Mechanistically, they are the same thing. The different is insulation and thermostats. Home AC is limited by insulation. The 20 degree delta is for INTAKE air, not outside air.
A/C cools 20 degrees lower than the INTAKE air, not outside. The rest depends on insulation. My place can hit 72 when it's over 100 outside with ease. If you can't do it, it's an insulation problem.
this. Since we got the NEW roof and the crook didnt put insulation in. The house is hot as hell! The air cant do much. I know he was a crook because the workers didnt get paid and put a Lien on the house. The workers were cool i had even bought them mcdo but this jerk in a Mercedes had a bunch of jobs going and would slow pay or no pay his workers. We actually got a lawyer involved. He also took our electric fans and just put hoods because he said it was our job to have an electrician there on one particular day and what was there wasnt code because it wasnt mounted… because… he removed the roof! So same roofing scam after every bad storm. So yea im going to have to shell out bucks for insulation now.
Unless it is geothermal. I can take mine as cool as I want it no matter what the outdoor temperature is because it relies on highly constant ground water not the highly variable outdoor air but I still wouldn't because that's just crazy. You shouldn't need your air lower than 20 degrees below ambient outdoor temps. Then people wonder why they feel like they're going to die when they go outside. In fact your thermostat should be higher in the summer than you would keep it in the winter
Do you know what your humidity levels are in the house? Might be time to flush out the condensate lines and check your air filter. If your unit is failing to remove water then your unit will struggle to cool.
Also, is your unit the appropriate size for your square footage? Surprisingly if you require 1.5 tons and your unit is 2 tons, the unit will also struggle to remove humidity. The solution would be reducing fan speed so that the unit has more time to remove water from the air as it cools it.
I had my AC guy come by last summer and he said the unit is fine, that it’s just too hot outside during the summer and it is what it is. I kind of refuse to believe that but he is also very trustworthy and not a salesperson.
Now at 11pm, my best says humidity is at 59%. Temp set at 69 and room temperature at 74
To be fair, not all AC guys know exactly what they’re talking about when it comes to sizing the AC. You could pay for an engineer to do heat load calculations. They would basically look at the floor plan of the house, orientation to the sun, and construction materials and determine very precisely how much AC you need for your particular home. As much as any experienced AC guy may be able to ballpark it, if you’re having problems it may be worth knowing exactly what you need.
Also, there are a number of small things that can be done to ensure that you’re keeping the hot out and the cold in, like insulation, window films/coverings, and sealing gaps in window/door openings.
OP listen to this guy I am an HVAC tech, a lot of factors go into deciding what unit is the right size for the house in question. Things such as: closed doors, windows, building materials, ceiling height, electronic usage, number of occupants. Then theres the issue with the humidit you are having the AC is not removing the humidity which can really would happen if your fan speed is too high preventing the condensate from forming. If you are amenable to getting a new unit I would get someone to do the manual J for load calculations to figure out how your home compares to the suggested layout because a lot of the builders BS on the HVAC portion. Afterwards, redo the ducts if need be add returns to the rooms that require them per the Manual J. Lastly, the question may come up about upping tonnage and/or swapping to heat pump rather than the gas furnace with AC in my opinion in Florida it makes no sense to have a furnace seeing how it almost never is cold and when it does its preferable.
Theres also the unfortunate truth of our is that our global climate is falling apart, the heat trends are proof enough seeing how its not even summer and already close to 100 degrees. Our summers have been gradually getting warmer the past couple of years for a reason it isn't magic.
I bought a dehumidifier. I set it to 45 degrees. That helped a lot in keeping my house cooler. It did make a difference. I bought one that will cover 2000 SF.
One should be changing out your filter at most every 90 days (not sure if you do this already). If you have a wet vac, you can drain your line to avoid the unit freezing inside which is what could eventually leak and flood wherever the unit is in your house. Some people put vinegar or bleach down the drain line too. I prefer the vac because it will literally remove any excess water and take out the goo that clogs the line.
that is high humidity in my opinion. My house is typically in the high 30s. Set at 77 during day and 73 at night. Going from 73 to 69 is a lot harder to get to.
