How to get the most out of your A/C 

This OG was the first person I subscribed to on RU-vid. I got a lot of oil training from this man since there’s a ton of oil where I’m at here in Oregon. Best mentor ever. It’s good to see you still active GFM, thanks for everything.

Same as the fella below me. This wonderful fella initially taught me a lot of what I know up front and sent me on my way. I have a lot of gratitude towards him. I still go back and reference the old videos, I retired away from hvac but the lack of ability to find good techs in south florida has caused me to go out and buy tools and get a little bit involved on my own and family and friends equipment again. Having some fun !!

My (abreviated) take-aways... 1. Keep your thermostat set at 70 or over, and don't adjust it constantly. 2. Keep your filter changed on a routine schedule, every month if possible. The better filtration the filter is, the more important it is to keep changed often to maintain sufficient airflow. 3. A shortcut to diagnosing outdoor unit is feeling the bigger of the two lines, which should be *very* cold to the touch. 4. Windows, especially facing the sun/due west - they matter a lot if theres nothing to block the direct sunlight. Blinds and awnings make meaningful differences. Consider replacing very old windows. 5. Attics REALLY need a vent with a temp-activated fan. Ductwork in attic is to be avoided. Make sure attics are sufficiently insulated. 6. Think twice about cutting bigger, older trees that shade the house...they aren't quickly replacable. 7. Shading the unit itself isn't that important - but vegetation TOO close will become a hindrance to airflow and heat exchange. 8. There's no quick and easy gimmick products that are worth fooling with, and many can even mess your system up.

Your videos are great. During my college experience, we had a teacher show the class, wish I remembered what video. You've help so many, great content. Thank you sir.

A tactic I've been trying that seems effective (but is probably too much trouble for most homeowners): try to only run the A/C when it's cooler outside, and use a whole house fan to take advantage of cool.evenings and nights. The end result is getting the home cool in the morning, let it heat up to as high as 81 during the day, then cool it down again in the evening. That works best when the evenings are cool, then little or no A/C is needed. But even if A/C is needed, I presume it's much more efficient when it's 80F outside than when it's 100F, so I figure that's a bonus.

Wow, another brand new video! GFM is the most amazing professional on RU-vid since its inception. I love his calming voice, suggestions and great details. Most amazing is the time he takes answering so, so, so many questions. Thank you so much for sharing all of your knowledge and sacrificing your time to help others. God Bless you Mr. Gray and know that you are appreciated and loved.

Its always nice to hear from you OG! Take care of yourself and your family!

A separate dehumidifier is very useful for comfort. The newer central air units suck at dehumidification because they are designed to cool quickly then shut off to meet the efficiency standards. (inverter systems are better). But a portable dehumidifier is cheap (sadly they leak their refrigerant in a year or so) and independent in case of failure. I had good luck with comfort running a dehumidifier and fan when my outside unit was down for several days waiting on a part. It was 80 in the house, but it was a "dry" heat so the fan worked for evaporative cooling of me (Southeastern US). Yes, tighter house, etc. would help but in any case, don't put all your cooling (or heating) in one system, especially these days when parts are slow.

When they redid the roof, they put in a lengthwise vent all the way across the top. This reduced the attic temp noticeably, but not a huge amount. We already had 2 gable vents and a fan.

Attic fans can pull air from the conditioned space into the attic negating any benefit so you really have to be careful with that. A couple things I have found that does work is swapping out the cheap square blade condenser fan blades to the airfoil style. You generally get quite a bit more CFM of airflow and a quieter condenser with the same amp draw. A lot of the manufactures use fans made by Revcor so you can just cross reference directly from their catalog. Also stepping up a condenser fan motor from a 8 pole 900 RPM to a 6 pole 1200 RPM can increase airflow significantly. This does increase the amp draw but if the unit is undersized it can help get a few more BTUs out of it during the really hot days. Neither are really "homeowner" type projects though.

Thanks Sam! Another great video!

Great tips! Another attic tip I'd add along with the insulation is making sure all your attic vents are clear because they can get clogged with leaves, insulation, paint, etc. Also, a radiant barrier may be worth considering, especially if there's ducts or air handlers in the attic. Of course it's not a silver bullet either, but for how relatively cheap and easy they are to install, they can be a good investment. In my case, a $120 roll of radiant barrier foil as well as replacing my painted over soffit vents and cutting out their holes to the full size of the vents made a huge difference in my attic temperature and a noticeable difference in my AC's performance even though I don't have ducts in my attic.

Great information. Thanks for your knowledge and great to see you again.

Thank you so much for all your videos, really appreciate ... sincerely

Good to hear from you again G-Man ... Thx

Thanks for sharing the information. 👍

Thanks for the video.

Good points to consider. Thank you!

Excellent video. Thank you.

Nice see you again Thank you for amazing content.

good tips

I think the most important thing is to have qualified tech to come and maje sure the airflow speed is correct, make sure no major problem with ducts and properly charged the system via Superheat/Subool calculation Output vent air should be supercold. Good tech is hard to find though.

You have one nice pad

I wonder why HVAC installers don't just build 4" filter boxes for air handlers/furnaces? 4" filters last much longer, provide much better airflow, and are not that much more expensive. Instead, I see 1" filters being most common in residential systems. I manage to fit a 2" filter in my very old furnace built for 1" filters. It can last a whole season.

A very good and helpful tips video. Thanks! I had a question about the air handler units. Do those units contain a filter inside with the fan that needs to be taken-out and cleaned? I change my return filters once a month but was wondering if there's another internal filter or if that area needs to be vacuum out for dust? Thanks!

Does a soft start help reduce the power usage of my air conditioner?

Is the shading cost effective. Like from the awning. Ac will work less but in winter furnace will have to heat more. How does ac and furnace compare?

I have a 20 year old r22 Ac unit. How long typically does a Ac system last? Live in Canada where our family only runs the unit in the summer (June-sept) at night. Still comes out of the registers at 59f

I’ve got a question I hope you can answer. I’m having my AC worked on next week to replace the evap coil. I want to upgrade my blower motor to something that suits our new AC unit. My current blower motor is 1/4hp 3spd MODEL KASHXFJA-3842 4.8amp 115v. The blower housing gives a list of compatible blower models and I’m wanting to go to the 1/2hp model but the current blower capacitor is a 10.0. Question is do I need to replace the cap with a bigger one?

peeps think that what thermostat reads is going to be the temp of the supply air . but you cant explain that to them. they never understand

What would be the effect of combining a 3-ton condenser with a 2 1/2-ton evaporator coil? I have access to both and would like to install them as a split system. They use R22 refrigerant. The air handler is a 4-ton unit. It is a 1500 sq ft townhouse with party walls on both sides. The house previously had installed a 2 1/2 ton split system that worked fine for 20 years.

Just out of curiosity,how many sq.ft. Is your home?

I keep mine at 69 degrees. It doesn't run all the time. It's off at least half the time usually, but I have a 2 ton AC for about 950 square feet. Am I setting it too low? Any higher and it does not seem to run enough to get the humidity out. Illinois, so usually 80 to 90 degrees outside.

i keep mine at 75 and dont touch it.

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