Your Air Conditioner Just Isn’t Doing The Job? Your Return Air Ducts Could Be The Culprit

When you have a central air conditioner, you want to get whole house cooling. Unfortunately, it’s often the case that the upper floor of your home will get much warmer than the lower floors. The physical reason for this is that warm air rises, pushing cold air down. Modern central air conditioning systems should take this into account, but problems can crop up. There are several things to consider if you run into a problem.

Air Supply
The first thing you should check is whether the system feeding cold air to the upper floor is working correctly. Start with the cold air supply registers on the second floor. They should be fully open and nothing should be blocking them. Next, check the ductwork dampers to ensure the ones to the second floor are open.

Air Return Ducts
One of the keys to getting the cooling more evenly distributed in your home is to have an air return system on the second floor. If the air returns in the upper rooms are working properly, you should have less of a problem, since the warmer air will be fed back into the air conditioner to be cooled. However, if the registers are poorly positioned, they might not work effectively. They should always be installed near the ceilings in the rooms. You should also make sure nothing is blocking them.

Retrofitting
If your home does not have enough return air ducts, it may be possible to add them after the fact. A professional can often make the holes for grills above the bedroom doors so the air can flow out and collect in the hallway. From there, he can use stud cavities for part of a duct return until he can tie into metal ductwork in the floor.

Getting your air conditioner to evenly cool your entire home is more than just a matter of comfort. Even distribution of the conditioned air will help lower your bills in your Tampa area home. If you have any further questions, please contact Simpson Air. Our trained and courteous staff will be happy to help.

Simpson Air – The Coolest Guys in Town! services the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. Visit our website for more information and to see our special offers today!