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Heating & Air Conditioning

Upstairs/Downstairs Air Conditioning

13 years ago

I live in Las Vegas in a 2-story home with 2 A/C units and 2 thermostats(one up and one down). Of course, it is always warmer upstairs than down. Our stairwell is open to the lower level so there's no separation between the two floors in that regard. We always get rising heat from downstairs.

Last year, I was advised by a local A/C company how to program my thermostats so they would work in tandem with eachother. In the past I would only keep the upper unit on by was told that they have to run together because if only the upper unit is on, the heat from downstairs rises upstairs so using them together compliments the air flow. It worked! However, I didn't write down the instructions they gave me and am at a loss as to how I did it before.

Since my husband and I both work outside of the home, I run the air early in the morning while we're getting ready for the day, program it high so it goes "off" during the day and then have it come back on later in the afternoon and then again go "off" during the night, around 10:30pm. However, we do have cats and it's going to start getting hotter and am looking for a solution in keeping the house somewhat cool during the day as well. In addition, it's starting to feel quite warm upstairs during the night and will of course, only get worse as summer starts to hit.

Any advice on how to program the thermostats??

Any advice would be well appreciated!!

Jodi

Comments (5)

carter27
13 years ago
what type of thermostat do you have?
jodimak
Original Author
13 years ago
I don't know how to answer that! It is newer (2005), digital and programable. Don't know the brand. Do you need that?
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jodimak
Original Author
13 years ago
I just looked. It is a Honeywell Electronic Programmable Thermostat.
ionized_gw
13 years ago
Just set the thermostats to the temps you want. You want upstairs cool at night for sleeping? Set the up thermostat to your desired sleeping temp and downstairs to high enough so the AC does not run until your program wake time when you have a lower setting. If it gets too warm upstairs, you will just have to find a downstairs temp that allows the upstairs system to keep up. That will be trial and error.

If you need to keep some area cool for the cats during the day, choose the downstairs because that will cost you lots less. The cats will figure out that they need to be downstairs to get coolness.

Consider improving your energy efficiency so you don't need to run the AC as much. Get an energy rater and find out if you need to seal off your living space better from the attic and other outside air. Find out if you need better attic venting. Find out if more insulation would help.
srercrcr
13 years ago
A ceiling fan above your bed will make you more comfortable, no peaks and valleys in comfort.

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