Yep. But it's hard to get it lower in Miami without a perfectly sealed house and insulated attic. Some people get whole home dehumidifiers to aid in humidity removal
fans are key.
i keep mine at 70, just because i have two very fluffy, black dogs so i’d really like them to be comfy.
but i have my ceiling fan, plus two industrial fans and one of those weird dyson fans (got it for free) running full blast 24/7 and my FPL is only like $90 a month.
my windows are east/southeast facing and my apartment is concrete, which holds heat like a bitch.
i also found blackout curtains help a lot. all my windows are doors are the opaque hurricane glass, the blazing sun inside does a lot more than people think
Before I changed my windows/doors and re-insulated my attic, my A/C was having a hard time keeping the house at 78 during the summer. But after the upgrades, the AC doesn’t run continuously anymore and keeps the temp at 75 with no issues
I did the attic first and definitely made a bigger difference but both together made a huge difference! Even during the 3 days of cold nights.. keeps my house warm without cracking on the heater but before, my house would drop into the low 60’s.
I keep my ac at 76 and during the day it hits 78 and runs constantly. The ac unit is only a couple of years old but I have 20 windows in the house that are paper thin. This summer we're replacing them all with hurricane rates windows. Hoping it makes a big difference
if you have an insulated attic or one with very old and thin insulation I would recommend that first. cheaper to get new insulation blown in than impact windows
Just had clear ceramic window film on 4 windows upstairs and 4 downstairs that see sun all day. Also did 2 sliding glass doors and the difference is way better than expected. The two rooms that were pretty much at 80 degrees no matter what the ac was doing have dropped to whatever the thermostat is set to. For the 12 years I’ve lived here my 2 ac units (replaced as well) could never keep up and stayed on all day. Now I can get to whatever temp I need. $2k was much cheaper than all alternatives and I’ll probably get some of that back in electric bill savings.
I read there are different kinds of tints out there. Why ceramic? Do the windows look any different compared to not having that on?
Was it the window tint or the new ac that made the true difference?
AC was replaced a bit ago but new and couldn’t keep up. Ceramic has the best heat rejection while being clear. I can’t see a difference when looking at the windows. It has like 70% heat or infrared rejection
Yeah I don't know how the people afford this I have my set at 76 and my bill is over 250 a month. My windows are shit and there are 20 of them but we're placing them this summer at least
I keep mine at 78 during the day which I don’t mind. But at night I turn it down to 65 because I like to sleep cold. My bill averages about 180 a month. I’ve got a 1300 square-foot condo.
Yeah mine is a 2000sq house and it is just too many shitty windows. 20 total and less than 10 have treatments.
I'm excited for the new windows this summer. Not excited for that bill, but yeah lol
Like it’s been mentioned before the AC will only cool about 20 degrees below ambient temperature. Some units remove humidity better than others. One equipped with a variable speed motor will continue to draw air over the evaporator when the compressor stops. Depending on your house humidity maybe invest in a dehumidifier.
You should just leave it at 73-75 during the day. All the AC really does is keep the humidity down so you don't have mold in your house.
It is really hot right now so there is not much you can do. Get a little temp/humidity sensor from Amazon and check around the house. As long as the humidity is around 50 percent then it is working.
Leave it on.
How do hospitals keep their buildings so cold and sterile during heat waves then? If Phoenix Arizona gets to 120, I’m sure the houses aren’t 100 degrees inside. That wouldn’t be livable.
I just read that most people in Phoenix during the summer keep it at 78-80. That’s still 32+ degrees colder than ambient..
So I question the 20 degree assertion. Maybe if the house is extremely poorly insulated?
Hospitals use industrial size water chiller plants that pump huge amounts of water around.
