Monday, October 24, 2011

Do I have a central air conditioning problem?

I just purchased a brand new home in south MS where we have very hot and humid summers. This is my 1st home and I know absolutely nothing about Central Air other than how to change a filter. I keep my AC off from 9 am - 4 pm, due to extremely high power bill - $240 for 1100 sq ft home, I DO NOT use a lot of power. I have heard from different people that you should keep your AC off when not home to save power and I've heard the opposite that you should keep it running because it uses a lot of power to lower a drastic amount of temperature. Which raises another question the disc on the power meter takes anywhere from 4-9 seconds to revolve when AC is on, when off it takes about 30 seconds to revolve, is this normal? As an example today I got home at 4:15 pm, AC is off, disc revolving slow, inside temp. is 83 degrees. It is now 2 hours later, disk is going 9 seconds to revolve, temp. is 81 degrees. Other day it took 3 hrs to go down 1 degree. I am concerned there may be a problem w/ AC.Do I have a central air conditioning problem?You do have a problem with the air conditioning systems. A properly sized ac system will drop the temperature in the structure at least 2 degrees per hour when it is under full load. Call an HVAC service company to check for a problem.Do I have a central air conditioning problem?if you recently bought the house the a/c was probably checked.. see if your realetor has that info. as for the electric useage Yea they suck power when on. The problem with leaving it off during the day is if its over around 85 during the day youre going to use more power to cool EVERYTHING down once you start it back up. Youre having to cool the walls the furniture , everything IN the house its almost always cheaper to turn it up to around 80 or so and leave it on to cycle, unless your house wistles when the wind blows. (not sealed well).Do I have a central air conditioning problem?You should have a reputable HVAC company in your area give your central Air a good clean and check, just to give you the peace of mind that everything is ok.



Air conditioners work by first removing the humidity in the house and then lowering the ambient air temp.



If you turn your A/C off during the day and back on again when you get home from work, you have to get rid of all the days humidity you let back into the house during the day before you lower the temp.



You are better off just raising the setting of your thermosat a few degrees while you are gone to keep the humidity down, and keep the A/C from running so hard when you get home.

You could look into a programmable thermostat.Do I have a central air conditioning problem?Check air temperature of closest register to furnace.It should be between,55 %26amp; 65 degrees.If there is duct work in the attic,it should be insulated.

You shouldn't turn off the A/C,just adjust the thermostat up because everything in your house will have to give up the heat it absorbs when the unit is off.Do I have a central air conditioning problem?several things could be wrong first you should get a program able thermostat installed and program it for a 10degree shift when you are not home second have you checked the filter is it clean if not then change it third the return duct is probably in a central location make sure all doors are open to allow warm air to return to furnace to get cooled again this will help to keep all rooms the same temp.how about the outside compressor is it clean are there vegetation growing around it this unit needs air to help cool down the coils, in the spring have somebody that knows what they are doing clean this outside compressor A little maintenance goes a long way.