Home A/C problem

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Yes, the vent in the kitchen and the one in the dining room both seem to have a little better air flow than the other vents in the house. The one in the bedroom closest to the thermostat has more air flow too, but none of the vents move much air at all. The further you go down the hall toward the master bedroom, the warmer the temperature gets.

There is no change in the air flow from the vents when the air filter is removed from the air handler. Thanks for the help here.
 
I don't think the ducts have ever been cleaned. Will a dirty duct from normal household dust and dirt really clog up a duct so badly it won't flow any air from the vents?

I really think there must be some problem in the attic with the ducts but I did not have a ladder with me last weekend to climb up in the attic. There is no built-in ladder for the attic, only a trap door in the hall ceiling. I'll take my ladder and flashlights with me to her house this weekend and I hope to find out what is wrong. I'll try closing off a bunch of the vents too, that sounds like a good way to test it. The air handler is moving way too much air for it to be barely leaking out the vents like that. And it gets mighty hot in Orlando...

Thanks again for all the help.
 
If you shut it off for a few hours and then turn it back on does it blow a lot of air for a short amount of time? Is there a lot of condensation coming from the drain tube after you shut it off to indicate that the coil maybe freezing up?

If not, you must have a duct unhooked or leaking severely.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
I don't think the ducts have ever been cleaned. Will a dirty duct from normal household dust and dirt really clog up a duct so badly it won't flow any air from the vents?



Probably not dust, but my parents had theirs done and the guy pulled out chunks of wood and a tennis ball of all things.

You can try closing off the vents in the rooms that have seldom use or don't get any direct sunlight. I close/open vents in my house during the summer and winter. The vents in my master closet and bathroom barely blow any air at all unless I close off some other rooms.
 
I had it shut off overnight and until about noon the next day when the fan cap shorted out the other day. There was no burst of air from the vents when I turned it back on, it was the same weak flow as it was before. As far as I can tell there are no vents or other registers/returns under the carpet. Condensation from the drain tube looks normal to me.

I need to get in the attic space and see what is going on with the ductwork. That's the only thing I can think of, but I can't see how a duct will come apart. Maybe it's like my house, I have the round foil covered duct tubing in my house and a few years ago some squirrels or cats or whatever it was chewed a big hole in it. When that happened, it was in January and the heat ran and ran but never warmed the house. I finally found the hole and fixed it and the heat and AC have worked fine since then. I wonder if something like that happened to her ducts in the attic...

Thanks again for all the help here.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
I had it shut off overnight and until about noon the next day when the fan cap shorted out the other day. There was no burst of air from the vents when I turned it back on, it was the same weak flow as it was before. As far as I can tell there are no vents or other registers/returns under the carpet. Condensation from the drain tube looks normal to me.

I need to get in the attic space and see what is going on with the ductwork. That's the only thing I can think of, but I can't see how a duct will come apart. Maybe it's like my house, I have the round foil covered duct tubing in my house and a few years ago some squirrels or cats or whatever it was chewed a big hole in it. When that happened, it was in January and the heat ran and ran but never warmed the house. I finally found the hole and fixed it and the heat and AC have worked fine since then. I wonder if something like that happened to her ducts in the attic...

Thanks again for all the help here.


That seems like a good explanation. Either something is blocking it, it's leaking somewhere, or your fan isn't putting out enough flow.
 
Originally Posted By: tmorris1
If not, you must have a duct unhooked or leaking severely.


This is what it sounds like to me too - lots of flow going in; but not much coming out (in the right spots at least).
 
Thanks for all the help. I didn't expect near this many replies. I'll get into the attic this weekend and hopefully be able to post what I found and how I fixed it.

Thanks again everybody.
 
Well here's an update..It had to have been at least 130 degrees in the attic yesterday. But I got up in there and found that the round air duct hoses coming off the top of the air handler and leading to the square vent ducts that connect to each room vent were coming loose. The round hose was attached to the output vent holes from the air handler with duct tape, and the tape is now over 20 years old and falling off. There was cold air leaking out from the vent areas at the air handler and the square vent duct. I taped everything back on tightly and tried to seal it off the best I could. I couldn't feel any more air leaking out after that, but the air flow from the vents in the house did not improve very much. It got a little stronger but is still not what I expected and is nothing compared to the air flow in my own house.

My girl tells me the AC has always been weak in the 3 years she has lived in her house. I am contributing this to 1. the fan is too slow to move air properly in a house this size and 2. the AC is too small for this big a house. Her AC is the same size as mine, yet her house has more square footage. I may look into finding her a faster fan for the air handler, maybe that will help.

Thanks for all the help on this one.
 
So your saying there's no duct work, just flex? If so, I would tear all of that out and run steel duct work and insulate it. This will help with air flow.
 
There may be jumpers on the control board to move around and speed up the existing fan.

It may be time to bring in a pro that could measure the temperature diferential through the A-coil and the pressure and flow rate in the ducts. Bigger flex might be cheaper and easier and more help than steel ducts.
 
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