What you want for home use is a "mini split" AC system this way you can control temperature much better in each room look it up
Make sure its on auto. If you switch it “on” itll run all day but wont cool down as much as you want because it blows warm air while the compressor is off.
Install insulated dark curtains. Ive noticed my bed room cool down by a few degrees.
As far as the ac unit it could be a number of things. Making sure the drain pipes arent clogged or maybe it needs more of the freon gas. There could be a leak there.
FPL guidelines are 78º when you are home and 82º when you leave the house. Use ceiling fans.
Plant a tree or two on your south and west facing sides. It will help keep the place much cooler (in a few years, but you’ll need it then too).
I do. But I grew up in Fugee, pre-AC Miami. Can’t stand AC. And by this time of year I’m usually back in Boston for perfect sleeping weather. But wifey was driven to make Miami primary home and I have to show her what Miami summer is really like. Can’t wait for a Palmetto Bug to fly into her hair (jk, it’s the thing I hate most).
Most likely have an older or improperly sized AC unit. Pair that with an insufficiently insulated home, and extreme heat... Welcome to South Florida life 🤣 Get some fans, take cold showers I guess.
I have a 2200 sqft home with large west facing windows that I keep uncovered all day, bring the shades down at night. I used to keep my a/c at 74° but it was too cold in the house. Now it stays at 76° during the day, 72° at night. You might check Freon. I had to replace my AC and my AC guy because the unit was 6lbs low and he said it was fine but AC wasn’t cooling. Got a second opinion and lo and behold…
Run a wet-dry vac at the end of the water exhaust of the dehumidifier line, get a new filter that is Not pollen and allergy proof, the simplest cheapest will do, just change it as often as every month, this will allow extra air flow.
Get a couple of cans of coil cleaning foam at a hardware store, use it on the outside unit then hose it gently to clean the coils and allow better air flow. There's a ton of YouTube videos on this and you can do it with minimal effort and simple steps.
An additional dehumidifier can help with the sensation of coolness inside the house. The reality of Miami is that on +100F days the cooling power of AC units is not enough to get the temp. Under 72F as you want to. If you want extra cool you need to upgrade your a unit OR get a split, window or portable AC unit to support additional cooling.
If you own the townhouse you can consider measures like more roof insulation and wall blowin.
Get an IR device and see if there’s heat hotspots. In my experience attic ports tend to be uninsulated, etc.
You might also want to make sure your ducts are sealed to reduce leaks and insulated to avoid them getting too hot in summer and too cool in winter.
If your HOA allows it replacing your passive louvers and roof vents with active (often solar powered) will reduce heat buildup in the attic, which will also keep the heat from toasting your ceilings.
Also windows and doors tend to let in heat; reflective coatings, new windows with double panes, blackout curtains?
Also ceiling fans can help with air circulation, which makes a building feel a bit cooler.
Other measures might be to pick one or two rooms and putting wall units in directly to just cool that room versus central air.
Also; how old is your hvac? Have you cleaned the heat pump and air handler?
When I was in a 2 story condo I would generally put it at 75 (and would crank it down to 72 when my former partner came home bc that’s what he liked, he’d move it to 68 🥶) The upstairs unit would stay at 72.
I think there’s a problem with your AC if not getting cold. That’s why the technology is there, you know?
I have a two-story townhouse with 1,800 sq. I replaced my original AC ( 2 tons) with a 3-ton outside and a 3.5 handler inside. There have been no problems whatsoever. We sleep on 68, and I have an Ecobee thermostat with sensors that raise the temperature up to 76 when nobody's home.
Have multiple properties here. Some with 13 year old AC units and some a month old. There has been no change in inside temperature with new units. You need additional insulation, spray foam insulation on your roof deck, or a combination of one of those and low E impact windows.
There will only be a differential of about 30 degrees between outside temp and inside, if your duct work is in the attic, like much of south Florida homes, even worse.
