# 3 weeks of HVAC slowly losing airflow while trying to cool at Night.



## mariobanegas31 (6 mo ago)

Good morning to all,

Me and my wife have been living in our new apartment (built in 2020) we are the original tenants for the past 2 years. Just recently as of July 11th to present, we have noticed that the HVAC suddenly started remaining ON for the entire night (9pm to 9 am) constantly running and barely dropping 2 degrees (71f to 68f) to sleep comfortably. When we would wake up in the morning, we noticed there is no air or very little coming through all the vents and the temperature was still at 69f at the thermostat not the targeted temperature of 68f. We switched the HVAC to OFF for most of the day (9am to 6 pm) and turn it back ON. Luckily our apartment is well insulated, so temps inside don't rise above 72f. When the HVAC was put back on at 6pm the air flow does resume flowing but now feels weak compared to how it was working July 10 and prior. I've tried to explain this to our maintenance guy here and they are under the impression that we're complaining about the system just not working at all. They put their gauges on the HVAC all pressure seems fine. I've since then had to explain further it's not a Day cooling issue it's a Night Cooling issue. I have since then purchased an Infrared Digital Laser Thermometer and an Anemometer from Amazon. I asked my next-door neighbor if I could measure the airflow from their vents (living room, and bedrooms) to compare notes and here are my findings over this past weekend (July22 -24).

1. My neighbor's airflow from all their vents was showing 525-550 feet per minute when their HVAC is turned ON to cool down 1 degree. My neighbor even provided me information that their HVAC takes about 35- 40 minutes to cool down by 2 degrees.

2. When we turn on our HVAC ON after many hours being turned OFF our vents (in all rooms) measure 350-379 feet per minute on average of airflow.

3. We started cooling at 8pm. The temperature on the thermostat was showing 71f and we dropped it down to the target temperature of 68f (3 degrees we want to cool down the apartment) I had my ladder and instruments to measure the temperature and the airflow as the HVAC tries to cool down checking them every hour.

4. After 2hrs and 45 minutes the thermostat was reading 69f (2 degrees so far) all the air vents were showing temperatures were in the range of 54-55f (which implies the air temperature being pushed is cool). The air flow from all vents were showing about 345-385 feet per minute. It is now 10:50 pm

5. Another 2hrs pass and the HVAC is making a high whining noise and louder vibrating sound. The temperature on the thermostat still reads 69f. After taking measurements with my instruments, the temperature coming out of the vents is the same 54- 55f but the airflow now shows barely registers 78-90 feet per minute. I can barely feel any air coming out of the vent on my hand. It is now 1am next day at night.

6. One more hour passes and it's getting warmer, (which makes sense since the air vents are barely pushing any air) the HVAC is still making the same whining and louder vibrating noise. The airflow from the vent is measuring nearly 0 feet per minute basically no airflow at this point. We decide to turn off the HVAC (now 2am in the morning) and let it cool off and raise the temp back up to 70f and try to sleep. Six hours straight and the HVAC barely dropped 2 degrees. 8pm -2am the AC ran nonstop; HVAC is now switched to OFF to allow it rest and hopefully work in a bit.

7. At 3:30 am (my wife trying to sleep) I turned the HVAC back ON and now set it to 70 degrees and some air flow came back. 150-175 feet per minute pushing very low air. At this point I went to sleep; we have logged all of this in a notebook for my maintenance guy to see and understand we are dealing with a very bad airflow problem for 3 weeks.

Overall, the data we recorded and obscured shows the HVAC can't cool down our apartment correctly, effectively and efficiently due to low air flow from the start and after so many hours of it trying to cool down 2 or 3 degrees it loses airflow all together.

We've been sleeping very uncomfortable during all of this and can't understand why maintenance is just shrugging us off. Prior to this issue for the past 3 weeks, the HVAC would cool our apartment down to 67 degrees by midnight without breaking a sweat and then occasionally turn on keep us at those temps for the rest of the night until morning and then shuts off for the rest of the day (to save on power consumption). We are seeking any professional opinion or diagnosis or advice. I am very afraid that our electric bill is going to be very high in the coming weeks or months if the issue is not fixed.

Thank you very much for you time.

Mario


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