How cool can my air conditioner get my house, compared to the temperature outside?

Question

My air conditioner has been set on 60 degrees all day and my house is still 80 degrees.

Answer 1

And what is the temperature outside?  Necessary to answer your question.   In fact, it is likely that you need to have freon/Puron added to your system as it is running inefficiently.

Answer 2

Ooch...sounds like you have either an undersized unit or your existing unit is shot

Answer 3

Usually a rule of thumb is 20-25 degrees lower than the outdoor temp.  If you have a hack job you could get as much as 15 maybe.  Puron is a name that Carrier owns, its called R-410A. Freon can mean one of too many different types of refrigerant.  In most cases you will either have R-22 or R-410A.  Me owning an A/C company I leave all my t-stats set at 58F day and night year round and they cycle just like a normal house would.

Answer 4

Two other possible points to check:

1>  Assuming this is a central unit, check the outside compressor to make sure it is running at the same time as the blower inside.  If it is not, check the power switch to the compressor and the breaker for the compressor (usually different from the blower unit)

2>  GENTLY remove the thermostat from the wall and make sure that all wires are attached, its possible one is broken and not triggering the compressor.  

Some other items come to mind (we don't really have a lot of info to work with here)

Check the filter, make sure air can get through, replace if needed.  

Make sure your inside blower is running

Answer 5

your coil could be dirty. but the other guy is right, 20-25 degrees difference is what you shoot for.