In this solo podcast episode, Derek Cole addresses the common concern that a home’s air conditioner can’t reach a set temperature of 70 °F when the outdoor temperature hits 97 °F. He explains that AC performance varies widely between homes due to factors such as tree cover, window type, insulation levels in the attic and walls, and overall shading. He emphasizes that the Southeast North Carolina climate presents a dual challenge of high heat and high humidity, which forces the system to work harder to dehumidify as well as cool, unlike the dry heat of Arizona. Cole notes that residential AC units are typically designed for a “design temperature” of 95 °F; when outdoor temperatures exceed this, the unit’s cooling capacity drops, so it may not keep up with a 27‑degree temperature swing. He advises homeowners to keep thermostat settings on a steady schedule rather than constantly adjusting them, as frequent cycling makes the system work harder. He also points out that the hottest part of the day (around 4‑5 p.m.) is when the load is greatest, and that the indoor temperature often improves after sunset when the solar load diminishes. If the home still doesn’t reach the setpoint after dark, a professional inspection is warranted. Finally, he stresses regular maintenance—cleaning, tuning, and checking the system—to ensure it can handle the worst‑case heat and humidity conditions.
Chapters
Home and Life Comfort with Derek Cole. Hey, what's up? Derek Cole here, and one of the questions we get this time of year is, "It's 97 degrees outside, my thermostat set at 70 degrees inside, it never gets to that temperature. Is my AC broken?" And the answer is maybe. More times than not, it's a no. But just to clarify so you don't panic, every home is different, okay? You could be in the same neighborhood, you could have similar homes right beside each other, it could have different demands in those homes. Let me explain. When it's 97 degrees outside, you have trees, windows, insulation, all these factors play into your home. Can it keep up? Is it getting behind? Do I have more shading, less shading? Do I have enough insulation in the attic? Do I have enough insulation in the walls? Do I have older windows, newer windows? Do I have more glass? Less glass. So you could be right beside each other, but your homes are completely different demand. And before you say, I have people in Arizona, I have people in Colorado, and they keep their home at 70, and they have 110-degree weather in Arizona, and they never have a problem. Well, Southeastern North Carolina is different, okay? It's different than Arizona. It's different than the West. You're fighting two battles with your AC in southeastern North Carolina. So you're battling the heat, but you're also battling the humidity. So the system has to work harder to get that moisture out of there to cool you down, to cool the temperature down. Mm-hmm. And dehumidify the space. You don't have those issues present out west. It's a dry heat. I was with somebody in Orlando for a conference one time, and they're from Arizona, and they said, man, it's brutal out here. I'm like, you're from Arizona? They said, yeah, but it's a dry heat. It's so humid and sticky here. I said, well, That's true. So we're fighting two different battles. They're fighting the heat. We are fighting the heat and the humidity. So give your system a break. If it's 97 outside and you're trying to get it to 70 inside, that's a 27-degree swing. It's working as hard as it can. It is only designed in this state to get to 95 degrees. That is the design temperature of your loads for the homes, is 95 degrees. How often does it stay 95 degrees? What, maybe, what, 10 days out of, you know, 365? So you size up for 95. If it gets above 95, you start losing capacity. It can't quite keep up, and that's fine. But you don't size it for those extreme situations. You size it for normal activity. And one last thing: stop playing the thermostat game. Keep your thermostat at a schedule or a constant temperature. Don't keep going up and down, up and down, up and down with your thermostat. Your system goes on, goes off, goes on, goes off, goes on, goes off. Is having to work harder. Keep your thermostat settings at a constant temperature. If it's 97 outside and your home is set to 70 and your home is not getting to 70 on those really hot days at 4 or 5 in the afternoon, it's not necessarily broken. 4 or 5 o'clock is probably the hottest time of the day. So people get home, they freak out, the temperature's not coming down. Give it till dark. Once it gets dark, once that load comes off the home, once the sun comes down, it should get back to set temperature. If it doesn't, then you have a problem. But at 4 or 5 o'clock, if it's a few degrees off and it's a hot day, give it till dark. If your system gets up at dark after a hot day, it's probably doing what it should be doing. But just in case, make sure you have that system checked, have it maintenance, make sure you're doing everything you can to be preventative in what's going on with your system. If it doesn't, your system needs to be checked out by a pro. And always Get it maintenance, get it tuned up, get it clean, get it checked. So this time of year when it's hot and humid, those things come and go, you're ready for the worst case scenario and your system has a fighting chance. Home and Life Comfort with Derek Cole.
