Cooling hot upstairs

[libertytyranny]

I have been looking at ways to cool our hot upstairs (last summer was awful) and keep the smeco bill in check. During some hot days we really had to crank it and our Smeco bill was so high for such a small house. The main issue is the house is baked in sun all day. By 6am the air between my glass storm door and the metal door is hot enough to make the paint run, last summer I had to "vent" it by extending the lock and leaving it open.

I have read conflicting reports about attic fans so i am not sure there and I have looked at whole house fans as well, but those seem like they'd only really be useful when outside is cool at night and not when the AC is on. We currently have solar curtains on the windows and are looking at solar screens of window film, but the whole house gets baked.


Anyone have ideas that worked?

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Besides changing out doors/windows/insulation, I'd recommend a ductless split AC system.

They are great for heating/cooling smaller areas and easy to install.

Attic fans are fine only if you know your home is air tight. If not, they'll create a vacuum in the attic, sucking the cool air from the living space into the attic through small leaks (holes drilled in the studs for wiring that weren't caulked, receptacle holes in the wall, etc.)

 

[Tilted]

There are some little things that you can try that, depending on your situation, may or may not add up to a noticeable difference. You can close some of the downstairs vents. You can use some floor fans upstairs to keep the air circulating. You should probably try to make sure that the ducts feeding the upstairs aren't somehow constricted.

As for things that might make a bigger difference, the first thing I'd look into doing is putting in better attic insulation. If the house is older it may not be very good and that may be where a lot of the extra thermal energy is coming in. You could also look at your windows, a fair bit of heat could be getting in through or around them.

 

[getbent]

What about a damper system? ( I believe that's what's it called ). We were looking into that but couldn't swing the extra money along with replacing our HVAC unit. We have the same problem with upstairs being much warmer than downstairs.

 

[glhs837]

You need a pro to evaluate your house. Either your attic is under-insulated or your HVAC system is poorly laid out. Long term, plant some shade trees.

 

[DoWhat]

Dual zone.

 

[kom526]

I concur with the mini split.

 

[lmor]

I have been looking at ways to cool our hot upstairs (last summer was awful) and keep the smeco bill in check. During some hot days we really had to crank it and our Smeco bill was so high for such a small house. The main issue is the house is baked in sun all day. By 6am the air between my glass storm door and the metal door is hot enough to make the paint run, last summer I had to "vent" it by extending the lock and leaving it open.

I have read conflicting reports about attic fans so i am not sure there and I have looked at whole house fans as well, but those seem like they'd only really be useful when outside is cool at night and not when the AC is on. We currently have solar curtains on the windows and are looking at solar screens of window film, but the whole house gets baked.


Anyone have ideas that worked?

We recently had a HVAC guy tell us to keep the fan set to "on" rather than auto in both winter and summer. You might give that a try along with the other advice you have received.

 

[GWguy]

We recently had a HVAC guy tell us to keep the fan set to "on" rather than auto in both winter and summer. You might give that a try along with the other advice you have received.

It does work but the fan sucks power like crazy.

I put in 2 roof-mount thermostatic attic fans. One turns on at 95*, the other at 110*. As long as you have adequate air flow into the attic thru the eaves or gable vents they significantly take the heat off the upstairs ceiling.

Whole house fans work very well, but again you need adequate air flow to vent the hot air out of the attic. Down side is that is can be loud, especially if its right outside your bedroom.

 

[libertytyranny]

I think that insulation may be an issue. Because of the way the house is built with a bonus room over the garages, there are two attics and both get HOT. Super hot. and you can feel the heat radiate into the closets in the bonus room, heating up that area significantly. I would love to upgrade the AC, but it is such a small house, it shouldnt be working so hard to cool it, and indeed the downstairs (on a crawlspace, no basement) is very cool when we keep the thermal curtains drawn.

The last HVAC person we had look at it for the inspection sugessted attic fans and perhaps another vent in the attic. But since then I have read that they don't help and Im just not sure which is more true

 

[Chris0nllyn]

The last HVAC person we had look at it for the inspection sugessted attic fans and perhaps another vent in the attic. But since then I have read that they don't help and Im just not sure which is more true

They can help, for sure.

But they'll also pull your conditioned air into the attic, along with needing to cut holes in your roof. Not my first choice, but certainly a pretty common option.

 

[lovinmaryland]

Our house is the same way. The people who built the house opted to go w/ a smaller system for roughly a 1000 sq ft house and our house is 1700 sq ft. Why someone would do that is beyond me I've found that fans help but also I added 2 window ac units upstairs. It actually helped take down the bill because I was able to increase the overall temp of the main system. In the summer months our bill runs roughly $400 a month

 

[libertytyranny]

Our house is the same way. The people who built the house opted to go w/ a smaller system for roughly a 1000 sq ft house and our house is 1700 sq ft. Why someone would do that is beyond me I've found that fans help but also I added 2 window ac units upstairs. It actually helped take down the bill because I was able to increase the overall temp of the main system. In the summer months our bill runs roughly $400 a month

Did it? I considered running a small unit in my room and my daughter's but wasn't sure if that would help the end goal of lowering the bill. Ours was running in the $300-400 range for an 1800ish sqft house and the upstairs was sweltering!

 

[lovinmaryland]

Did it? I considered running a small unit in my room and my daughter's but wasn't sure if that would help the end goal of lowering the bill. Ours was running in the $300-400 range for an 1800ish sqft house and the upstairs was sweltering!

It had been in the upper $400 before that. Ceilings fans are supposed to help also so I am having some of those installed hopefully in the next few weeks. The units I got are smaller and they are very energy efficient models. I usually only run them in the evenings once we get home or on the weekends if we're upstairs.

 

[pelers]

I feel your pain. My townhouse has a third floor and it BAKES up there because the A/C unit (and the whole ducting system, really) just doesn't have enough oomph.

In the summer we close all the vents in the basement, most of the vents on the main floor. It sucks power like crazy, but the biggest help has been having the fan run constantly when we're home. Dropped the temp a good 5* upstairs.

For the very top level (my son's bedroom) we just plugged in a portable A/C unit and vent it through the window. We looked into getting one of those ductless deals, but they are a lot more expensive than you'd think. We were looking at quotes $2k+ and that was for a pretty tiny unit.

Check to see if your system has dampers on it and that they are turned in the correct directions. It helps a bit. They look like handles on the ducts around your indoor unit. They rotate to open or close the vents.

 

[Gilligan]

The single biggest improvement we made to one of our "hard to cool" buildings was to install positive ventilation .."attic fans". The results were immediately noticeable in the living spaces and attic temps dropped by 30-40 degrees..(the "attic being immediately above the habitable spaces and with the HVAC ducting running through it)

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Typical insulation only only slows the heat flow, it doesn't stop it. The idea is to slow it until the sun goes down and hte attic starts to cool down.

Adding an attic fan may or may not work since it isn't as simple as just sticking a fan in there, your attic ventilation system all interacts together and should be designed by someone who knows what they are doing.

I have done a bit of experimenting with a radiant barrier on the underside of my sheds roof and it seems to have helped quite a bit. If I ever build a new house I believe that I will have it put under the decking like in this picture.

http://www.rimainternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/reflectix-4-large.jpg