Upstairs A/C Options --> Hot

I read in a farm show magazine way back about a guy that took the chill off and cooled his garage in a similar fashion. He buried 4" pipe down below the frost line out into his yard and back. I forget how many feet. Both piped into his garage, one at floor level, the other at the ceiling. He used a computer fan to circulate the 50° air from the ground temp in the piping. The garage was well insulated and stayed cool in the summer and tolerable in the winter.

 

Gosh that makes me feel smartah and less redneck
I just learned finished basement in summer are cooler

 

I think the idea is brilliant. His and yours.

 

I like my bedroom ice cold I sleep with the window open thru the winter I have woke up and seen my own breath.
I use a window shaker during the summer to keep my bedroom cold.
When burying a window unit they do make a inverter ac that another member mentioned
They are not much more money than a regular unit and are supposed to me more efficient/cheaper to run

 

I'll have to double check, I am really not sure.

 

BINGO!!!! Attic/Roof fan is dead!

Did a little troubleshooting and looks like it's the motor.

I'll tell ya, it was pretty hot last week and boy did we notice a difference upstairs without that fan running. My wife and I kept looking at each other saying we don't recall it being this warm upstairs ever and we've had hotter stretches in the past.

I've added attic insulation project to my list for the fall (funds $ pending). Something I've always wanted to do, but just never got to it.

Good and bad is this attic is large, lots of room so it's easy to walk around air seal and lay insulation. My old house was a nightmare up there, good lord!!

 

Good deal...just FYI, it must be cheaper to buy a new one and just swap out the motors, because I see people selling new roof fans, sans motor, on CL/FBMP all the time...but you'd have to get the motor # and check it out.

 

Good stuff thank you

 

You mentioned central air in the first post - if that is the case where are your return air ducts located? Do you have one upstairs? It takes a lot more air pressure to move cool air up to the second floor that the first. I have a similar problem and I close the 1st floor vents a little to get a little more air to the second floor. In the winter I open them up again. I have also looked at a duct booster fan but have not gone that far yet.

 

We have two returns on the main 1st floor level and we have a larger one upstairs at the top of the stairway/hallway.

I think I'll give that a try to experiment closing the downstairs vents. First I need to get this dang attic fan going, was hot yesterday again and I could feel the difference upstairs for sure.

I've looked into a damper systems in the past to help make more comfortable.

 

Well I gave it a go and was pleasantly surprised how cool the upstairs was. I can tell the air flow of the vents upstairs felt stronger. Certainly made difference with one caveat.

There are some vents that do not have the option of closing on the first floor. The ones that do and the ones I closed all relatively reside in the room where the thermostat lives.

Now did the A/C just run more and longer because the vents where closed in that room with the thermostat?

Not sure I care at this point, lol simply because I was actually cold LN while sleeping (we have a fan running directly over the a/c vent) I actually had to reach for the thin comforter we have.

 

Was this last night? It was much cooler here in south Jersey last night.

 

Much cooler but the registers where blowing like a screen door in a hurricane............

 

Motor replaced and operational! Difference already noticed

I really need to replace my a/c condenser, she runs like a tank but almost 30yrs old built in 1996 (year I graduated high school, LOL)

Hate to fix something that ain't broken BUT afraid she's going to blow at the worse time 90+ degree hot spell.

 

If you do decide to switch find something a low to mid 20s SEER rating. With a unit that old switching could save you big on your operating costs. Like up to 50% depending on the new unit.

 

Great stuff, thank you!

Reading up on single stage, 2 stage, and variable. I think variable speed is out of my league $$ and not needed for my home size/setup.

But lots of opinions on 2nd stage......

 

With the age of your current unit they will all eventually payback the cost of the new unit in operational savings.

 

30 years that is unreal now days
That goes to show you what quality over quantity was