Hi All.
We have been having real difficulty getting A/C cooling upstairs to our second floor. This has been going on for some time. The following provides some details:
1. We live in Central Jersey. We face southwest.
2. The outside walls on the second floor read as high as 80 degrees on a hot day with the A/C on!!
3. Our finished basement is always an ice-box. I realized a lot of heat is running up the stair well, but I don't really think that is causing the level of cooling we are seeing.
4. We have been experiencing significant condensation on, and dripping from, the ducts in the basement during the summer. The family leaves the A/C on all the time.
5. I recently insulated the duct work to try to get more cold air out of the basement. Doesn't seem to be working.
6. Based on the assumption that we would be finishing the basement, we installed a somewhat larger replacement furnace and A/C unit over ten years ago. Both systems work fine.
7. In the basement, we only added one return for the three rooms down there. The return is near the floor, as I figure that is where the cold air is being picked.
8. When the furnace comes on we hear a bang after it runs for a while. Duct work distorting?
9. The attic is insulated.
10. Each room has ducts in two locations....outside and inside walls.
Can you make any recommendations with respect to what we may have done wrong and maybe how to fix it?
Thanks!!!
Beerski
When you say each room has ducts in two locations outside and inside walls, are you saying supply and return airs? Do you have adequate return air upstairs?
If your finished basement is always an ice box, I would close off or at least reduce many of the supply runs in the basement. This will increase output on the main floor and upstairs. It will provide your a/c with less of a load by not trying to turn the basement into a freezer. I would not block the return air in the basement. I would let the cool air get naturally pulled down to the basement to that return air. I find this will usually even out the temperature in most homes that have basements getting too cold during a/c season.
You shouldn't have sweating on the ducts if the A/C is running all the time. That only happens during a new install in a hot/humid house, or if the a/c has been off for a long time and the humidity and heat is high in the house. I would check to make sure you don't have a humidifier running accidentally, or an HRV still running. If not that, maybe the a/c isn't working to capacity.