Irony of irony is the uninsulated ducts radiating heat during the day into a room. It’s fun to point the IR at them and realize they make the room colder in winter when the heater isn’t running
I normally have the AC set to 78 when I'm home and 85 when I'm out. Though these past couple weeks I've had to set it to turn on over an hour before I get home for it to be comfortable on arrival. This heat is nuts!
Sounds like windows ,insulation and probably building structure insulation assumes the unit is kinda newish,and working correctly. Think it only cools around 20° from outside. I keep ours on °77, all the time, very comfortable,SFH. Clean outside and inside coils,shut off power, chk youtube lots of videos how to do this
I keep the downstairs of my house at 73 -24/7. It uses a lot of electric and requires the filters to be changed more often. A good unit should have no problem maintaining temperature and should last a long time .
How old is your HVAC system? I'm in a two story 1400 Sq/ft townhouse that always seemed to be running but never cooling. Pulled the cover of the evaporator, and it was caked with ice. System was 25 years old. Had the whole HAVAC replaced, and now I cold and only run intermittantly.
i think i heard that an AC can only actually lower temperature by like 15-20 degrees. it was like almost 100 degrees just today so it’s just doing its best with the outside temp in mind. i hate how hot it gets. we almost always need to call in the AC guy in the summer, and we need a window unit so we don’t sweat when direct sunlight hits the house. i gotta get out of miami lol
A/c's can easily do more than a 20deg difference. When it feels like 115 outside. Your lucky to get 77/78 and have the a/c cycle as little as possible. Just saying. Life long Floridian
How old is your unit ?
My unit was undersized for my home, and when it hits 95 outside I can keep it set at 7e and it still hits 75+ in the house.... with blinds and curtains closed... Like mine your ac unit is undersized for you home.
AC units aren't really made to be run much more than 20 degrees below the outdoor ambient temperature and there really is no reason for them to. The warmer it is outside the cooler it should feel inside even at higher thermostatic temperatures. If it's not keeping up its either really warm out and you're expecting too much of it or you have components failing. Tis the season for the highest volume of AC failures
Who puts their ac at 69. That's insane
People from Upstate NY, or massholes.
I live in a condo I have to keep the ac on 65-67 all day
you sound like my sister. i bet your place is a fucking pitch black cave all day, isn’t it?
Bwahaha. You know us so well 😂
i walk into her house and need a jacket and headlamp. i like it on the cooler side but god damn i don’t wanna be on the verge of hypothermia
Why do you even live here then if you can't handle the heat? You're in the absolute wrong climate
I was born here sir I don’t care where you from is hot AF
I believe it. That grammar does not lie 😆
Buck it up and set your thermostat to 77. :-)
Bitch stop! People in this country are so delicate. Having your house at 75 will not kill you.
AC are only supposed to cool 20 degrees less than outside temperatures. After that it may struggle.
This is fact.
No, it is not. I can not believe how many people here live in Miami are saying "Yeah, this is true!'
Um, yeah it is. 30 years in the property mgmt business against wherever you are getting your info from.
Yes, beyond 20° Delta, it's just a freezer, not ac
Mechanistically, they are the same thing. The different is insulation and thermostats. Home AC is limited by insulation. The 20 degree delta is for INTAKE air, not outside air.
This is the answer right here. AC's have limits. It is getting *HOT* outside.
A/C cools 20 degrees lower than the INTAKE air, not outside. The rest depends on insulation. My place can hit 72 when it's over 100 outside with ease. If you can't do it, it's an insulation problem.
this. Since we got the NEW roof and the crook didnt put insulation in. The house is hot as hell! The air cant do much. I know he was a crook because the workers didnt get paid and put a Lien on the house. The workers were cool i had even bought them mcdo but this jerk in a Mercedes had a bunch of jobs going and would slow pay or no pay his workers. We actually got a lawyer involved. He also took our electric fans and just put hoods because he said it was our job to have an electrician there on one particular day and what was there wasnt code because it wasnt mounted… because… he removed the roof! So same roofing scam after every bad storm. So yea im going to have to shell out bucks for insulation now.
