HVAC specialist Derek Cole explains why your house feels uncomfortable even when the thermostat reads the right temperature. Comfort depends on three things: airflow, humidity, and your house's insulation and ductwork. Homeowners often blame the HVAC unit when the real problem is weak airflow, uneven room temperatures, or air that's too dry or sticky.
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Home and Life Comfort with Derek Cole. If you have ever walked in your home and thought, the thermostat is on 72, but this does not feel like 72, then if you ever had that feeling, then you're not alone. Now, we've heard that before. Your unit, HVAC unit itself, is not the only component to your system. Most people think HVAC has one job: heat or cool the home. And all that has to do with the unit. Set the number, it should feel right. But the reality is, your HVAC system isn't just about controlling temperature. It's controlling how the home feels. It comes down to 3 things: airflow, humidity, Now your home itself is working for or against the system, and when one of those is off— airflow, humidity, the home— if one of those is off, the whole thing is not going to work together. Let's start with airflow. Your system is constantly pulling, pulling air in, conditioning it, and pushing it back out to home. That movement has to be balanced. If it's not, you're going to feel rooms never cool down. You're going to feel weak airflow in certain rooms. One part of the house is comfortable, the other part is not comfortable. And the kicker is most homeowners don't even realize airflow is the problem. They assume something is wrong with the unit. And a lot of times it's not the unit at all, it's the air, or it isn't the air moving through the home. Number 2, let's talk about humidity. Humidity is like a blanket. Now when it's the wintertime, you want humidity because it keeps you warm. In the summertime, you want to get rid of humidity because again it keeps you warm. If you go to your thermostat and it says 72, but the humidity doesn't feel right. It feels— the home itself feels closer to 78 than 72. So if it's off, it doesn't feel like cool air in the home. That's when people start saying it feels sticky in there. The AC never seems to shut off. It's turning on and off and it's not helping. I keep lowering the temperature and it's reading a lower temperature, but it feels off. That's humidity. If humidity isn't controlled, comfort really never shows up. Temperatures alone will not fix a humidity problem. Number 3, the house itself. Now this is where most people don't look. The house itself. Your system can only do so much The home has a lot to do with it as well. The system cannot overcome poor insulation, leaky ductwork, rooms getting hit with direct sunlight. The unit cannot overcome those challenges. That creates uneven conditions, and that system has to fight to keep it alive. You'll start to hear things like the upstairs is always hotter than downstairs. Again, this one room never feels right. It's not always a bad unit. It could be a bad system, but the unit itself is just fine. Sometimes the house is not set up for a balanced comfort system. And finally, the last misconception is if the unit is working, it must be fine. That's not true. Systems don't usually stop working overnight. They can stop working overnight, but usually give warning signs. They usually have dirty coils or clogged filters or components start to weaken. The system itself still runs, but it's working harder, it's working longer, it's working less efficient. You start seeing higher energy bills. You start getting less comfort at home. You start getting longer runtimes until one day it finally stops running. It finally quits. And that can be prevented. If your home doesn't feel right, don't ignore it. The uncomfortable feeling is an early warning sign. Small comfort issues turn into big repairs. and that can help be prevented. The truth is there's always a reason the system feels off. It's usually something that can be found, can be fixed before it turns into a breakdown in the middle of the summer. I'm Derek Cole with Simmons One Hour Heating and Air, and if your home feels not right, give us a call, go online, simmonsonehour.com. Let's see what the reason is before it becomes a major problem. Home and Life Comfort with Derek Cole.
