QUESTION FROM Bob

Should I go with 3 or 4 ton Evaporator Coil for my a/c on a 2100 sq ft home

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Bob:

A very rough guideline for sizing a central air conditioning system is one ton per 1,000 square feet of living space.

However, the only way air conditioning equipment can properly be sized is to perform what is called a "heat gain" calculation. Most HVAC companies will have a software program to do this calculation. The software will need to know: how large your house is; how much wall area is exposed to the outside temperatures; how large and what type of windows/doors you have; the type and amount of insulation in your walls and attic; which direction your house faces; how many people live in the house; etc. Based on the all of this information, the software calculates the specific heat gain for your particular home. And based on your estimated heat gain, it determines the necessary size of your air conditioning unit to cool it down.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

QUESTION FROM Larry

I read the info regarding closing down the central air conditioning system for the winter, but I saw nothing about blocking off the air return. I thought this was very important to prevent condensate from water damaging the home. Am I wrong?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Larry:

Actually, on our webpage for maintenance tasks for central air conditioning in our Maintenance Library (http://www.home-wizard.com/maintenance/airconditioning.asp ), Maintenance Task #5 describes closing the air return registers when you close down your central air conditioning system for the season.

And you are correct, since air conditioning ducts can sometimes be run through unfinished (unheated) attic spaces, leaving these air return registers open can not only lead to heat loss, but also, introducing warm air into cold attic spaces can lead to water condensation problems.

Regards,
Home-Wizard.com

FOLLOW-UP FROM Larry

Thanks so much for the prompt response.

QUESTION FROM Wes

Dear Wizard,
I have a 2-story home and only 1 register upstairs blows out air. All of the downstais registers work, and even with them all closed, the downstairs is signifcantly cooler than the upstairs. What should I do?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Wes:

If you have already tried closing all of you downstairs registers, and only one of your second floor registers is blowing out, then you might want to check to see if you can balance the air flow between your two floors using "manual balancing dampers". If your system has them, these manual balancing dampers are located at certain points in your air conditioning ductwork and they slide open or shut to increase or limit air flow from the main source. If you don't have manual balancing dampers, then you may want to hire an air conditioning contractor to add balancing dampers, if your system doesn't have this feature.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com