upstairs hot even with central a/c?

Question

we have a 1-1/2 story cape, where the second floor was converted and finished. There are 3 rooms up there. The front and middle rooms stay cooler, but the room in the back is awfully hot... probably doesn't get cooler than 80-85 on days when its around 90 or so. We thought of a couple things:
1. No attic or roof fan is up there. Should we put one in, and, if so, what is the best option. there is not a lot of room between the ceiling and the roof. *we had insulation blown in the entire house a year ago. How do we get the hot air vented out???
2. There is no return upstairs... is it essential to have one?
3. There is a ceiling fan in the first room, but not this one... we are going to put one in, will that help a lot?
4. The a/c coming up is weak out of the vent... it is an old house and the duct is smaller for some reason.

In general, it is hotter upstairs than downstairs (i know that is how it goes). But what is the easiest, best way to make it cooler and more efficient up there!!

Answer 1

Which way does the back room face? I'm guessing South or West. Afternoon sun heats up a room.

Ceiling fans don't cool a room. They only work to move air around and make you feel cooler when you are in the room.

Do you have shades on the windows? Keep the sun from coming in and heating the room like a greenhouse.

Answer 2

Yay for ceiling fans! They help immensely as far as helping keep the room cooler plus they keep the air circulating. They are easy to install yourself and in the long run, cheaper than cranking up your a/c. My parents put one in every bedroom in their house and you can feel a drastic improvement.

I just moved out of my parents' house and am now living in an upstairs apartment. We are sandwiched between two other apartments and so it is really hard to keep cool because of all that "insulation." We have been finding different ways aside from a ceiling fan to combat the heat. Firstly, we bought several box fans that help circulate the cool air. We put the fans in the cooler rooms and use them to direct that cool air to the rooms that don't cool down as easily. Then, we checked the freon levels in the a/c. They were low and after we added more, that helped the temperature and circulation immensely. Finally, we learned that the filter on an air conditioner should be changed MONTHLY. This helps it work more efficiently and in the long run, saves you money. The filters only cost a dollar and you can really tell a difference! Also, I don't know what kind of windows you have in the room that won't cool off, but you might want to look into getting some insulated drapes. They keep help keep the heat out in summer and the cold out in winter. Sunlight streaming in can really heat up a room.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

Answer 3

Your least expensive "experiment" in cooling this room might be to get a window fan and pull the air out of the room, pulling the cool air from other rooms into it. To get a good draft going right away, open a window in a downstairs room. If you cut a hole for a fan through the siding you may have cold winter air to deal with, depending where you live. I have a full two story house and even though the rooms are all air conditioned, upstairs is always warmer. I use the window fan method to cool down quickly, will often choose the open window to be in the walk out basement to get that cool air upstairs instead of pulling warm air from outside on the main floor.

Answer 4

Well you could put a ceiling fan up there, but it would a bit expensive. But it would cerculate the air so that it would not sit and got hot stuffy.

I would recommend getting an artfully decorated tall fan, so that it could push the hot air into the colder rooms, and put another one pushing the cold air in.

I wold not reccomend getting the ventialtion unpdated, as that would leave very mch lighter in the pockets!

Or you could put an airconditioner in the window, if it is big enough. Good luck, we had the smae problem, just put in a new air conditioner!

Answer 5

I have a 2 story with central air. Up in the attic, from the "A" coil, ducting goes to different areas to distribute the air to different parts of the house. Each duct has like a flapper valve or gate that is adjustable. Mine, I loosen a lock nut, then there is a track the bolt moves through, opening or closing the valve/gate, then retighten the nut to lock it into place. this way, you can adjust how much air goes to which part of the house.

Answer 6

to close your vents downstairs ought to boost the air tension on your ducts and might make your air handler artwork a sprint harder. it must additionally make that air flow upstairs the place you desire it. regularly speaking it would be only effective as long as you're no longer remaining better than 50% of the sq. inches of of air ducts. when you do this you may observe a "chilly draft" comming down your stairs. because of the fact warm air nonetheless rises and chilly air stil falls.

Answer 7

depending on how many vents are downstairs, try closing one or two and see if the air will cool off upstairs. are there any vents upstairs??

Answer 8

I would out for bigger ducts and a bigger a/c that will be more up to date than the one you have. Listen to you A/C person to see what he suggest but it sound like you just need your AC up to Date.