AC Blowing Cold Air in Attic
#1
07-16-14, 12:37 PM
AC Blowing Cold Air in Attic
I apologize in advance - I am not very experienced in HVAC systems, but have recently noticed that 2 rooms in my house (the 2 that are furthest away from the air handler, which is in the attic) simply cannot stay cool. It is summertime, and I live in NC, so it is definitely hot here, but the rest of the house is able to easily cool down to 74 and below.
When the system is set to 74, the 2 rooms I mentioned are usually 79-80 degrees. I went up into the attic to investigate, and I did notice that in 2 places (labeled with red arrows), there is ice cold air simply blowing out from the air handler into the attic:
1) The first is out of a white PVC pipe that has an odd section sticking straight up, but it's completely open, so the cold air is coming out of the top of that.
2) The second place is along the copper pipe, that normally has foam insulation around it. It seems as though the foam insulation has separated away from the pipe as the pipe takes the 90 degree turn near the unit, but the cold air seems to be coming from around the outside of the copper pipe. I could reattach the foam insulation, and tape it back together, but I'm not sure if there's more of an issue.
My home is only 7 years old (I bought it about a year ago). Below is a picture of the model information:
I can feel some cold air coming out of the vent in the 2 rooms in question, but it doesn't seem to be blowing out nearly as strongly as other rooms in the house.
Please let me know what other information I can provide to help in troubleshooting. Cheers!
When the system is set to 74, the 2 rooms I mentioned are usually 79-80 degrees. I went up into the attic to investigate, and I did notice that in 2 places (labeled with red arrows), there is ice cold air simply blowing out from the air handler into the attic:
1) The first is out of a white PVC pipe that has an odd section sticking straight up, but it's completely open, so the cold air is coming out of the top of that.
2) The second place is along the copper pipe, that normally has foam insulation around it. It seems as though the foam insulation has separated away from the pipe as the pipe takes the 90 degree turn near the unit, but the cold air seems to be coming from around the outside of the copper pipe. I could reattach the foam insulation, and tape it back together, but I'm not sure if there's more of an issue.
My home is only 7 years old (I bought it about a year ago). Below is a picture of the model information:
I can feel some cold air coming out of the vent in the 2 rooms in question, but it doesn't seem to be blowing out nearly as strongly as other rooms in the house.
Please let me know what other information I can provide to help in troubleshooting. Cheers!
Last edited by wf200811; 07-16-14 at 01:37 PM.
#2
07-16-14, 05:15 PM
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#3
07-16-14, 05:52 PM
I apologize that somehow my original message has completely disappeared. I'm not sure how or where it went, but I'll reply here with the original question:
I'm not at all experienced with HVAC systems but am hoping someone here can help guide me in this situation. I've recently noticed that 2 rooms in my house (the 2 that are furthest away from the air handler) simply cannot stay cool. It is summertime, and I live in NC, so it is definitely hot here, but the rest of the house is able to easily cool to a normal setting of around 74 degrees.
When the thermostat is set to 74, the 2 rooms I mentioned are usually 79-80 degrees. I went up into the attic to investigate and I did notice that in 2 places (labeled with red arrows in the picture below), there is ice cold air simply blowing out from the air handler into the attic:
1) The first place is out of a white PVC pipe that has an odd section sticking straight up, but it's completely open, so the cold air is coming out of the top of that. I could easily get a cap to close that up, but I'm not sure if it's a necessary ventilation.
2) The second place is along the copper pipe, that normally has foam insulation around it. It seems as though the foam insulation has separated away from the pipe (where the pipe turns 90 degrees towards the unit), but the cold air seems to be coming along the outside of the copper pipe (from the hole going into the unit. I could reattach the foam insulation and tape it back together, but I'm not sure if there's more of an issue that I need to look into.
Below is a picture of the model information of the unit:
Again, I'm definitely a novice here, but would appreciate any helpful advice anyone can offer. Should there be cold air coming out of either of these locations?
Cheers!
I'm not at all experienced with HVAC systems but am hoping someone here can help guide me in this situation. I've recently noticed that 2 rooms in my house (the 2 that are furthest away from the air handler) simply cannot stay cool. It is summertime, and I live in NC, so it is definitely hot here, but the rest of the house is able to easily cool to a normal setting of around 74 degrees.
