Temperature in primary bedroom 3-5 degrees higher than rest of house
 

I have a 6 year old Charlotte CY Villa and the primary bedroom is furthest away from the air conditioner. I bought a room thermometer as the bedroom felt unusually hot (to me) and it does show the bedroom is 3-5 degrees warmer than the front of the house. This seems like a lot - is this normal? I keep the blinds shut and my bedroom has an Eastern exposure so it gets sun in the morning but remains hot all day and night. I turn the air conditioner to 72 at night just to get the bedroom down to 77 which is still too warm for me. Any ideas other than keeping the air conditioner temp set really low?

Thanks,

Cindy

That is not normal. Are you keeping the bedroom door closed? If so, try opening it and see if that makes a difference. Also, consider buying a device to measure that air flow through the supply duct, for about $14 from Amazon and compare it to the other rooms. Here is a link. Also, you should have a return duct in the bedroom that transfers air from the bedroom into the living room, when the bedroom door is closed. Make sure this return duct is not obstructed.

Amazon.com

If that doesn't show the problem, you may need to hire an HVAC technician.

Thanks. I am scheduled to have the ducts cleaned on Monday. I do keep the bedroom door open. Fingers crossed the duct cleaning solves the problem.

Cold air has to travel further through a hot attic to get to the back rooms, therefore they will be warmer.

Note that other threads on duct cleaning have recommended not cleaning flexible ducts because it is not effective, and the equipment can puncture a hole in the duct and cause a serious problem. Do a thread search. If you suspect a clog in the duct, it would be better to have a camera inspection done to find the clog.

True.

Questions:

Which rooms are getting hit with afternoon sun.

You can close down (not all the way) on cooler rooms and force more to the bedroom.
(The other poster is correct, lots of heat in your attic)

The garage gets the afternoon sun. I had wanted an Eastern exposure for my backyard (and primary BR which is what I got).

Something to note. The prior owner insulated over the garage too. We never did that in Arizona as it trapped heat making the garage even hotter. I am wondering if doing that here makes my attic hotter?

I am having Sun Kool do the ducts since they installed the air conditioner originally and I had signed up for their Kool Club. I hope they are aware of the flexible duct issue?

You might check the insulation above that room and around the cold-air ducts going to that room. All of that should be fine but it's worth looking at.

Duct cleaning is a somewhat controversial topic. Buildup in the duct would affect airflow but it seems like it should take an awful lot of buildup to cause that much of a temperature difference.

I don't know if any of the ducts can be shut off but it's worth taking a look at that.

The long run through the attic could result in cool air taking longer to reach the room but if the AC runs for more than a few minutes then it shouldn't cause a significant difference. But you have the new thermometer so try measuring the air leaving the duct in that room and one of the cooler rooms.

While this would not correct whatever is causing that room to be warmer, one thing you could try is to set the fan to "on" rather than "auto." This will keep air moving through the ducts and circulating in the home and hopefully would balance the temperatures. Colder air from the front rooms would be drawn to the back and warmer air from the back would mix with the front. With air continuously moving, there wouldn't be a chance for the ducts in the attic to get overly warm and send heated air into the bedroom. I did this in my old home that had a thermostat on the first floor but bedrooms on the second. The fan runs more but the compressor should run less so hopefully it keeps the bedroom more comfortable at less cost than setting the thermostat to 70.

In my opinion, insulating the ceiling in the garage has very little effect on the attic temperature or the garage temperature.

Make sure the dampers on the registers are adjusted properly. Are they fully open in your primary bedroom, and are the dampers in rooms that are cold partially open/mostly closed?

At construction, we insulated out garage.
Our garage is 20 to 30 degrees COOLER on hot days.
Strange yours is hotter.

I think most homes have one room that is warmer than the others. I know that we do and have had similar experiences in other homes. I just us a floor fan to move the air around, turn it on a couple hours before bedtime and it seems to keep it cooler. I tried blocking or reducing the flow in other rooms but it didn't help.

I also agree with others, don't get your flexible ducts cleaned, if you can cancel that service it would be a good idea.

In my opinion, cleaning the ducts is a waste of money, and I don't think it has anything to do with the Kool Club.

I agree. Cancel the duct cleaning service.

Some home inspectors, like Frank D'Angelo, have a heat sensing tool that will tell you if the bedroom ceiling is insulated without going into the attic.

We have 3-beroom courtyard villa (1600 sqft). Had same problem with master bedroom - not as cold as the front bedrooms and rest of house. We had HVAC company install a second A/C air duct for master bedroom. Both air ducts run from larger duct box nearer the front of house (like a direct run). Originally, the duct in the master bedroom was centered on ceiling closest to living room/bedroom wall. In our case, with tray ceiling, the vent sat in the higher part of ceiling (centered) between the tray and the wall. We eliminated that vent hole and installed a vent on each side (for esthetics) and had the original hole patched, spackled, and painted. The ceiling and vents looks like it came that way. With two A/C ducts, the master bedroom stays cooler and has better airflow.

That's an interesting idea. Will ask about it

Is the register open and blowing cold air? Do you have a ceiling fan in the bedroom and is it blowing down (counterclockwise), how often are you changing your HVAC air filter? The only way fresh air supply ducts could even get dirty is via their supply air via the air filter? I never understood how a fresh air duct could need cleaned (or even be dirty) unless the filter was missing, very cheap or never changed? You can also get a remote thermostat for the bedroom connected to the main thermostat but I would probably consult a HVAC tech if all the other stuff has checked out vs. wasting money on duct cleaning, IMO.

There is no reason for a bedroom to be 3-5 degrees warmer than the rest of the house in a courtyard villa. Something is wrong and it most likely has something to do with the air flow. I have a courtyard villa. The temperature in my kitchen is 79 degrees and the temperature in my bedroom, on the opposite end of the house, is also 79 degrees.

