Ok LR experts. Last night looked at my A/C and it was set to 73, thermostat won't go below 75. It feels cooler than that and the house isn't unpleasant. Changed the filter, changed the batteries in the thermostat, both condenser and air handler are running normally. No water in the pan. Got my guy coming by later today. Any words of wisdom for the LR experts.
A/C experts
- Thread starter RangerNole
- Start date
Sounds like you need to change the ball bearings and add some 3-N-1 oil.
Probably mid 90's. It was registering correctly until some point yesterday. The unit is 5 years old, I am thinking freon?
that's what i was thinking, it may be doing all it can do - my guy told me an AC unit can usually give you about a 20-22 degree drop from outside temp
Probably the refrigerant. Could not be a big leak or you'd not get 75 , your annual service should have detected it getting low though. Maybe the muffler bearings.
Might just be too hot outside. Also, did you check the drain line? Could be clogged up. Some A/C’s have an automatic shut off if the line gets clogged to a certain point.
Yea I need to get that darn maintenance contract back up. Both my main units are 5 and 1 year old Carrier systems so I know they are quality systems. I will know the deal later today, my A/C guy is awesome and when I called to get someone out here his daughter (who does the scheduling) was like we are stacked today but we will get someone out by 1730. It is so nice to have quality people for repairs and home improvements.
When we build our house in the mountains I am seriously considering going with those single room systems. Based on the temps up there and the fact that we will likely not even use 1/2 the rooms in the house it may make sense. Need to run the numbers. Definitely getting the on demand water heater with gas or propane.
Thanks I looked at that, but from my limited knowledge the air handler will shut down if the line is clogged? The system is running just not doing the job.
As far as outside temps they have been the same since June, so why is today any different. We have had a ton of rain which would raise the humidity, but that shouldn't create a big change in one day.
Thanks to those who made real replies. The rest of you I hope you get a heat stroke, I need my controlled temperature rooms
Worse case we can always go upstairs and sleep there or go to our teen room and turn on the wall unit, so we will be fine.
Do you have both units set to the same temp? We have an upstairs and downstairs unit. If you don't run the upstairs, the downstairs gets overworked and the coil can freeze up, which causes it to only circulate and not cool.
My old Bryant that hasn't had a checkup in 3 years will do better than that.
It's been 106-108 all week and the house is at 77 w/thermostat set at 78.
Ranger, is there water dripping out of the drain pipe?
I'm heading to Gary's. My 20 year old, whatever-the builder-installed, unit is doing its best to "cool" down to 86° with the temp at 109° yesterday.
I try to abide by the 20° rule, but when it's 109° outside, 89° in the house just doesn't sit well with me emotionally.
Nope I looked at that and the unit is really sweating very much. In HHI they put them in the attic to have as much livable sq. footage.
The upstairs is set to 73 and we keep the downstairs the same. Although when I went upstairs to go ahead and change the filter it was doing the same thing. I get it is hot and humid, but at 6k-8k per unit they should perform accordingly.
Usually if the unit is in the attic, then there are 2 drain lines. The main line goes to a drain in the attic, and the secondary line goes to a soffit drain. The reason is so that if your main drain is clogged, the water will start dripping out of the soffit drain. So do you have that, and is water draining out of it? This happened at my wife's house before we were married. Main drain was completely clogged.
Good catch Gary I knew I could count on a military guy, even if you are AF. No water from the main drain line and it looks clogged based on the nasty goo I pulled out. Can I just take my air compressor and blow the line out?
You can try that. Or get something you can run down the drain to unclog it and then pour some bleach down it. Maybe you've got algae growing in it.
I got a Diyvac attachment for my wetvac and it makes draining the line so easy. Tight seal and sucks out a lot of gunk along with the water.
about 20-25 degrees from outside wet bulb is about all you'll get in most designs.
I take it this is a split system and not a package unit. See if you can see condensate/sweat on the larger of the copper lines. It should be "sweating" to within 1 " of the compressor. It needs to have been running for a while to check this. It's how the old timers used to charge the system prior to gauges.
Jesus - it's 90 degrees inside your house. Do you spend all day in a bar with the hopes of going home with a woman with air conditioning -- because that's what I would be doing.
And you really can't be that picky....at that temperature having all her appendages and brain activity has to be optional -- good if she has it, but not necessarily a deal breaker if she doesn't.
Last edited:
Bachelor, resident LR Poor, cannot afford to get the AC replaced because I make it work that hard. General rule is that AC units are designed to lower the temp by 20° vs the outside temp. So if it's 110° outside (like it will be at roughly 5p today), 90° is what's supposed to keep that ancient bastard running.
By split you condenser/air handler? Looks like Gary was right. Just finished clearing the lines and I am think I am good. Thanks for the good info; you guys that gave clown info well... bad thoughts of heat for you.
Yep. All is good now and I don't even have to threaten someone at a traffic light.
When is your next trip to the dump?Yep. All is good now and I don't even have to threaten someone at a traffic light.
Tomorrow on the way to the gym; uh oh things could get dicey. At least I will sleep in the comfort of A/C tonight.
I don't doubt that you've heard that somewhere, but I've never heard that "rule" in my life.
And as you point out, even if it's a wise practice, it's not practical when temps get above 95 degrees.
