One room in my house gets hot in the evening. That tricks the AC into blowing the rest of the house into a freezer. I want to figure out how to get the room colder. I've just put up blackout curtains (the sun hits that room in the evening), so we'll see soon what effect that has. How to escalate from here?
Fan from the outside of the room into the room can help level out the temps, which is a good start.Is it a bedroom? If not, maybe just switch the sensor off in that room and base your AC off other areas?
>>3003687It's a bedroom. If the blackout curtain isn't enough tonight, I may buy a box fan to bring cold air from the rest of the house in.>sensorI must not know enough about how AC works, because I didn't think each room had a sensor. I will have to investigate this.
>>3003686Plant some clumping bamboo in front of your windows.
>>3003698Do not do this. Shade your windows with louvres or an awning. >>3003688Bedroom makes it trickier. Definitely work on circulation of air. Keep the curtains closed most of the day, opening only for when you ventilate to the outside (opening windows).
>>3003686https://youtu.be/nDt-ft7Aj1Q
>>3003686move the thermostat to a different room.
>>3003727Can you just do that? The thermostat right now is in the hall, just next to that room. But it's not like it's plugged into an outlet. Surely it's wired in somehow?
>>3003730I don't know how smart thermostats work, but dumb thermostats know when to shutoff/turn on because they have a temperature sensor. Your thermostat kicks on because it's next to your hotter room. You can move it so that one room doesn't influence the thermostat.I put up insulated curtain liners last year and they worked well enough to keep the room comfortable. You weave them inbetween your regular curtains. This is what I used: https://a.co/d/06lZwZ99
>>3003730Thermostats are wired directly to your furnace/AC with low volt wiring. Smart thermostats can have wireless sensors paired with them to provide a fuller picture of your house's condition.
Plant a shade tree at least 10 feet away from the outside of that room. After a couple years problem solved. I have cut my cooling in half just with 3 strategically placed trees.
pull the thermostat off wall. locate pinout diagram for lv terminals coming out of wall. depending on terminals, if they're pins or lugs or whatever, you can just extend each wire to whatever room you need and plug in there. or get a pair of esp32s to wirelessly relay the signal from the new location to where it was previously plugged in. or just rewire if you're not renting.
>>3003686that room is either not insulated or badly insulated.
>>3003730>The thermostat right now is in the hall, just next to that roomI had this issue with a thermostat that was mounted on a wall that had attic space on the other side. The wall would get hot due to the attic on the other side being hot, which would trick the thermostat into thinking the house was that hot, even though the room it was in wasn't. My solution was to cut a block of styrofoam about an inch thick and put it between the thermostat and the wall which insulated it from the heat in the wall.>>3003730>Surely it's wired in somehow?Thermostat wiring is very easy. It's all low voltage stuff, so no risk of shocking yourself. Each wire is color coded and the terminals on the thermostat should be labeled, so you'll see where everything goes even if you have no idea what each of the wires does. So to move the thermostat, pop it off the wall, take a pic of the terminals & wiring so you have a record of which terminal each color of wire goes to, go get a spool of thermostat wire from the hardware store, extend the wires wherever you need, and connect it back up in the new location.
>>3003810>>3003793>>3003735>>3003734Thanks for the info. Update is the blackout curtains did help a bit, and I'm also going to put in a UV window film thing. But regarding the notion of moving the thermostat: I should clarify that that wouldn't solve my issue. That would prevent the AC from blasting constantly due to proximity to the hot room, but I sleep in that room, and my real goal is to get the room cooler. As it has been, the room is hot even WITH the AC blasting. So my goal at the moment is to get the hot room cooler.
>>3003814You bring the cool air in.You blow the warm out out.You do the hokey inline exhaust fan with flexible ducting run outside the room pokey and you turn yourself around.That's about it. Peace out.
>>3003814Did you change all your return air filters?
>>3003814>I sleep in that room, and my real goal is to get the room cooler.>Option AFans to mix the air>Option BSmart thermostat with a sensor in your bedroom programed to be the only sensor active when you're sleeping. The rest of the house will freeze but you will be comfy
>>3003827I moved in just the other week, and the return filter was replaced shortly before I moved in.
>>3003814If blackout curtains don't work that much, your next step should be an exterior window fitting (awning, louvres, shading from plants NOT BAMBOO NEAR HOUSE, etc.).>>3003826 could be right, but also consider ceiling fan.
One simple thing to do is to set the fan in the system to run constantly, not just when the AC or heat is on. This will help equalize the temperature throughout the house by circulating air between the hot and cold rooms.
>>3003686>sun puts too much energy into the room in the evening so I put up curtains that absorb all that energy and radiate it straight into the roomWhatever you put over the windows, it has to go on the outside or at least have a very reflective surface. A huge dark mass inside does almost nothing to reduce heat load.
>>3003686I've now added the UV film, in addition to the curtains. If the film has improved anything, it's not substantial. I do think the curtains helped a bit. But point is the room is warm, and the AC is blasting constantly, unable to keep up.That said, there is another, smaller window in that room, which I haven't addressed. Only about 6 bucks for some more film, so I think I will do that and nail in a bed cover to see if doing this other window helps. After that, I will look into the attic and see if I can adjust things to get more juice to the bedroom (grille feels weaker than other rooms').Anyway, the reason I'm not jumping on exterior shades is because it's a rental, and I don't know how to DIY things. So if / when I need to do that, if it involves drilling or anything, I'll want to check with landlord. So that's why I'm starting with cheap things I can do myself.
