you needed ducting installed. Ducting costs would likely be much much more than the added costs for the mini-split system so the mini-split is a very viable option. We do not have the money for either option right now...so I am not looking forward to the upcoming hot and likely smokey summer :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Here you need 2 AC units for 2 story houses. One for the upstairs and one for the downstairs. Also, we have ceiling fans in every room that run almost year round. When the house was built I had them not put windows on the entire west side of the house. We took the extra insulation option when it was built too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 I'm intrigued. How is your house configured? (ours is built in 1920) Ours is three floors. The floors I'd be most interested in are the second and especially third. The third is the attic. We sleep up there. I just don't know how well something like that would work or what it would cost. We have to run the air at night on the third floor even if it's not all that warm outside. Although on the plus side there is no heating up there and we've never needed it. And it does get quite cold here. For a solution like that, a mini-split system might work better and you could zone your 2nd and 3rd floor on their own? Here's an article kind of explaining the differences between the 2 systems (high velocity retrofit vs. mini-split). It's expensive to do, but we spoke with several contractors and I was actually raised in a house with a retrofit forced AC system (we were all above ground level - I lived in a large "apartment" above a business) and it worked great. http://www.bobvila.com/articles/439-new-air-conditioning-for-old-houses/ Sorry for my asides. I've spent hours lately talking about ductwork and high velocity AC vs. changing heating too. :) I don't think it's too surprising after talking to these guys that older houses that have their radiators replaced w/forced air heat that then go and add AC to that same duct system do not have a good cooling solution. A good contractor would have suggestions for working with the ducts you have and/or adding a strategic duct or 2 for cooling purposes. Part of the beauty of the high velocity retrofit is the duct work is optimized for cooling and our contractor will come out and monkey with it until it's working well. I will also say, we have totally updated electric and insulation at our house that we've done over the past few years. Our house is a 3 story/full basement, but the attic is currently storage and our basement is not finished (even if we finished down there, I don't think we'd need a cooling duct. There is one large radiator down there for heat). Anyway - the high velocity system is super expensive, and mini-splits for a whole home aren't much cheaper. We plan on staying in our house long term and central air will definitely be a selling point when/if we do sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We have "whole house fan." I never saw them before moving here. There is a fan in the attic with vents in the top floor and fans on the roof. Turn it on and it sounds like the ceiling is going to lift off. It sucks the hot air out of the top of the house. You can feel a breeze flowing through the house from the basement up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilma Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 No. We partly close the downstairs vents during the (long) (hot) summer. And use ceiling fans. In the winter, we switch and partly close the upstairs vents to try and keep downstairs reasonable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 No. Like many of the others, we have two units, one for each floor. We do have ceiling fans (I'm pretty sure that every house in Central Texas built since 1970 have ceiling fans in every room, lol), but those just move the air; IOW, they make us more comfortable but they don't actually change the temp in the room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lara in Colo Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We have "whole house fan." I never saw them before moving here. There is a fan in the attic with vents in the top floor and fans on the roof. Turn it on and it sounds like the ceiling is going to lift off. It sucks the hot air out of the top of the house. You can feel a breeze flowing through the house from the basement up. This-- we don't actually have a whole house fan (I would LOVE one) but we just put a box fan in the attic opening and it does a decent job. It sucks the cool air upwards from the basement-- it also keeps the stuff in the attic from melting!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 has your central unit been serviced recently? when we had trouble with ours - it needed serious servicing. things were much better after that. also - we have full west facing windows on the 2nd floor for a very large room. it would become unbearable in the afternoon even with A/C and outside shades. aluminum double-paned windows. we had new windows installed, and I got the southern E-glass (made to handle the excsisvie solar-heat of the south) and the difference has been night and day. now, my outside shades are more for glare than heat-gain. (dh was adamently opposed to any coating that might discolor his mt. view.