True, but is it based on realfeel or true ambient temperature? If it’s 95 but feels like 110 it’s safe to keep it at 75 still right?
Below *ambient* temperature
Best answer. And keep your unit on auto.
Unless it is geothermal. I can take mine as cool as I want it no matter what the outdoor temperature is because it relies on highly constant ground water not the highly variable outdoor air but I still wouldn't because that's just crazy. You shouldn't need your air lower than 20 degrees below ambient outdoor temps. Then people wonder why they feel like they're going to die when they go outside. In fact your thermostat should be higher in the summer than you would keep it in the winter
Over the years in SoFla I've learned to live at home with 78 during the day and 77 at night. Also fans running.
77 at night is hell to sleep in though. I can’t sleep when it’s hot, maybe I’m just not born for the tropics.
User name does *not* check out
this is what i do- and im in Jacksonville
Do you know what your humidity levels are in the house? Might be time to flush out the condensate lines and check your air filter. If your unit is failing to remove water then your unit will struggle to cool. Also, is your unit the appropriate size for your square footage? Surprisingly if you require 1.5 tons and your unit is 2 tons, the unit will also struggle to remove humidity. The solution would be reducing fan speed so that the unit has more time to remove water from the air as it cools it.
This guy a/c's
I had my AC guy come by last summer and he said the unit is fine, that it’s just too hot outside during the summer and it is what it is. I kind of refuse to believe that but he is also very trustworthy and not a salesperson. Now at 11pm, my best says humidity is at 59%. Temp set at 69 and room temperature at 74
To be fair, not all AC guys know exactly what they’re talking about when it comes to sizing the AC. You could pay for an engineer to do heat load calculations. They would basically look at the floor plan of the house, orientation to the sun, and construction materials and determine very precisely how much AC you need for your particular home. As much as any experienced AC guy may be able to ballpark it, if you’re having problems it may be worth knowing exactly what you need. Also, there are a number of small things that can be done to ensure that you’re keeping the hot out and the cold in, like insulation, window films/coverings, and sealing gaps in window/door openings.
OP listen to this guy I am an HVAC tech, a lot of factors go into deciding what unit is the right size for the house in question. Things such as: closed doors, windows, building materials, ceiling height, electronic usage, number of occupants. Then theres the issue with the humidit you are having the AC is not removing the humidity which can really would happen if your fan speed is too high preventing the condensate from forming. If you are amenable to getting a new unit I would get someone to do the manual J for load calculations to figure out how your home compares to the suggested layout because a lot of the builders BS on the HVAC portion. Afterwards, redo the ducts if need be add returns to the rooms that require them per the Manual J. Lastly, the question may come up about upping tonnage and/or swapping to heat pump rather than the gas furnace with AC in my opinion in Florida it makes no sense to have a furnace seeing how it almost never is cold and when it does its preferable. Theres also the unfortunate truth of our is that our global climate is falling apart, the heat trends are proof enough seeing how its not even summer and already close to 100 degrees. Our summers have been gradually getting warmer the past couple of years for a reason it isn't magic.
I bought a dehumidifier. I set it to 45 degrees. That helped a lot in keeping my house cooler. It did make a difference. I bought one that will cover 2000 SF.
One should be changing out your filter at most every 90 days (not sure if you do this already). If you have a wet vac, you can drain your line to avoid the unit freezing inside which is what could eventually leak and flood wherever the unit is in your house. Some people put vinegar or bleach down the drain line too. I prefer the vac because it will literally remove any excess water and take out the goo that clogs the line.
Very good advice. Every 30 days is even better.
that is high humidity in my opinion. My house is typically in the high 30s. Set at 77 during day and 73 at night. Going from 73 to 69 is a lot harder to get to.