>>3004196Put a window AC unit in the room.
>>3004200Honestly, I may have to do this. Probably easier than figuring out how to install exterior shades
>>3004196Is the air blowing cold in other rooms? If not you should check the condenser fan outside and make sure it's running at full speed, and use a garden hose to clean the condenser coils if they're packed with debris.
>>3004202The rest of the house gets plenty cold, even in 100 degree weather. The only room that gets warm is this one, and mostly only for about 3 hours in the evening when the sun hits the room directly. Even in this room, the vent does blow cold, just not fast enough to keep up with the heat.
>>3004217Put a lawn sprinkler or mister outside so water runs over the window when the sun hits. Maybe you could invent water cooled curtains or window frames. lmao
Aside from the solutions that require you to do things that a renter isn't typically allowed to do (like re-insulating the walls/ceiling/roof, or replacing the windows with ones that have better thermal insulating values) the window AC is probably your best solution. It'll cool down the hot room without effecting the rest of the house's cooling and won't require any modifications to the house.
>>3003686at my mom and dad's house that used to be my bedroom, except the HVAC gave no shits about me getting cooked alive up there, so I just added a window unit to my room.simply make sure the window unit is configured such that it only kicks on during the evening when that room gets hot, and you should be good.
>>3004280or, do it the way my grandparents did it at this house, which reminds me, I need to re-foil the windows.just get a roll of tinfoil, and tape it to the windows, reflective side out. send those fuckin sunbeams right back outside!
>>3004281Tape it to the outside or you'll fuck up your double glazing.
>>3004248This might actually be genius.
>>3004299Thanks, Anon. People usually call me retard. lol
>>3004316Even a clock with an extra chromosome is right twice a day.
>>3004319I'm getting mixed signals here.
>>3004281Is it dangerous to do that? Might the glass get too hot
My god none of you have any contracting experience! I'm so glad I saw this post, I mean offence, you are all kinda retarded. So go in the basement, there should be vent controls on the pipes. Most homes especially older ones have that. Usually you just turn the vent controls from winter to summer. Like pic related. Or in a more modern home you close and open vents to redistribute the air flow to make sure some rooms get more air than others, look up a guide on how to balance airflow. Its probably set to winter, that's why you are roasting.
>>3004364I appreciate the info. This is an old, 1959 house in Texas. I don't know where all the vent stuff is, but I think it's in the roof. So I'll go up there sometime and see if I can find anything like what you mention. Anyway, the grilles in each room don't have the ability to open/close. So possibly I'll need to buy a new grille that I can close.
>>3004366Yeah I'm from Chicago and we have different build standards than you. A nigger rigging way to fix it is to block the outflow from nearby vents to see if it increases the flow into your room. Once you figure out what increases flow replace that out vent with one that can close and close it 90 percent. Basically you can make it so some rooms that stay too cold get less air and your room gets more. Think of it as balancing the air flow. If you can't figure it out I'll pop back in this thread to help you out.
>>3004369Thanks.Alright, as of tonight here's where I am:>window>UV static cling film>cardboard + foil> blackout curtain>roomSo come 4 to 8 pm tomorrow we'll see what happens. If no dice, then I'll figure out where the attic is and look for the switch you mentioned.
>>3004372>I'll figure out where the attic is and look for the switch you mentioned.Chances are pretty high you don't have one. But if you have access to the ductwork you may be able to put one in. Depending on whether it's round duct or all hand formed square duct.Easier method is like the person said above to replace the supply registers with ones that are closable. Then you just close down the other registers some which will force more air to the registers that are fully open.
>>3004358This is why I keep posting saying that window treatments must be OUTSIDE to be effective. You'll shatter double glazing doing shit like this internally, and can crack poorly-installed single glazing.
>>3003686>I want to figure out how to get the room colder.Get a register booster. I had a similar issue with one upstairs bedroom, and all I had to do was buy a register booster fan with a thermstat. If the room got warmer than I wanted, the fan would kick on and pull more air from the HVAC system into that room.Made a 10F difference without having to do anything complicated.
>>3004297the fuk is double glazingall of my windows are from the 70s so they're just basic glass
>>3004417Huh. Must be a shit house then. The house I grew up in was built in '71 and had original double glazed windows. Aluminum frames, sure, but still better than single glaze.
>>3004372Ok, so yesterday the room did stay cooler in the evening. Still a bit stuffier than the rest of the house, but better. Somehow the AC did still run constantly. But rather than run constantly at 75 trying in vain to reach 72, it ran constantly at about 72. That said, there were clouds, so it may have been a fluke. For the time being, it's good info. I will still get into the attic soon (don't know where the way in is) and see if I can adjust shutters and stuff. Because I do think that more air flow would be good regardless.
>>3004527>rather than run constantly at 75 trying in vain to reach 72, it ran constantly at about 72>there were clouds, so it may have been a flukeI think your condenser fan needs replaced, the condenser coils need cleaned, and you might need a new start/run capacitor.
>>3004527On subsequent days, where there weren't clouds, I found the temp easily got up to 76 and hung there. I do think that the curtains + static cling + carboard + foil is helping...a little? Yeah, it's iffy. I am ALSO now using a box fan. I suspect it's helping a little, at least psychologically, but the room is still hotter than other rooms. So basically, I am not out of the woods. AC has been running now for like 4 hours straight.
>>3004463I mean I have double layer windows, there's an outside aluminum-framed window and then the inside wood-framed one...
