My central air conditioning does not turn off turn off for a long time.?

Question

I live in south Texas, it reaches about 98 degrees, with a heat index of 104, humid. I understand that during the day it is so hot that it stays on to keep cool, but even at night I don't here it turn off. I keep it on 75 degrees in daytime and 70 degrees at night. My light bill was outragious these past 2 months. I live in a 1088 sq. feet apartment, should it be staying on like that all the time? I keep it on auto. Or is it an old unit? Can it be tested or checked by my apartment maintance?

Answer 1

If you're actually home all day a nice 73 to compromise will actually save you money overall.  the heat index is letting you know that humidity is high, and that's most of what your AC unit is doing at night.  Raising your thermostat 5 degrees during the day allows relative humidity to settle out 5 degrees higher, making the unit remove a lot more energy per degree gain at night as the extra water vapor in the air is condensed.  Some apartments are bad about checking the condenser coils (outside part of the unit) to make sure you don't have things like cottonwood fibers, weeds, leaves, and such preventing proper airflow for the unit.  For a centeral air system you'll most likely have your "own" little condenser coil box next to the building.  If it's a window type unit, the reverse side of the wall it's on will have the condenser coils.  One other thing that you can check is to make sure your drain line is flowing as it should.  For a centeral AC unit it will be off of the indoor unit, and most window type units just drain outside the window.  One other thing you need to take a look at is your air filter.  if you're not getting proper air flow, it's going to over work your AC unit and run up your electric bill.  If none of these things work, you'll want to call your apartment maintenance people and let them know what you've checked.  They may come check some of the same things, but it will clue them in that there may be a problem with the refrigerant side of the unit and look into it, or call some one for you.

Answer 2

Not sure if it's the age of the unit or not but I would ask the maintenance to look at it.It should cycle at some point and time unless the thermostat was set at 68.There could be several reasons as to why it runs constantly.Have them check it out because it can be tested to see where it's at and if it is keeping up with the load.Try putting the thermostat on 72 or 73 at night and see if it will cycle then.Good luck.I live in the south too so I understand.

Answer 3

It can be checked. Check to see what the temp is coming out of the ac vent. If you live on an end apartment or top floor, it will take more to keep it cool. I doubt they will put the newest and best equipment on an apartment, maybe. With the ever increasing cost of electric I think you are keeping the temp awfully low. Try raising your temp some and using a fan. 70 is going to cost you a lot. Talk to your power company for advise on temp settings.

Answer 4

You do not need a lot of training to find out how well the a/c is working. Turn on the system and let it run about 10-15 minutes go outside to the condensing unit and you will see two copper lines one big and one small the small line will tell you how efficient the system is the normal temp for the liquid line is 85-90 degrees. The small line is cooled refrigerant and if it is say 120-140 degrees that is why the system runs all the time. This temp is too hot and you pay the high electric

bill. This should not take more than 5 minutes of your time and will let you know how well the equipment works. The complex does not care about your bill they save money by not replacing old equipment. Most maintenance people in apartment complexes are not a/c people and do not know much.

Answer 5

It WILL probably run almost all the time trying to keep those temperatures.  

Air conditioners lose efficiency the hotter it gets while at the same time the demand on them increases because they use the ambient (outside) to cool the condenser exhausting the heat.  

And if it is your electric bill that makes you question it be aware that your electric rates were recently some of the highest in the nation as a result of the same deregulation that let your Enron s***w over all of us on the West Coast with their fraud and price manipulation.

So please excuse me for taking pleasure in the irony of the pay back.

It is your turn now.