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.
