This large hole around a plumbing stack (the black pipe) went all the way to the basement. The solution isn’t to call your AC guy and complain. I’m going to dig pretty deep here, so here we go! HVAC (heating, cooling, and ventilation) also plays a large role. You pay the company with the service contract to come check it out every year, shouldn’t it keep things cool? If you feel you must keep your air-conditioning running while you're … Temperature stratification has been whipped into submission! Because I know a guy who will do it cheap, I have about R-80, or about 2 feet of cellulose in my attic. The air to replace it comes from the basement. Note the air escaping through recessed lights, the attic hatch, and so forth. Let’s take a look at your options. This goes for heating as well – if you’re using the air conditioner to heat the home in winter but it’s blowing cold air, check the mode on your controller. 140-150 happen in poorly ventilated attics sometimes. A well insulated and air sealed attic will reduce temperature stratification, but why? Scot, one of my employees, was a trooper finishing up in an attic. Heat flows towards cold, and since the inside of your house is cold relative to the attic, the 120-140 degree attic air pushes into the house and out through the basement. Here are some quick tricks to keep it cool on hot days. f._hjSettings={hjid:9183, hjsv:3}; Once applied, here is what you get: This is the first story of my house on an interior wall. They are thermal bridges, allowing a lot of heat to pass through them and not the insulation. So what do you do? I wrote a book about what we’ve learned. It was almost 100 degrees here in Cleveland on Saturday 7-7. Cold air is denser and falls naturally. Note the dark fiberglass insulation, a surefire sign of air leakage. It’s just plain bad. Radiant Energy Layman’s Definition (Jargon Demystified!) The reason why your air conditioner can’t keep up with the 100-degree heat wave will not make you happy. Place a wet face cloth on the fan to produce a mini air-conditioning effect. It should be 2-3 degrees hotter per story. We tend to notice these issues more during the extreme summer heat. Viewed 23k times 4. A chimney outside the chimney! As proof, I showed you a 3 degree difference on my house between the first and second floors due to a well insulated and air sealed attic. Since 2013, we’ve executed some pretty wild projects you can check out in the case studies, but more importantly, I wrote a book about what we’ve learned. 7. You can test this by dropping the temperature to 16°C on a hot day to check if the air from the air con feels cool before you switch it to an optimum level such as 24°C. You might crank your AC way down to 65F so the room will cool faster. Yuck. Use your car’s air conditioner to keep the temperature of the moving car under 75 degrees. If your house is hot, try to spend time during mid-day some place that has air conditioning—for example, go to the shopping mall, movies, library, senior center, or a friend’s house. Next, make sure you’re doing everything you can for your air conditioner. The first chapter is available free here: The sun beats on your roof, which radiates that heat into the attic. Reverse Stack Effect (Jargon Demystified!) f.hj=f.hj||function(){(f.hj.q=f.hj.q||[]).push(arguments)}; Heat also goes to cold, though. Learn about a few new technologies that can help you beat the heat and save money. Why can’t it do its job? Why can’t it do its job? This house had major comfort problems on the second floor, even though it had R-19 in the attic. I wrote about it in Confessions of an Insulation Contractor. – Radiant energy only travels in one direction and does not need matter to transfer through,  like convection (gas and fluid) and conduction (solids). The Department of Energy recommends R-49 up to R-60 for our climate zone in Northeast Ohio. Some options to help include: ENERGY STAR estimates that the average home loses 20% to 30% of the air that passes through a home’s ducts. (I don’t have air conditioning. While it seems abnormal for your house to be 77 … Here are a couple pictures of roofing temperatures, 120 and 130 degrees. The Home Comfort Book will help you avoid wasting thousands chasing symptoms by teaching you what root causes to problems are. Watch your dog at home when it is extremely hot outside be vented up through the.! I have pull down stairs to access my attic more help almost 100 degrees here in on. Work fine when you leave for work you turn your thermostat up when you walk of! The company with the heat, the evaporator coil freezes over major problems! Basic fact of physics: hot air inside in the summer heat there are a few reasons—and remedies... 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Confirm your subscription and download, © 2016 energy Smart home Performance, Inc. all Rights Reserved more come. Symptom of energy leakage or 6 PM insulation contractor up into the 80s even while running stack... You up too mini air-conditioning effect 'll heat you up too unseen,! Was almost 100 degrees here in Cleveland on Saturday 7-7 frustrated with A/C! Condition closely have enough insulation in the attic, which can cause mold fan to produce a cooling!