When the thermostat is set to 74, the 2 rooms I mentioned are usually 79-80 degrees. I went up into the attic to investigate and I did notice that in 2 places (labeled with red arrows in the picture below), there is ice cold air simply blowing out from the air handler into the attic:
1) The first place is out of a white PVC pipe that has an odd section sticking straight up, but it's completely open, so the cold air is coming out of the top of that. I could easily get a cap to close that up, but I'm not sure if it's a necessary ventilation.
2) The second place is along the copper pipe, that normally has foam insulation around it. It seems as though the foam insulation has separated away from the pipe (where the pipe turns 90 degrees towards the unit), but the cold air seems to be coming along the outside of the copper pipe (from the hole going into the unit. I could reattach the foam insulation and tape it back together, but I'm not sure if there's more of an issue that I need to look into.
Below is a picture of the model information of the unit:
Again, I'm definitely a novice here, but would appreciate any helpful advice anyone can offer. Should there be cold air coming out of either of these locations?
Cheers!
#4
07-16-14, 06:00 PM
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Your posts get moderated until you post a few.. Its our spam software.. I approved them and will leave both up as you added a few different details..
Welcome to the forums. The pros will be by to help shortly...
Welcome to the forums. The pros will be by to help shortly...
#5
07-16-14, 07:18 PM
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The air blowing out the white pvc pipe can be easily cured by installing tape or a pvc cap on the pipe. The black pipe insulation should be pulled back around the copper pipe & taped well.
The cause of those rooms being warmer than the rest of the house is not uncommon, especially if they are the most distant from the air handler. That is usually caused by a design/installation error. Other causes could be a leak in the ducts or if they are flexible duct, they could be kinked or collapsed. If you can get to the entire duct runs, look them over you might see something obvious.
The cause of those rooms being warmer than the rest of the house is not uncommon, especially if they are the most distant from the air handler. That is usually caused by a design/installation error. Other causes could be a leak in the ducts or if they are flexible duct, they could be kinked or collapsed. If you can get to the entire duct runs, look them over you might see something obvious.
#6
07-17-14, 05:47 AM
Member
As Grady said, you should cover the top of the white PVC pipe opening. If you put a cap on it, don't glue the cap on, as you want to be able to remove the cap to pour bleach down the condensate line every so often to keep "gunk" from growing in the line. As for where the copper pipe goes into the unit, what I did with mine was to slather some RTV (silicone) sealant around the pipe/opening to seal it. After sealing the opening, then put the insulation back in place. I don't expect that sealing the air leaks (two pipes) will solve your problem, but at least you won't be "wasting" your cool air and should make the system more efficient.
#7
07-17-14, 06:39 AM
Thanks, Bob and Grady for your input. I should have mentioned in my original post that since I moved into this house in May of last year, I did live here through all of last summer, and don't remember the temperature being such an issue in these 2 rooms. The 2 rooms face north, so they don't get much sun beating down on them, and the house is only 1 story, 1800 sqft, so even though they're the furthest from the air handler, they're not that far (up in the attic, "as the crow flies" from the air handler, I'd guess they're a distance of 20 ft or so).
So, I think there must be something going on - cold air does come out of the ceiling vents in those rooms, but it doesn't seem to be blowing as strongly as in other rooms. I will cap the PVC pipe and reattach the copper pipe insulation to help, but as Bob said, even to me as a novice, it doesn't seem like this would be enough of a "leak" to impact those 2 rooms so much. Given that the house isn't that big, and the rest of the house has no trouble staying cool, I will try to follow the ducts to see if there are any kinks or areas where it is collapsed.
Thank you again for your help.
So, I think there must be something going on - cold air does come out of the ceiling vents in those rooms, but it doesn't seem to be blowing as strongly as in other rooms. I will cap the PVC pipe and reattach the copper pipe insulation to help, but as Bob said, even to me as a novice, it doesn't seem like this would be enough of a "leak" to impact those 2 rooms so much. Given that the house isn't that big, and the rest of the house has no trouble staying cool, I will try to follow the ducts to see if there are any kinks or areas where it is collapsed.
Thank you again for your help.
#8
07-17-14, 10:53 AM
If you had no trouble cooling. last year I would guess that you are low on freon. This usually happens after 12 years on an upstairs system
Last edited by ender2272; 07-17-14 at 11:34 AM. Reason: ClarificAtion