Note that my air handler has three settings for fan speed: low, medium, and high. Mine is set on medium, and the heating and cooling modes are set on automatic, which means that the supply fan only runs when the system is heating or cooling. I don't recommend running the fan continuously. I use a MERV 11 filter in my unit, which I replace every 6 months. The system is a Carrier, single stage system, installed by Munn's for the builder.

Cleaning the ducts will not make the air colder.

If you’re air handler in garage and master bedroom way at back I suspect low air flow and conditioned air warmer do to length of duct leading back there. I had same problem and tried several things with little success. The air just hotter due to distance from air handler and low air flow due to smaller ducting.

I used mini anemometer

Amazon.com

And temperature gauge trying to adjust air flow opens in living room to more flow to back bedroom. I also tried speed air handler fan up with little success. Good luck, if find remedy without adding mini split in back bedroom lets us know?

Duct Connection Loose
 

Make sure your duct is connected to the air register in the bedroom. Sometimes they come loose or pop off. Clues would be insulation dust in the room or a cooler than usual attic when the AC is on. Make sure air is coming out of the register with the AC on.

When the sun is shining or the air conditioning system is working hard when it is scheduled to decrease the temperature at night, I can get a 3-5 degree difference in room temperatures between one end of the house and another. I purchased Ecobee Smart Sensors and have them in each of the bedrooms and the kitchen. I can adjust the A/C so that it will pay attention to only one sensor or a combination of them at different times of the day. So, for example, my primary bedroom is furthest away from the air handler and it is normally just me sleeping here, so I set the system using the Ecobee app so that the primary bedroom is 73 degrees at night. It doesn't matter what temperature the other rooms are (they're usually colder). It will keep the primary bedroom at a steady temperature. During the day, it pays attention to the temperature in the kitchen plus one other room. Since the guest rooms are closer to the A/C, they are generally colder, but that is what my guests prefer. Amazon.com

Suncool had the tools to diagnose and knows how's to balance there ducts

Temperature in primary bedroom 3-5 degrees higher than rest of house?

My MASTER bedroom is in the back of the house and only 1/2° warmer.

:agree:

This sounds like a good solution to get the temp in the bedroom right at night. Still may ask Sun Kool when they are here why there is a 3-5 degree difference in the rooms.

Oh my...you need to do your due diligence on duct cleaning. Have them show you their borescope video while in your ducts prior to work. I think you would reconsider. Been in the business for 30 years, never came across a home duct system that needed cleaning. It is sorta like cleaning your water pipe lines to get stronger pressure.....scam.

There’s a lot of speculation here. Get someone to inspect your ductwork in the attic.
There’s a lot of things that can cause this (leaking ducts, damaged ducts, poor insulation, poor design, poor installation, etc) and you won’t know until someone with knowledge goes up and looks at it.

:bigbow:


You need to take into account the loss of cfms due to the run of the duct system too. Thirty years ago it was all a big secret on HVAC systems, now you have the internet. Research, research, research. Setting vents properly in rooms determines airflow also. The room closest will get full pressure, so you adjust the vent. That's why there is an adjustment either on the primary vanes (hard to see) or secondary vanes (obvious).

OP, if your temperature numbers are correct, there is a serious problem with the installation of your system. The builder does not design HVAC systems with that much deviation in room temperatures. All rooms in the house should be within one degree of the thermostat setting. You need to have the entire system inspected before trying any of these suggested fixes. You do not need any Ecobee sensors.

You need a non-contact digital laser temperature sensor gun. They can easily read the temperature of air coming out of the vents on a high ceiling or read the surface temperature of the walls, ceilings, or anything in the room.

All you do is point it at the surface and pull the trigger and it almost instantly displays the temperature of the surface you pointed it at. It's very simple to use and easy to read.

Below is a link to one like I bought about 10 or 12 years ago. It works great. There are less expensive ones for sale also on the same page on Amazon.



Amazon.com

Yes, cancel the duct cleaning! The villa is only six years old. Changing the filter to a Merv 8 might help air flow and closing supply vents in the front bedroom/bedrooms if not being used. From personal experience the master bedroom in a CYV is always warmer by a few degrees. I have even seen one that has no supply vent in the master closet .

One the bedroom door has to stay open unless you have a return in your bedroom..
Second, like others have said, check the insolation above your bedroom. If that's not an issue you may need to spend some money and re duck you home system and move the thermostat near your master bedroom.

Or an easier solution would be to install a split AC system just for your bedroom. Then you could keep your bedroom at 68 at night while the rest of the house is at 78.

We have the same house as you but it faces the opposite direction. My master bedroom is also warmer but only slightly. Since our guest room, the one nearest the laundry room is the coldest spot in the house we adjusted the airflow in that room to be almost closed and it helped the temp on the master. Just food for thought. We rarely use that bedroom anyway.

My master bedroom doesn't actually have a return duct, but there is a ceiling vent that transfers air into a duct above the bedroom ceiling to a ceiling vent in the living room, which then allows the air to flow through the living room and into the large return vent in the foyer area.

Garage insulation
 

Insulating garage doors make sense. It makes absolutely no sense to insulate above the garage because it will only make the garage hotter unless you add AC. Heat rises.

Temp.gun
 

It does make sense to have a temperature gun but that may not tell her anything if it is an air flow problem because the temp.should be similar.

I agree with the others. Duct cleaning not needed unless someone scopes it and sees the dust built up so bad that it hinders air flow. I don't see that happening in six years. Cancel the cleaning and spend the money having Sun Cool diagnose the problem and come up with a real fix.