- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
More heat in house from west facing windows or poor attic insulation?
Posted on 8/2/23 at 9:01 am
Posted on 8/2/23 at 9:01 am
like everyone my hvac is struggling on these hundred degree days and i know i have poor attic insulation (will be handled this winter). I'm wondering how much is a double west facing window with porous blinds actually heating my house? I'm trying to decide if its worth blacking out these windows for better hvac efficiency or if my problem is mainly from the poor attic insulation. I will say that bedroom is usually the hottest room in the house.
10
Posted on 8/2/23 at 9:12 am to yomamak
You can buy or maybe rent a FLIR camera to diagnose where the heat is coming from. I would maybe try blacking those windows out with something for a day or 2 and see if you can measure a difference.
Posted on 8/2/23 at 9:16 am to yomamak
A bedroom window shouldn’t heat up the rest of your house. Blackout shades or curtains would definitely help that bedroom though. You could also balance your dampers to get more air flowing to that room. Just re-set the dampers for winter.
If your whole house is hot and your AC is struggling to keep up, then you’ll have to ride it out another 2-3 weeks until the temps “cool” a little bit.
If your whole house is hot and your AC is struggling to keep up, then you’ll have to ride it out another 2-3 weeks until the temps “cool” a little bit.
Posted on 8/2/23 at 9:21 am to yomamak
My house has appropriate attic insulation and is only about 20 years old. The west facing room (the master, unfortunately) is by a good margin the hottest in the house. We increased the size of the duct to the room before the summer, which helped a bit. We also have blackout curtains on the windows. That said, it's still about 3-4 degrees warmer than everywhere else. My next plan is to cover the windows with something like a bahama shutter to give more sun protection. But i'm not sure there is much else to do. It sucks
Posted on 8/2/23 at 9:40 am to lsujro
I could find yall’s problems. But each house is different. You should be able to achieve & hold 69 degrees and 50% humidity on these 100 deg days.
3 digit attic temps is no good. Sum ting wong.
Too long of flex ducts, flex ducts not originally popped ( stretched to max).
You see the loss with this on a duct calculator.
Improper located start collars on plenum.
Complete check and log your system.
I fixed a ton of those long flex ducts. Big mountain of flex on their front lawn, for the garbage man . We run a main branch of round metal, exterior insulated. Pull two rooms off with saddle collars, calculate & reduce. Run to next two and on, eventually the end is capped. People say they never had that much air in that “ suite “
3 digit attic temps is no good. Sum ting wong.
Too long of flex ducts, flex ducts not originally popped ( stretched to max).
You see the loss with this on a duct calculator.
Improper located start collars on plenum.
Complete check and log your system.
I fixed a ton of those long flex ducts. Big mountain of flex on their front lawn, for the garbage man . We run a main branch of round metal, exterior insulated. Pull two rooms off with saddle collars, calculate & reduce. Run to next two and on, eventually the end is capped. People say they never had that much air in that “ suite “
This post was edited on 8/2/23 at 9:45 am
Posted on 8/2/23 at 9:46 am to EF Hutton
The code now , as of July 1, is new construction must submit a complete Manual J report and duct calculation report, and R8 insulation on ducts.
Had one in Forest Brook off 1088, 3 systems, including one 2 stage upstairs for the bonus room. One of the other systems brand new also. The 3 rd was old and leaked freon, but is now new.
With all 3 working, they struggled, upstairs never got comfortable. We did alot of Metal round duct exterior insulated. The heat was so bad, it overcame the metal duct insulation and rusted the hanging straps. Penetrated thru walls in the bonus room. One room downstairs never cool down in evening. Even with increased size duct, and metal duct fed.
He had the complete attic spray foamed and removed all insulation. Today, a whole different world. All problems gone.
All 3 of those units were “ baking in an oven “
Had one in Forest Brook off 1088, 3 systems, including one 2 stage upstairs for the bonus room. One of the other systems brand new also. The 3 rd was old and leaked freon, but is now new.
With all 3 working, they struggled, upstairs never got comfortable. We did alot of Metal round duct exterior insulated. The heat was so bad, it overcame the metal duct insulation and rusted the hanging straps. Penetrated thru walls in the bonus room. One room downstairs never cool down in evening. Even with increased size duct, and metal duct fed.
He had the complete attic spray foamed and removed all insulation. Today, a whole different world. All problems gone.
All 3 of those units were “ baking in an oven “
This post was edited on 8/2/23 at 9:57 am
Posted on 8/2/23 at 9:50 am to EF Hutton
quote:
3 digit attic temps is no good. Sum ting wong.
I think you'd have a hard time getting attic temps below the outside temp unless you are somehow conditioning that space?
Posted on 8/2/23 at 9:54 am to EF Hutton
quote:
You should be able to achieve & hold 69 degrees and 50% humidity on these 100 deg days.
That's not going to happen on most older homes, especially ones built prior to A/C becoming a must have.
quote:
3 digit attic temps is no good. Sum ting wong.
You really think that??? If it's 90+ outside, then the attic WILL see 3 digit temperatures.
I do agree on the flex duct situation. I ran my own in Joval round pipe and only on 2 areas did I start with 10 in. and reduced down to 8 inch to branch off into 2 rooms. All other runs were 8 in. individual and a 7 in. to the bathroom as it is a much smaller area.
I've never like flex duct due to the coils interfering with the air flow as opposed to the smooth metal pipe.
Posted on 8/2/23 at 10:11 am to yomamak
If you are interested, you can do your own manual J calculation (heat load calculation) using this free on-line calculator LoadCalc , whole house or room by room.
