Heating & Cooling / Thermostat question
 

I have a pretty large house and all five bedrooms are upstairs. The problem is the downstairs is always several degrees cooler year-round and I like it to be cool when I sleep. What I'm wondering is if they would happen to make a dual thermostat system. It would be great if at a specific preset time the thermostat upstairs took over from the one downstairs or vice-versa. The second thermostat would need to be wireless too. I do not wish to spend more than $100 to remedy this. Any possibilities here???

You're fighting nature. Cold down/Heat up. No cheap fix for it. Get a second A/C unit just for upstairs.

Spend $100 on box fans for upstairs?

What he said.

Your going to have to get a 2nd AC unit with a 2nd thermostat to control it.

Sounds like a pretty big house. Bigger house = more sq footage = more $$$ to heat and cool. Thats the reality.

I have a 4 bdrm house with all four upstairs. On our ductwork, right where it leaves the furnace/ac unit, there is a lever to switch the airflow between the upstairs and downstairs (switch it to upstairs during the summer and downstairs in the winter). Do you have the lever? I had no idea what it was (no label or anything) until a neighbor told me.

Physics cold air FALLS. Keep the doors shut upstairs. I bet the stairway is cold. as the cold air funnels down it.

full attic/house fan

Our house has dual zoned heating and cooling and it is awesome

Sell your house and buy a large ranch home.

Oh wait, under $100...

I had this installed in May when I replaced my whole heat pump system. The way my AC was ducted made it relatively easy to do. The upstairs and downstairs have there own ducting systems that split right at the air handler. Basically there is a valve that determines what % of the cool air goes to the downstairs and upstairs respectively. Each level has its own thermostat.

This beats the physics problem. You pump most of your cool air upstairs, so the upstairs remains cool. Then as the cool air drifts downstairs, it keeps the downstairs cool too, with relatively little cool air coming to it directly from the air handler.

In the winter you do just the opposite with most of the warm air going to the lower level where it drifts up to the upstairs.

The problem is that this was a $1200 add on to the cost of my system (extra thermostat, computer controller, valve, and some ducting), so it doesn't meet your budget. You might be able to get something similar to work by closing your downstairs air vents most of the way and leaving your upstairs ones open, then switch when the weather gets cold. Probably wouldn't work worth a crap, though.

The 2 ac's is the only thing I can think of. We have 2 ac's (1 upstairs and 1 down) and it is great.

Do you have ceiling fans upstairs?...maybe turn them on reverse to help suck air up the stairs?

It'll be always be cooler downstairs and warmer upstairs, because heat goes up. try closing your vents upstairs and buying a couple of ceiling fans to keep the warm air downstairs. You can always put a door at the foot of your stairs.

close some downstairs vents at night to redirect more air upstairs, and keep the bedroom doors closed if your rooms have an air return - that way cold air will flow through the room and hot air rising from the downstairs will stay out. If the room is real tight with no return vent, open the door an inch or so. As previously mentioned, the other thing you could do would be to get a small window air conditioner for your bedroom.

Um, heat rises.