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 I'm intrigued. How is your house configured? (ours is built in 1920) Ours is three floors. The floors I'd be most interested in are the second and especially third. The third is the attic. We sleep up there. I just don't know how well something like that would work or what it would cost. We have to run the air at night on the third floor even if it's not all that warm outside. Although on the plus side there is no heating up there and we've never needed it. And it does get quite cold here. Our house was built in 1880. We've just used window and ceiling fans till last year, as that was livable except for be 1-2 unbearably hot weeks and we'd just head to an air conditioned place for the hottest part of the days. But after last summer, with weeks of unbearably hot days, we decided to put in heat pumps. There are three units, and each one does an area or a room, and have their own thermostat. They can be run independently, with one off while others are on, so you only have to cool the areas you're in at the time. We didn't bother doing the whole house, just the rooms we're in during the day and the one bedroom that's right under the roof - the other bedrooms cool down fine at night with ceiling and window fans and open windows. No ductwork is required at all. And even better, they can also heat, so can be used as supplemental heat in the winter if you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Our house was built in 1880. We've just used window and ceiling fans till last year, as that was livable except for be 1-2 unbearably hot weeks and we'd just head to an air conditioned place for the hottest part of the days. But after last summer, with weeks of unbearably hot days, we decided to put in heat pumps. There are three units, and each one does an area or a room, and have their own thermostat. They can be run independently, with one off while others are on, so you only have to cool the areas you're in at the time. We didn't bother doing the whole house, just the rooms we're in during the day and the one bedroom that's right under the roof - the other bedrooms cool down fine at night with ceiling and window fans and open windows. No ductwork is required at all. And even better, they can also heat, so can be used as supplemental heat in the winter if you want. You're talking about a mini-split system, correct? http://www.nyaccorp.com/ductless-mini-split.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 You're talking about a mini-split system, correct? http://www.nyaccorp.com/ductless-mini-split.html Yep, looks similar to that except it heats as well as cools - been nice to take the edge off on chilly spring mornings without running whole house heat. You only need 4" of wall space on the outside to install one of these, and they don't take up any window space like a window unit. They're supposed to be way more energy efficient than both traditional ducted air and window units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyinTN Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 We have just have one system for this rental. The upstairs can become warm if the ceiling fans aren't running and are not on the right setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rumulis Posted February 22, 2023 Share Posted February 22, 2023 Whether it will actually save you money, can depend on a lot of factors, like the size of your home, how often you run the AC and the efficiency of your units. But generally speaking, using a window unit at night should help reduce the load on your central unit, which can in turn help reduce your energy usage and save you some money. If you're looking for more advice or need some help with your AC units, I highly recommend checking out Hot 2 Cold Air Conditioning. They're a great company with lots of experience and knowledge in the field. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boymama5 Posted February 22, 2023 Share Posted February 22, 2023 We have separate units between all the floors plus ceiling fans in all rooms. I try to not use the AC as much as possible but it does get super hot upstairs and we turn that on at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boymama5 Posted February 22, 2023 Share Posted February 22, 2023 Oh at our old home we had a Whole House Fan and it did wonders. Upstairs was always nice and it saved on overall bills. It’s a more cost effective way than monthly bills or separate units. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted February 22, 2023 Share Posted February 22, 2023 We have central air, but each room has its own different climate depending on sunlight etc. I bought something similar to this, since my room tends to be the hottest (and since I work in my room most of the day). https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Conditioner-Personal-Evaporative-Bedroom/dp/B0BVLYWFNF/ref=sr_1_3?crid=WL0FJ7IVX2IA&keywords=portable+air+conditioner&qid=1677088481&sprefix=portable+air+conditioner%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgo95 Posted February 22, 2023 Share Posted February 22, 2023 Zombie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted February 22, 2023 Share Posted February 22, 2023 It cools off at night here. We have AC but the only ducts are downstairs. However, once the outside temperature cools off, we run the bathroom venting fan upstairs and it sucks all the hot air outside and equalizes the temperature throughout the house. If it has been very hot we leave the AC running while we do this, but usually by then we have turned it off because the downstairs and outside are similar in temperature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CT Posted February 22, 2023 Share Posted February 22, 2023 Feeling sort of wistful seeing the folks who were chiming in back in 2014... the nostalgia that zombies evoke. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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