Upstairs bedrooms so hot - what would you do?

[Anonymous]

Our upstairs bedrooms get super hot in the spring and summer. The main floor is a reasonable temp, the basement is 10 degrees colder and the upstairs is 10 degrees warmer. We have central air, but someone who looked at it once said it was done incorrectly(?) but to try to redo it as a split system now would be $10-$20k. We started putting a window unit in our master bedroom during the summer but now the kids sleep in the other bedroom (3yrs and 6 months). It makes me nervous to put a window unit in their room, where they could mess with it unsupervised, but is that our only option? Any other thoughts on how to cool down the upper floor?

[Anonymous]

Their are alternatives to window units.

[Anonymous]

You can try a couple things - shut the vents downstairs and force more cooler air upstairs. You can also install portable AC. You can also look into attic fan to keep attic temp under control.

[Anonymous]

This is pretty low tech, but do you have ceiling fans in the bedrooms? I have found they can make a big difference in the comfort level in upstairs bedrooms which do tend to run a little warmer simply because they are upstairs.

[Anonymous]

We have window units. Our upstairs is a freaking OVEN in the summer. It's unbearable with out them. We have little kids too and they don't touch the units and they can't push or pull them out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can try a couple things - shut the vents downstairs and force more cooler air upstairs. You can also install portable AC. You can also look into attic fan to keep attic temp under control.

+1 to all. We've done all this except the portable a/c unit. It's made a difference. Also, we keep the curtains closed or use sheer curtains on the windows facing where the sun is strongest in the afternoon; and put in ceiling fans. Also, check your attic insulation.

[Anonymous]

Tell them not to mess with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can try a couple things - shut the vents downstairs and force more cooler air upstairs. You can also install portable AC. You can also look into attic fan to keep attic temp under control.

We do the vents/fans to keep our upstairs cooler. In the summer we sometimes leave the attic fan on all the time. We leave all ceiling fans on too. I normally let them spin on med/high to really keep air moving. It gets stuffy otherwise.

Then we sleep in lighter clothing and light blankets and bring a sweat shirt when heading to the basement.

Also, you do want to keep the basement vents open a little. At least our AC system uses those vents to suck air too, so with them closed we managed to freeze our unit (which makes it stop working!). So now we sometimes close them at night, but then during the day my DH opens them up 1/2 way or so.

[Anonymous]

I grew up with a window AC unit that my dad installed into the window each spring and took out each September. I knew how to adjust the temp to my comfort level by the time I was 3.5. I never did anything else.

Make sure your insulation is up to par.

[Anonymous]

have similar issue and agree with previous posters. Also, we found installing a $200 'smart' thermostat was helpful at regulating the temperature (both in cold and awrm weather). It had a 'circulate' feature which was different than our old 'dumb' thermostat, which cycles the air in the house every so often (pushing the cold air up/hot air down). Also, we can program it for different temperatures at different times of the day.

[Anonymous]

Put a bathroom style fan/vent to outside in the ceiling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can try a couple things - shut the vents downstairs and force more cooler air upstairs. You can also install portable AC. You can also look into attic fan to keep attic temp under control.

+1 to all. We've done all this except the portable a/c unit. It's made a difference. Also, we keep the curtains closed or use sheer curtains on the windows facing where the sun is strongest in the afternoon; and put in ceiling fans. Also, check your attic insulation.

PP here..also we (and by that I mean DH) put a fan inside the duct to push more air into the vent that goes into the upstairs br. It has a switch so you can turn it off during the time you don't need it, and a temperature gauge which will cause the fan to turn on when it detects the inside temp (duct) to be at a certain temp. It's in the unfinished basement part, and exposed we can easily turn the fan off/on.

Another thing I did in one of the br is to switch the vent plate around during the summer -- facing up -- since cool air settles, and down, since warm air rises.

As you can tell, I've tried all kinds of stuff, short of a window unit and split a/c which are way more expensive.

[Anonymous]

We ended up getting a second AC system for the second floor. We looked at attic fans and various other options and were told that they really wouldn't make much difference for the price.

[Anonymous]

1) we have window units in both upstairs bedrooms.
2) we have tinted the windows that face south/west and it has made a big difference.
3) our dd's room can't have a ceiling fan because of the ceiling slope but she does have a wall-mounted fan.
4) keep rooms dark during the day.

[Anonymous]

Make sure the dampers are in the right position for the season.