The only way to rectify this condition is to replace the air conditioner. The Department of Energy (DOE) recommends that you do just that if your air conditioner is 10 or more years old. Replace it with a properly sized, two-stage Energy Star rated air conditioner and you will be more comfortable and save big time on your electric bill.
If you have to live with your old unit, here are 12 tips for keeping cool.
1. Be realistic. Central air conditioning is only designed to make the inside temperature 15 degrees cooler that the outside temperature. If it’s 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the air conditioner can only lower the inside temperature to 85 degrees. Don’t expect a room air conditioner to cool an entire house. It was made to cool a limited number of cubic feet. Window air conditioning units operate most efficiently when you close the door of the rooms in which they are located.
2. Don’t open the windows. You cannot expect your air conditioner to cool the neighborhood. When you open the windows, humid air rushes in and even a properly-sized air conditioner gets overwhelmed.
3. Pull down the shades during the heat of the day.
4. Don’t waste energy and create heat by turning on unnecessary lights.
5. Keep the temperature constant unless you will be going away for a long period of time. It takes hours of operation to lower the temperature in a house from 85 to 72 degrees. Pick a temperature you can live with and leave it.
6. Turn on the fans. Cold air sinks to the floor. Hot air rises, making heads hot and second-story rooms uninhabitable. A breeze circulates the air and makes air conditioning more efficient.
7. The compressor is that hard-working box located outside your house. It often becomes clogged with air-borne contaminants. When clogged it can overheat and burn out. Weed around the compressor and spray away the fuzzies with the garden hose.
If you see ice forming on the pipes leading from the compressor to the house, the unit is low on coolant. Call your air conditioning contractor immediately and get the equipment inspected and recharged.
8. Remember that it is the furnace fan, not the air conditioner that distributes cooled air. Cold air is heavy so the fan dumps it as soon as possible. Rooms closest to the furnace get cooled while second-story rooms don’t. If you have rooms that are too cold and rooms that are too hot close the cold air vents in the cold rooms. If that doesn’t solve the problem, take off the return air vents in the cooler rooms and seal them with plastic wrap. This forces the furnace to draw hot air from warms rooms replacing it with cooler air.
9. Change furnace filters. Clogged filters can burn out the motor.
10. Add attic insulation and soffit vents. If you cool the attic with proper ventilation and isolate it from the rest of the house with R-49 insulation the whole house will be cooler and you will save money on heating and cooling. At least 20 percent of hot and cold air created by the furnace and air condition is lost through badly sealed air ducts. Seal the ducts with metal tape (not duct tape) and insulate with batt or foam insulation.
11. Hot air seeps in all around the house. Caulk and install weather stripping around windows and doors especially the attic access door.
12. Don’t use appliances that cause heat when it is hot outside. Use the oven, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer in the evening when the electric rates are lower and the temperature is cooler.
If the air conditioner is causing problems and is more that 10 years old, you may want to get rid of it. Make certain that you deal with a contractor willing to do a heat gain study so that the equipment is properly sized to do the job. Then brag about being cool.