Any suggestions about my air conditioning unit?

Question

I have a 3 1/2 ton central ac unit to cool my 1800 sq foot living space house. It is over 10 years old. It used to be adequate to cool the house, even when the temperature would get into the mid 90's in mid summer here in the South. Due to the hurricane last year I had some huge 90 foot trees next to my house cut down because of the hurricane threat. Plus the summers here in the South continue to grow hotter over the 22 years I've been here. It is now in the mid 90's from June to early September.
I cannot keep my house temperature below 80 degrees when it is 95+ outside. I had my ac unit looked at, man said it was fine and that getting 80 degrees inside when it is 98 outside was reasonable. 'Reasonable? what does that mean? I think either my ac unit is too small to cool my living space due to increasing global warming, or I have terrible insulation. What would you do to solve this problem?

Answer 1

Actually when it is this hot outside the capability of the AC will decline. A bigger unit would help, but hey you really dont need one.

Answer 2

a 3 1/2 ton A/C unit is over sized for a home that is this size. You must have a very old home that is not insulate well. Take the temp of the air going back to the furnace and take the temp of the air at the farthest register from the furnace. if you have a 20 degree difference the A/C is working fine and you need to look at other means of reducing the heat load such a new double pane windows and caucking and re-insulating

Answer 3

insulation is a huge part of maintaining the cooler temerature also cutting down the trees taking away from shading your home didnt help maybe if you cant afford a larger one at the moment go and buy a small window unit to help take up the slack of your system not being able to keep up you might need a larger system as for it being normal being 80 while its 95 outside thats a lie your system should cool your home usually between 70 to 75 degrees the temp outside here has been around 100 to 105 and this unit keeps it around 75 degrees easily inside, could go lower if i wanted to

Answer 4

I don't know tonnage, but 1800 sq ft isn't that big. It's 108 here now, and with one AC unit, I'm keeping house at 70 - and there's still a lot of light into the house (no dark curtains). And I'm in a 2100 sq ft. You might have insulation problems, or the AC guy was BS'ing you that it's fine. It's definitely not reasonable.

Answer 5

go buy a digital thermometer. measure the air temp at the filter and the air temp coming out of the register that is closest to the furnace. the difference should be 15-20 degrees.

if it is 15 degrees or so, check the attic vents(are their enough) how hot is the attic? removing trees from the yard takes away the shade and puts on a tremendous heat load in the attic. if its like 130 in the attic, the ac unit will have to fight to keep up with the heat.

Answer 6

try ceiling fans they help . 20 degree drop is good. 98 outside should be 78 inside. now the trees are gone the heat load has increased and the unit is over ten years old call another company in . also try callin in an insulation company they have ways of insulating an existing house

Answer 7

3 1/2 ton unit WOW. check your insulation first, might be something simple as that. also check any vents or anything like that which may be leaking in air from outside. don't even know how much a replacement unit for your house would cost so I would suggest the simple things first. also, close windows and blinds as they can dissipate the cold air in your house. also might want to invest in ceiling fans as well.

Answer 8

MAYBE THE TREES THEY CUT DOWN WERE SHADING YOUR HOUSE BEFOR. AND 95 DEGREE WOULD BE SOOOOOOOOO WELCOMED HERE. YESTERDAY IT WAS 112 DEGREES OUTSIDE OVER HERE. BUT I THINK THE TREES PLAY A BIG ROLL IN KEEPIN YOUR HOUSE COOL IF THEY CAST SHADOWS ON YOUR HOUSE. REALLY, I L;IVE IN AN APARTMENT AND ONE OF THE BEDROOMS IS SHADED AND ONE IS NOT AND THE ONE THAT ISNT IS ALWAY MORE HOT THAN THE OTHER.

Answer 9

go to the" this old house "website ,you'll find a link that will compute just what seer rating / b t u you need with the info you provide,and then check wholesale a c spot on the web. also you may want to change its location to a less sunny spot.

Answer 10

You probably just need to clean the coils.