You might be shocked how much heat is gained or loss in a home via windows compared to heat loss & gains via the attic - I know I was when I ran the load calculation on my house. Once you enter the info and calculate the heat load for your house/room as is, you can see how much you can reduce the heat load by adjusting attic insulation, improving windows, etc. by adjusting the numbers in the program. You can pay firms to do the for you for about $350-400, usually varies by square footage of the house.
Of course each house will be different, but you likely can gain by improving both. A big part of improving heat gain/loss from/to the attic is not only adding additional insulation but also sealing the attic from the conditioned area below - recessed light fixtures, holes in ceiling associated with electrical, plumbing, where drywall plates join, etc.
You might be shocked how much heat is gained or loss in a home via windows compared to heat loss & gains via the attic - I know I was when I ran the load calculation on my house. Once you enter the info and calculate the heat load for your house/room as is, you can see how much you can reduce the heat load by adjusting attic insulation, improving windows, etc. by adjusting the numbers in the program. You can pay firms to do the for you for about $350-400, usually varies by square footage of the house.
Of course each house will be different, but you likely can gain by improving both. A big part of improving heat gain/loss from/to the attic is not only adding additional insulation but also sealing the attic from the conditioned area below - recessed light fixtures, holes in ceiling associated with electrical, plumbing, where drywall plates join, etc.
Posted on 8/2/23 at 11:08 am to yomamak
I had the exact same problem with my corner bedroom on the west side of my house. Went in the attic and crawled as far as I could to the corner and noticed that there were three sections of ceiling closest to the west-facing wall that had zero insulation on them. I had to crawl to very edge of the attic space on that room, over the AC line going to that register. It looked like the spray insulation piled up on the near side of that AC line and didn't make it over it.
I bought a few bags of loose insulation and spent a morning up there with a plastic toy shovel covering up those bare spots and fluffing the rest up a bit. It solved my problem completely.
I bought a few bags of loose insulation and spent a morning up there with a plastic toy shovel covering up those bare spots and fluffing the rest up a bit. It solved my problem completely.
Posted on 8/2/23 at 11:10 am to yomamak
Jumping in this thread for opinions on blown in insulation.
My situation:
House is 32 years old.
Brand new 5 ton, 19 SEER variable speed unit.
How beneficial would it be to ADD blown in insulation deep enough to cover ductwork, can lights, etc, or is that even allowable/ up to code?
My situation:
House is 32 years old.
Brand new 5 ton, 19 SEER variable speed unit.
How beneficial would it be to ADD blown in insulation deep enough to cover ductwork, can lights, etc, or is that even allowable/ up to code?
Posted on 8/2/23 at 11:20 am to EF Hutton
quote:
All 3 of those units were “ baking in an oven “
this is essentially what's up with mine i fear. it's hotter'n hell in that attic. have good rafter insulation (per a spec sheet left in there by installer). it's just hot af. and yes all our duct is insulated flex. i'm sure rigid would help, but hard to imagine a big difference compared to something like insulating the attic.
Posted on 8/2/23 at 11:22 am to EF Hutton
quote:It’s 94 degrees outside right now, my uninsulated attic is reading 101/102. Wut wong?
3 digit attic temps is no good. Sum ting wong.
Posted on 8/2/23 at 11:35 am to Tifway419
quote:
3 digit attic temps is no good. Sum ting wong.
It’s 94 degrees outside right now, my uninsulated attic is reading 101/102. Wut wo
You should just disconnect a duct from the plenum and get that attic temp down to 99.
Posted on 8/2/23 at 12:11 pm to RaginCajunz
These new houses with the
“ play basketball in “ size attics— thats alot of shingle surface.
Spray foam all of that.
“ play basketball in “ size attics— thats alot of shingle surface.
Spray foam all of that.
Posted on 8/2/23 at 12:11 pm to yomamak
Posted on 8/2/23 at 12:46 pm to yomamak
quote:
like everyone my hvac is struggling on these hundred degree days
That isn't a bad thing. That means your system is properly sized.
Insulating attic is pretty easy though and anytime you can improve it you might as well. It will only help. Start there.
Posted on 8/2/23 at 12:47 pm to lsujro
quote:
My house has appropriate attic insulation and is only about 20 years old. The west facing room (the master, unfortunately) is by a good margin the hottest in the house. We increased the size of the duct to the room before the summer, which helped a bit. We also have blackout curtains on the windows. That said, it's still about 3-4 degrees warmer than everywhere else. My next plan is to cover the windows with something like a bahama shutter to give more sun protection. But i'm not sure there is much else to do. It sucks
What is the return air setup like in that room? Do you have low wall or high wall returns (if any)?
Posted on 8/2/23 at 12:50 pm to jmon
quote:
How beneficial would it be to ADD blown in insulation deep enough to cover ductwork, can lights, etc, or is that even allowable/ up to code?
The only code issue would be that any lights recessed into the ceiling will need to be IC rated (insulation contact rated). If your lights carry the IC rating (should be clearly visible on the outside of the housing on attic side) then code should not have a problem. Just dont block any ventilation requirements.
Posted on 8/2/23 at 1:09 pm to notsince98
quote:
The only code issue would be that any lights recessed into the ceiling will need to be IC rated (insulation contact rated). If your lights carry the IC rating (should be clearly visible on the outside of the housing on attic side) then code should not have a problem. Just dont block any ventilation requirements.
I've wondered about this as well. In particular the duct work. Is there any condensation concerns by burying the ducts assuming they are sealed and insulated?
Page 1 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News