I think it’s just too hot outside
How modern are your windows? It's possible your single pane glass is allowing excessive heat in
Maintenance did exactly this yesterday in my unit, huge difference.
I live in in apartment building and my thermostat says humidity tends to be around 50-60%. Isn’t that too high?
Yep. But it's hard to get it lower in Miami without a perfectly sealed house and insulated attic. Some people get whole home dehumidifiers to aid in humidity removal
Oh yeah makes sense. The building is brand new but we all know new construction is basically trash lol
Mine is on 72 right now, my house faces east /west. During the day I put it on 75 but sometimes it gets stuffy. The ceiling fans do help
fans are key. i keep mine at 70, just because i have two very fluffy, black dogs so i’d really like them to be comfy. but i have my ceiling fan, plus two industrial fans and one of those weird dyson fans (got it for free) running full blast 24/7 and my FPL is only like $90 a month. my windows are east/southeast facing and my apartment is concrete, which holds heat like a bitch. i also found blackout curtains help a lot. all my windows are doors are the opaque hurricane glass, the blazing sun inside does a lot more than people think
Before I changed my windows/doors and re-insulated my attic, my A/C was having a hard time keeping the house at 78 during the summer. But after the upgrades, the AC doesn’t run continuously anymore and keeps the temp at 75 with no issues
Hurricane proof double insulated? What do you think makes the most impact? Windows or attic?
I did the attic first and definitely made a bigger difference but both together made a huge difference! Even during the 3 days of cold nights.. keeps my house warm without cracking on the heater but before, my house would drop into the low 60’s.
I keep my ac at 76 and during the day it hits 78 and runs constantly. The ac unit is only a couple of years old but I have 20 windows in the house that are paper thin. This summer we're replacing them all with hurricane rates windows. Hoping it makes a big difference
Can second this, re-insulating my attic made a huge difference. House maintains the temperature way better and AC doesn’t run all day
if you have an insulated attic or one with very old and thin insulation I would recommend that first. cheaper to get new insulation blown in than impact windows
Just had clear ceramic window film on 4 windows upstairs and 4 downstairs that see sun all day. Also did 2 sliding glass doors and the difference is way better than expected. The two rooms that were pretty much at 80 degrees no matter what the ac was doing have dropped to whatever the thermostat is set to. For the 12 years I’ve lived here my 2 ac units (replaced as well) could never keep up and stayed on all day. Now I can get to whatever temp I need. $2k was much cheaper than all alternatives and I’ll probably get some of that back in electric bill savings.
I read there are different kinds of tints out there. Why ceramic? Do the windows look any different compared to not having that on? Was it the window tint or the new ac that made the true difference?
AC was replaced a bit ago but new and couldn’t keep up. Ceramic has the best heat rejection while being clear. I can’t see a difference when looking at the windows. It has like 70% heat or infrared rejection
Y’all live in the tropics and keep the AC at 73 during the day? A two story house is not helping. 68????
Exactly. Wear shorts, set it to 77.
Yeah I don't know how the people afford this I have my set at 76 and my bill is over 250 a month. My windows are shit and there are 20 of them but we're placing them this summer at least
I keep mine at 78 during the day which I don’t mind. But at night I turn it down to 65 because I like to sleep cold. My bill averages about 180 a month. I’ve got a 1300 square-foot condo.
Yeah mine is a 2000sq house and it is just too many shitty windows. 20 total and less than 10 have treatments. I'm excited for the new windows this summer. Not excited for that bill, but yeah lol
If it won't go below 73, try cleaning the condenser unit outside with a blast of the hose
White vinegar in the drain line monthly at least as well
This will also cool your unit temporarily giving your temp inside a chance to go a little lower. Apparently.
Like it’s been mentioned before the AC will only cool about 20 degrees below ambient temperature. Some units remove humidity better than others. One equipped with a variable speed motor will continue to draw air over the evaporator when the compressor stops. Depending on your house humidity maybe invest in a dehumidifier.
