This is in reference to heating/cooling our apartment... We are on the 2nd floor. Our uncovered windows face the east. By uncovered, I mean not blocked from the sun. We have 2 double windows on the east side that are about 80 inches wide per double and 50 inches tall.
Brick exterior, fully carpeted interior. Drywall, cinder blocks sperating apartments but not rooms within apartments.
Our apartment always seems to try and be around 75-80 degrees regardless of the outside temp. This was a relatively warm winter and we turned the heat on twice, it got down to 68 at night inside when it was 0 outside for a couple days.
If you've made it this far, you've noticed that our inside temps are always warm. Considerably warmer than the outside ambient. This wouldn't be a huge problem, but our AC unit needs re-charged every 40 days and the landlord won't do it during winter months. It leaks and they can't find the leak, but it's been our problem for 6 years... not theirs... It's just been a minor inconvenience to them for 6 years.
When it's nice and cool outside (like yesterday, 60F), it got up to 77 inside with a window open. I put a fan in one window on one end and a fan in another on the other end of the apartment to create a blow through. This cooled the place to a respectable 70 in about 4 hours. We live by train tracks... that get used... a lot. Very annoying with windows open, tolerable with them closed.
I'm trying to figure out what makes it warm in here. I went around the whole apartment with my trusty IR thermometer and checked the floor all over. Nothing reads warmer than 72 (which is what the thermastat says). I checked the walls to the adjacent apartment, same, 72. So, for some reason, our apartment appears to be warming from the inside... but we're not on fire, so I don't know what's causing it.
The only thing that recently occurred to me is that we always have the forced air fan on. Not the heat or ac, just the blower. I buy expensive 16x25 and 10x20 filters for the furnace/ac air exchanger intake because we smoke. I leave the fan on all the time to catch the smoke. I change the filters about every 20 days or so because I can't stand the smell of smoke (we really need to stop smoking...). Well, right below the air intake in the same closet as the air exchanger/furnace unit is our electric water heater. The pipes coming out of it aren't insulated. I IR'd those and they are at 105F right at the water heater and 95 or so a couple feet down the line. The top of the WH is 78. The closet itself is 76. The rooms outside, 72. Could that stupid water heater be causing our place to be this warm all the time? If so, what can I do?
Sorry for the long post... but it's really grates on me every year about this time because the outside temps fluctuate so much and we are forced to open windows, deal with rain, deal with nats, deal with the noise of the train due to it being 78 degrees in here.
Any help from someone smarter than I would be greatly appreciated. Well, any help that doesn't involve moving or setting the building on fire... I just want to keep my windows shut on occasion!
Brick exterior, fully carpeted interior. Drywall, cinder blocks sperating apartments but not rooms within apartments.
Our apartment always seems to try and be around 75-80 degrees regardless of the outside temp. This was a relatively warm winter and we turned the heat on twice, it got down to 68 at night inside when it was 0 outside for a couple days.
If you've made it this far, you've noticed that our inside temps are always warm. Considerably warmer than the outside ambient. This wouldn't be a huge problem, but our AC unit needs re-charged every 40 days and the landlord won't do it during winter months. It leaks and they can't find the leak, but it's been our problem for 6 years... not theirs... It's just been a minor inconvenience to them for 6 years.
When it's nice and cool outside (like yesterday, 60F), it got up to 77 inside with a window open. I put a fan in one window on one end and a fan in another on the other end of the apartment to create a blow through. This cooled the place to a respectable 70 in about 4 hours. We live by train tracks... that get used... a lot. Very annoying with windows open, tolerable with them closed.
I'm trying to figure out what makes it warm in here. I went around the whole apartment with my trusty IR thermometer and checked the floor all over. Nothing reads warmer than 72 (which is what the thermastat says). I checked the walls to the adjacent apartment, same, 72. So, for some reason, our apartment appears to be warming from the inside... but we're not on fire, so I don't know what's causing it.
The only thing that recently occurred to me is that we always have the forced air fan on. Not the heat or ac, just the blower. I buy expensive 16x25 and 10x20 filters for the furnace/ac air exchanger intake because we smoke. I leave the fan on all the time to catch the smoke. I change the filters about every 20 days or so because I can't stand the smell of smoke (we really need to stop smoking...). Well, right below the air intake in the same closet as the air exchanger/furnace unit is our electric water heater. The pipes coming out of it aren't insulated. I IR'd those and they are at 105F right at the water heater and 95 or so a couple feet down the line. The top of the WH is 78. The closet itself is 76. The rooms outside, 72. Could that stupid water heater be causing our place to be this warm all the time? If so, what can I do?
Sorry for the long post... but it's really grates on me every year about this time because the outside temps fluctuate so much and we are forced to open windows, deal with rain, deal with nats, deal with the noise of the train due to it being 78 degrees in here.
Any help from someone smarter than I would be greatly appreciated. Well, any help that doesn't involve moving or setting the building on fire... I just want to keep my windows shut on occasion!
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