matemike
Well-known member
About a year ago we had to replace one of our two AC units in our single story home. We originally had a 14 ton unit go bad, but the company doing the work only had a 16 ton unit on hand. They installed the 16 ton at no extra charge for the larger unit. Over the following days/weeks we noticed the house felt more damp than before. Especially the bare tile floors which make up about 65% of our flooring in the 3350 sq ft house. I then researched and learned that if an ac unit is too large for an area that it will not remove moisture as well as an appropriately sized unit. In my discovery I also learned that a mitigation is to either keep the house colder or to add more vents. So for a year now we've been keeping the house at 71° which has created as much as $550 electric bills during the summer months AND my wife and kids are often saying it's too cold in the house; covering up in blankets when it's 100° outside!
I tell them "at least it's dry inside."
Other than icing down the house, the next option will be to add more vents and keep the house at a more reasonable 74°. The place I may want to add vents will be in the GARAGE! Where else!?!
My question is: Will this achieve what I want? I want to alleviate the AC and moisture issue by adding vents into a space that does not feed the AC intake. Ultimately, could I keep the house at 74° again while keeping moisture down with the larger ac unit?
If so, this could be a win-win situation because now the garage will be more comfortable to hang out in. No, I don't expect the garage to remain a solid 74° like the house, especially since we use the garage for our cars and we open and close the garage doors quite often. But if the addition of vents alleviates some of the humid oven scorch from my garage then I will see it as a positive result. I'd plan to stick two vents coming off two different duct lines that already run close to the garage area.
It is a 3 car attached garage; 26x36x10. I would of course insulate the two garage doors even though they face north and never see direct sunlight. I'd also run bats of insulation in the attic area above the garage since there is nothing there right now, just sheetrock ceiling that it screwed to the 2x8's.
If this idea would be completely useless since the vents would not add cold air output from an intake area then please tell me so. Stop me before I do something that wouldn't work.
I tell them "at least it's dry inside."
Other than icing down the house, the next option will be to add more vents and keep the house at a more reasonable 74°. The place I may want to add vents will be in the GARAGE! Where else!?!
My question is: Will this achieve what I want? I want to alleviate the AC and moisture issue by adding vents into a space that does not feed the AC intake. Ultimately, could I keep the house at 74° again while keeping moisture down with the larger ac unit?
If so, this could be a win-win situation because now the garage will be more comfortable to hang out in. No, I don't expect the garage to remain a solid 74° like the house, especially since we use the garage for our cars and we open and close the garage doors quite often. But if the addition of vents alleviates some of the humid oven scorch from my garage then I will see it as a positive result. I'd plan to stick two vents coming off two different duct lines that already run close to the garage area.
It is a 3 car attached garage; 26x36x10. I would of course insulate the two garage doors even though they face north and never see direct sunlight. I'd also run bats of insulation in the attic area above the garage since there is nothing there right now, just sheetrock ceiling that it screwed to the 2x8's.
If this idea would be completely useless since the vents would not add cold air output from an intake area then please tell me so. Stop me before I do something that wouldn't work.
