Cold air return in basement

[HvacTech2]

Hi Jody, hope you are having a nice day

On 08-Mar-05 At About 06:29:56, Jody wrote to All Subject: Re: Cold air return in basement

J> From: "Jody"

J> Thanks Joseph, Unfortunately we cannot spend any more money on this J> basement and having a new HVAC company come in will mean a lot more J> money. We have to have the guys who did the work fix the work. They J> are willing to make the adjustments at no charge. I cannot be J> ripping drywall down that was just put up and finished. I guess I'll J> ad some vents off the ceiling on the main duct and have them move J> the returns to the floor. Thanks for your responses and time.

The supply vents on a heating system should be near the floor due to the fact heat rises. if you put them in the ceiling you will usually have cold feet :) where is the thermostat located for this system?

-=> HvacTech2

[HvacTech2]

Hi Jody, hope you are having a nice day

On 08-Mar-05 At About 10:06:12, Jody wrote to All Subject: Re: Cold air return in basement

J> From: "Jody"

J> The thermostat is on the first floor, not on a separate thermostat. I J> can't get any more heat vents on the floor as the basement is not J> finished. All I can do is cut additional ones in the ceiling to add J> more heat. The other thing I could do is move the returns to the J> floor. You are right about the cold feet. That is why I had the J> HVAC guys come in and put ducts from the main vent on ceiling J> down to the bottom of the walls. I assumed he would know how many J> would be suffient and on which walls to put them. That is why I J> paid for a professional to do it, to avoid having a cold basement. J> It really sucks when you pay a professional to do something J> and they screw it all up and then think they are still right.

This could also be part of the problem. if it is on the upstairs thermostat you may need to have the system balanced or maybe even a zoning system.

-=> HvacTech2

[HvacTech2]

Hi [e-mail], hope you are having a nice day

On 08-Mar-05 At About 21:02:00, [e-mail] wrote to All Subject: Re: Cold air return in basement

n> From: [e-mail]

n> HvacTech2 wrote:

n> > The supply vents on a heating system should be near the floor due n> to the > fact heat rises.

n> The return vents on a heating system should be near the floor on n> outside walls because cool air falls and loses less energy to the n> outdoors. The supply vents should be near the ceiling on inside n> walls, keeping warm air away from cool walls and taking advantage of n> flow due to warm air bouyancy.

n> Nick

Wrong. If you put the diffusers near the ceiling you will have cold feet as the hot air will never make it to the floor. on any forced air system the diffusers should be near the floor for heat and up high on the wall for cooling as the cold air falls. some higher end systems will have both and a damper setup which you can switch every season. but most have them only near the floor as dual duct systems are expensive.

-=> HvacTech2