Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing - Advice, Discussion and Tips from ARS®/Rescue Rooter®. Welcome to the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect, your online resource center for information, answers and interactive advice about air conditioning, heating, plumbing and drain maintenance. As part of our commitment to providing exceptional service, we created the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect to be a useful tool with many helpful ways to find what you need.
We have been in our home for 8 years, purchased it new, and never had a problem until now. We keep the air conditioning set to 77 at all times. Recently, it began spiking up to 80/81. If we turn the thermostat setting up to 79/80 it will cool down to 79/80 but, if it is turned down to 77/78, it spikes back up again. It doesn't cool off until around 9 p.m., and it runs continuously. I have a home warranty and a technician came out last week. He added 1pound of Freon and he said that the duct work in attic is fine. The only other thing he found was the return vent is too small. According to him it should be 20 x 24. (Our home is 1800 sq. ft.) This makes no sense because it has been fine all these years with this return vent. The temperature at the supply is 40 degrees and return temp is 58 degrees. I am told that the 18 degree split is ideal. Maybe the thermostat is faulty? What else could be causing this? Is it just normal due to the extreme heat? Am I wasting my money to pay another service fee for someone else to come and check it out? I already paid $60 to the home warranty tech, and they said the return vent is not covered. I am still having the problem even after he added the Freon. Help!
The extreme temperature conditions are probably causing this to happen. This well may be the hottest summer we have had in the last 8 years. Also, these very hot conditions require a system to be at its maximum operating efficiency, so if your system has not been cleaned and tuned up in the last year it would be a good idea to do so. This will help ensure that you are getting the most from your system at the best efficiency possible for your equipment. The temperature drop you mentioned is correct, and it indicates that the system is doing all the work it is capable of doing. The heat load is just greater than it can handle at times. You could wait until the weather moderates and see how the system works. There may be a thermostat issue causing a problem in this case, too, and a service technician can check operation during a tune-up. I would consider contacting a professional HVAC contractor, such as the ARS/Rescue Rooter branch in Orlando, FL at (407) 830-1106 for a complete system check.
Have a question you need answered by our experts? Click the above button, then type your question in the form provided. Watch for your question, along with an answer from one of our experts, to be posted to the blog. You can also click on the profiles below to learn more about our experts.
Joey Dooley I'm 39 years old and married to the most wonderful person in the world. I have a 13 year old son. I love to spend time at the shooting range.
Bruce Bates I've lived in 10 different states and worked in more than 30 different ARS/Rescue Rooter locations in my career.
To search the entire site for specific information, type in the key word, words or phrase you are looking for and click go.
To view topics and general information about specific categories, click on a category below to view information relating to that subject.