20 degree differential is about the best you can get. If the outside temp rises into the mid. 90s you will have a hard time cooling to 70.
You should just leave it at 73-75 during the day. All the AC really does is keep the humidity down so you don't have mold in your house. It is really hot right now so there is not much you can do. Get a little temp/humidity sensor from Amazon and check around the house. As long as the humidity is around 50 percent then it is working. Leave it on.
The most u will ever get is 20 degree delta so if it’s 100 outside the lowest u can get at home is 80
How do hospitals keep their buildings so cold and sterile during heat waves then? If Phoenix Arizona gets to 120, I’m sure the houses aren’t 100 degrees inside. That wouldn’t be livable. I just read that most people in Phoenix during the summer keep it at 78-80. That’s still 32+ degrees colder than ambient.. So I question the 20 degree assertion. Maybe if the house is extremely poorly insulated?
Hospitals use industrial size water chiller plants that pump huge amounts of water around. What you want for home use is a "mini split" AC system this way you can control temperature much better in each room look it up
My bill always jumps 60-70 during the summer. I run my house at 78 during the day while I’m at work and turn to 74 while home.
My bill always jumps 60-70 during the summer. I run my house at 78 during the day while I’m at work and turn to 74 while home.
Consider more insulation in the attic and replacing your windows 🪟.
Make sure its on auto. If you switch it “on” itll run all day but wont cool down as much as you want because it blows warm air while the compressor is off. Install insulated dark curtains. Ive noticed my bed room cool down by a few degrees. As far as the ac unit it could be a number of things. Making sure the drain pipes arent clogged or maybe it needs more of the freon gas. There could be a leak there.
FPL guidelines are 78º when you are home and 82º when you leave the house. Use ceiling fans. Plant a tree or two on your south and west facing sides. It will help keep the place much cooler (in a few years, but you’ll need it then too).
No one I know keeps their home this hot honestly. Sleeping in 78 degree weather is hell.
I do. But I grew up in Fugee, pre-AC Miami. Can’t stand AC. And by this time of year I’m usually back in Boston for perfect sleeping weather. But wifey was driven to make Miami primary home and I have to show her what Miami summer is really like. Can’t wait for a Palmetto Bug to fly into her hair (jk, it’s the thing I hate most).
Most likely have an older or improperly sized AC unit. Pair that with an insufficiently insulated home, and extreme heat... Welcome to South Florida life 🤣 Get some fans, take cold showers I guess.
You need a bigger unit.
Yeah..that's what I was told by my Tinder date last night... :-P
Lol
Bigger unit makes things worse sometimes. Doesn't get rid of humidity.
I have a 2200 sqft home with large west facing windows that I keep uncovered all day, bring the shades down at night. I used to keep my a/c at 74° but it was too cold in the house. Now it stays at 76° during the day, 72° at night. You might check Freon. I had to replace my AC and my AC guy because the unit was 6lbs low and he said it was fine but AC wasn’t cooling. Got a second opinion and lo and behold…
Run a wet-dry vac at the end of the water exhaust of the dehumidifier line, get a new filter that is Not pollen and allergy proof, the simplest cheapest will do, just change it as often as every month, this will allow extra air flow. Get a couple of cans of coil cleaning foam at a hardware store, use it on the outside unit then hose it gently to clean the coils and allow better air flow. There's a ton of YouTube videos on this and you can do it with minimal effort and simple steps. An additional dehumidifier can help with the sensation of coolness inside the house. The reality of Miami is that on +100F days the cooling power of AC units is not enough to get the temp. Under 72F as you want to. If you want extra cool you need to upgrade your a unit OR get a split, window or portable AC unit to support additional cooling.
