Warm bedroom due to sun location - will this do anything?

[mywayorcyway]

I live in Phoenix and have a two story house. You're probably aware of this, but it gets pretty freaking hot here during the summer. Our master bedroom is on the southwest corner of the second floor and it gets hammered by the sun. The windows are tinted and we have blackout curtains, but the master is warmer than the other rooms upstairs. Considerably warmer when the sun is blazing and it is still 108* at 10pm.

We have separate upstairs and downstairs A/C units. We keep the upstairs at 85* during the day (no kids, there isn't anyone up there for an extended period of time), 75* during the sleeping hours. Downstairs is usually set to 78* during the day, 85* during the evening.

Our thermostat for upstairs is right off the stairwell, and it is cooler there than it is in the bedroom, especially so when the sun is blazing. We're going to run a fan to try and keep the master at a temperature more similar to the rest of the second floor. What I don't know is, should the fan be placed in the bedroom to blow warm air out, or should it be placed in the hallway to our bedroom, blowing cooler air in? Or is neither going to do much of anything?

 

[runbikeswim]

assuming fan will be on the floor, blow cool air in from hallway, warm air is at top at will be forced out into the hallway

 

[larry]

Blow cold air in. Just don't forget there is a fan in the doorway when you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night in the dark....

 

[SCNCY]

Did you try checking the airflow out of the vents in the bedroom in question compared to other rooms on the floor? It may be possible you have poor airflow into that room. Having said that, I am not sure how you would fix it.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

I live in Phoenix and have a two story house. You're probably aware of this, but it gets pretty freaking hot here during the summer. Our master bedroom is on the southwest corner of the second floor and it gets hammered by the sun. The windows are tinted and we have blackout curtains, but the master is warmer than the other rooms upstairs. Considerably warmer when the sun is blazing and it is still 108* at 10pm.

We have separate upstairs and downstairs A/C units. We keep the upstairs at 85* during the day (no kids, there isn't anyone up there for an extended period of time), 75* during the sleeping hours. Downstairs is usually set to 78* during the day, 85* during the evening.

Our thermostat for upstairs is right off the stairwell, and it is cooler there than it is in the bedroom, especially so when the sun is blazing. We're going to run a fan to try and keep the master at a temperature more similar to the rest of the second floor. What I don't know is, should the fan be placed in the bedroom to blow warm air out, or should it be placed in the hallway to our bedroom, blowing cooler air in? Or is neither going to do much of anything?

If you're alone in the house...change bedrooms.

 

[wgleason]

We were told by HVAC guy to have the system fans set to 'ON' to help with circulation on second floor.

 

[becrisgreg]

Buy a tstat with remote sensors such as the ecobee 4 and set the sensor in the room. You can program it many ways. Averaged, based on occupancy, or dedicated. In the dedicated situation you would cool to the set point of the master bedroom. You can even program it for different scenarios for different times of the day.

Cooling your master bedroom to the set point will likely cause over cooling in other parts of the upstairs, but you will gain much better comfort in your master bedroom. And if you set your program correctly you will likely save overall energy as the main problem is overcoming the 10 degree delta between your 2 schedules. It is likely 90+ in your bedroom if the stat in the hallway is 85 degrees. Just never enough run time to cool it off 15 degrees.

 

[enisthemenace]

Both, with a humidifier. Tornado in the house.

 

[BCClone]

I must be cheap, our house is set at 76 when we are home and 80 when we aren't. You have your house cooler than I do in Iowa when you sleep.

 

[Jmarsh13]

You need to balance the airflow out of the upstairs air handler so that you are getting more air into the master bedroom vs. the hallway. Otherwise you will be over-cooling the rest of the upstairs to get the master to the desired temp.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I have this problem in Iowa. I wonder how much better off you'd be to leave the temp set lower all day? If your AC can't keep up, or at least play catch up.

 

[CyCrazy]

I must be cheap, our house is set at 76 when we are home and 80 when we aren't. You have your house cooler than I do in Iowa when you sleep.

This is crazy, mine is set at 64 to 66 year round.

 

[BCClone]

This is crazy, mine is set at 64 to 66 year round.

I suppose the 64 does a nice job of freezing the nads so you get effective birth control out of it.

 

[CyCrazy]

I suppose the 64 does a nice job of freezing the nads so you get effective birth control out of it.

Lol, I will run the ac but I dont like heat. And I have massive trees surrounding my house so if the windows and blinds are closed it can be 68 in my house even in July.

 

[runbikeswim]

We were told by HVAC guy to have the system fans set to 'ON' to help with circulation on second floor.

You have to be careful with this. Some systems pull outside air when fan is set to on.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Did you try checking the airflow out of the vents in the bedroom in question compared to other rooms on the floor? It may be possible you have poor airflow into that room. Having said that, I am not sure how you would fix it.

I don’t have a separate thermostat for my upper level (4level split), but a little experimentation of closing off vents make my bedroom tolerable.

 

[Farnsworth]

Don't do it. All it will do is make you married to a wife who can't sleep without the sound of a fan. Then all of a sudden you're on a trip in a hotel and she's freaking out because there is no fan, so you have to stay up as she tries out 10 faux fan sounding apps until she finds one she can blare right next to you.

 

[jdcyclone19]

Not being a smart azz, but can you plant a tree? Thats one of the best ways to help with afternoon solar loading. long term

 

[nfrine]

Move...you are going to have to move...

 

[80sClone]

Have you looked into a portable unit. Not window unit. Vent out window. We use one and it's awesome. Can chill bedroom into 60s .... even in PHX