Can your A/C keep up with this heat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The outside temperature isn’t so much a problem, but the sun is. My 2 story house doesn’t have any shade on it. Regardless of the temperature (nearly), my AC runs continuously from 7-10am and 4-7pm if there’s full sun.

A properly sized AC should run continuously on the "design day." It's actually better for them to run continuously, starting is what puts the most stress on the motor and compressor. The sizing should account for solar gains.

“Design day” is most of June/July/August. I wish I didn’t need to keep my AC set to 71 all day because otherwise it can’t catch up in the late afternoon/early evening.

I have a 3400-square-foot home on a 5 ton unit. It’s probably a little undersized, but they built the house with only one unit.

Average daily high for Washington DC is 83 for June, 87 for July and 84 for August. Design day for for DC is 92.

OP here - my house keeps up isn’t all those temp. But 95+? We are screwed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The outside temperature isn’t so much a problem, but the sun is. My 2 story house doesn’t have any shade on it. Regardless of the temperature (nearly), my AC runs continuously from 7-10am and 4-7pm if there’s full sun.

A properly sized AC should run continuously on the "design day." It's actually better for them to run continuously, starting is what puts the most stress on the motor and compressor. The sizing should account for solar gains.

“Design day” is most of June/July/August. I wish I didn’t need to keep my AC set to 71 all day because otherwise it can’t catch up in the late afternoon/early evening.

I have a 3400-square-foot home on a 5 ton unit. It’s probably a little undersized, but they built the house with only one unit.

Average daily high for Washington DC is 83 for June, 87 for July and 84 for August. Design day for for DC is 92.

OP here - my house keeps up isn’t all those temp. But 95+? We are screwed.

Sorry I meant to say my 1939 house keeps up with all those temp but 95+ is not good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The outside temperature isn’t so much a problem, but the sun is. My 2 story house doesn’t have any shade on it. Regardless of the temperature (nearly), my AC runs continuously from 7-10am and 4-7pm if there’s full sun.

A properly sized AC should run continuously on the "design day." It's actually better for them to run continuously, starting is what puts the most stress on the motor and compressor. The sizing should account for solar gains.

“Design day” is most of June/July/August. I wish I didn’t need to keep my AC set to 71 all day because otherwise it can’t catch up in the late afternoon/early evening.

I have a 3400-square-foot home on a 5 ton unit. It’s probably a little undersized, but they built the house with only one unit.

Average daily high for Washington DC is 83 for June, 87 for July and 84 for August. Design day for for DC is 92.

OP here - my house keeps up isn’t all those temp. But 95+? We are screwed.

That's how a properly sized HVAC system is supposed to work. At the design conditions -- 92F and full sun in DC -- the system runs 100% of the time and maintains temperature. At higher temperatures it still runs 100% but cannot maintain temperature, the inside temperature slowly rises. But even on days when it gets quite a bit hotter it doesn't stay hot for very long, and the house has some heat capacity, so inside might rise a degree or two. When it cools off into the evening the system will run for a while to clear the heat that built up during the day. At temperatures below the design temperature the system should cycle on and off.

You can do a quick assessment of whether your system is properly sized by observing how it cycles at different temperatures and at what temperature it stays on all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all you keeping your homes at 72. What about climate change?!? We should be considering keeping our ACs at 80 or above. They should only be used to prevent heat related death. Jeez, you all suck and are very selfish.

We have excellent insulation, EV cars, huge solar panels. We make enough electricity to sell it to Pepco. The 72 stays, punk!

narrow minded

Tiresome.

Ours is set at 71!

[Anonymous]

People need to understand that a perfectly size unit for your house may not be able to keep. The issue isn’t the unit or temp. It is your house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People need to understand that a perfectly size unit for your house may not be able to keep. The issue isn’t the unit or temp. It is your house.

If it can't keep up it isn't perfectly sized.

[Anonymous]

Ours struggles with 95F+ and we use black out shades. We don't even bother going upstairs. It was fine until the large tree shading most of the house went down in a storm. It has been replaced but will be a while before the new tree will sufficiently shade.

We have great solar production so don't feel bad turning the house much cooler at night to make it more comfortable during the day.

[Anonymous]

House built in 1996 which I was a dysmal decade for home building. 3500sq feet keep the house at 70, drops to 68 at night for upstairs and have never had a problem with the house keeping temperature. Windows and doors are about 10 years old and hvac is 7 years old.

Kids complain the house is too cold, but I’m 44. I get hot these days.

[Anonymous]

No it can not. I am buying secondary units for my upstairs office because its hot as hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For all you keeping your homes at 72. What about climate change?!? We should be considering keeping our ACs at 80 or above. They should only be used to prevent heat related death. Jeez, you all suck and are very selfish.

I keep mine at 69. I prefer to create ice box conditions. My house has no problem keeping up with it.

Only chance my house will ever hit close to 80 is it would need to be broken. My perimenopausal old ass is not going to be sitting at home sweating like a whore in church. Sorry, get out your snorkeling gear and prepare for beach front living.