Meagan wrote:
I knew that with this heat wave I'd see much higher temperatures inside my house, but I'm concerned, with the extraordinary highs in here, that maybe I have an AC issue. Here's the situation:
End-unit townhouse, first floor is completely open-concept and that's where the thermostat is. For the last three days, the internal temperature of the house has registered at 81 or 82 degrees (the AC is set to bring it to 73). It takes several hours after the sun has set each night to actually get the temperature comfortable again. There are two AC blowers going into the basement and the basement is cold. Do I have a balancing problem or is the AC unit just not good anymore? The HVAC in the house is the old style with the rectangular vents; probably about 17 years old?
This is normal; Higher density (colder) air 'pools' at the bottom of a container (house) while lower density air 'floats' to the top. When the air is not stirred, it can take a very long time for the temperature to equalize, this becomes impossible when the whole system is in flux.
As people suggested:
1. Change / check your furnace filter. If you don't have the cheap (high-airflow) fiberglass filters you should consider getting a pack and swapping one in.
2. As suggested, close the basement vents, however if they still leak cold air consider blocking the registers with an insulator (old clothing etc...) - don't forget to unblock them in the fall.
3. Check your air-returns (the big vents usually located inside a wall cavity) - make sure they are not covered by furniture and clogged with dust. Their job is circulate (mix) the air inside your house.
4. If you're in the house, consider running a bathroom fan on the top floor. Purpose would be to exhaust the hot air outside, and promote further convection of the air inside.
Keep your room doors open and if you have fans, run them in such a way to promote air circulation around your house.
If no joy, call an HVAC company of your choice.