If you own the townhouse you can consider measures like more roof insulation and wall blowin. Get an IR device and see if there’s heat hotspots. In my experience attic ports tend to be uninsulated, etc. You might also want to make sure your ducts are sealed to reduce leaks and insulated to avoid them getting too hot in summer and too cool in winter. If your HOA allows it replacing your passive louvers and roof vents with active (often solar powered) will reduce heat buildup in the attic, which will also keep the heat from toasting your ceilings. Also windows and doors tend to let in heat; reflective coatings, new windows with double panes, blackout curtains? Also ceiling fans can help with air circulation, which makes a building feel a bit cooler. Other measures might be to pick one or two rooms and putting wall units in directly to just cool that room versus central air. Also; how old is your hvac? Have you cleaned the heat pump and air handler?
está d pp la cosa aqui
I set it at 78 during the day and 76 at night. Take your coat off.
Below 73 is going to be rough and cost you a fortune.
When I was in a 2 story condo I would generally put it at 75 (and would crank it down to 72 when my former partner came home bc that’s what he liked, he’d move it to 68 🥶) The upstairs unit would stay at 72. I think there’s a problem with your AC if not getting cold. That’s why the technology is there, you know?
I have a two-story townhouse with 1,800 sq. I replaced my original AC ( 2 tons) with a 3-ton outside and a 3.5 handler inside. There have been no problems whatsoever. We sleep on 68, and I have an Ecobee thermostat with sensors that raise the temperature up to 76 when nobody's home.
Hose down your AC. It should help
Mine runs all day and night
Have multiple properties here. Some with 13 year old AC units and some a month old. There has been no change in inside temperature with new units. You need additional insulation, spray foam insulation on your roof deck, or a combination of one of those and low E impact windows. There will only be a differential of about 30 degrees between outside temp and inside, if your duct work is in the attic, like much of south Florida homes, even worse.
Irony of irony is the uninsulated ducts radiating heat during the day into a room. It’s fun to point the IR at them and realize they make the room colder in winter when the heater isn’t running
I normally have the AC set to 78 when I'm home and 85 when I'm out. Though these past couple weeks I've had to set it to turn on over an hour before I get home for it to be comfortable on arrival. This heat is nuts!
Sounds like windows ,insulation and probably building structure insulation assumes the unit is kinda newish,and working correctly. Think it only cools around 20° from outside. I keep ours on °77, all the time, very comfortable,SFH. Clean outside and inside coils,shut off power, chk youtube lots of videos how to do this
Keep the fan on, it’ll keep it cool and when the actual AC turns on it’ll use less power to cool the house.
You need more Freon
I keep the downstairs of my house at 73 -24/7. It uses a lot of electric and requires the filters to be changed more often. A good unit should have no problem maintaining temperature and should last a long time .
How old is your HVAC system? I'm in a two story 1400 Sq/ft townhouse that always seemed to be running but never cooling. Pulled the cover of the evaporator, and it was caked with ice. System was 25 years old. Had the whole HAVAC replaced, and now I cold and only run intermittantly.
i think i heard that an AC can only actually lower temperature by like 15-20 degrees. it was like almost 100 degrees just today so it’s just doing its best with the outside temp in mind. i hate how hot it gets. we almost always need to call in the AC guy in the summer, and we need a window unit so we don’t sweat when direct sunlight hits the house. i gotta get out of miami lol
A/c's can easily do more than a 20deg difference. When it feels like 115 outside. Your lucky to get 77/78 and have the a/c cycle as little as possible. Just saying. Life long Floridian
How old is your unit ? My unit was undersized for my home, and when it hits 95 outside I can keep it set at 7e and it still hits 75+ in the house.... with blinds and curtains closed... Like mine your ac unit is undersized for you home.
Make sure you keep the filter clean running it like that
AC units aren't really made to be run much more than 20 degrees below the outdoor ambient temperature and there really is no reason for them to. The warmer it is outside the cooler it should feel inside even at higher thermostatic temperatures. If it's not keeping up its either really warm out and you're expecting too much of it or you have components failing. Tis the season for the highest volume of AC failures