I have a forced air heating system in home, but one of my rooms upstairs is preaty cold in winter. I tried adjusting dampers in ducts and closing/opening heat registers, but nothing really works. Now I am considering installing duct booster fan. There are types that goes inside duct (inline) and other that goes on top of the register. Anyone had experience with these things and could recommend which thype to use? Reviews on google shows that common problems with them are:
Noise
Not as powerfull as most expected.
I would need something that would be easy to install, quite and powerfull enough for big room.
There is no easy fixes in the hvac ducting system problems.
Now my opinion here on Duct fans. Useless and noisey. I know of no customer that was satisfied with a duct fan as to getting enough air to a room.
The only true fix is to get a hvac company to come redo that duct to get more air or what you need to go to that room. This is the cure and everything else is nothing but wishful thinking.
I have new Carrier infinity system installed this year. Continous fan is running all the time and mixes air in the house. I cannot change blower speed as it is controlled by furnace. It is two stage furnace, and I did noticed that when furnace is working at higher BTU output, blower also works louder and there is much more air comming into that room. But normally, when furnace operates at lower output, you can bearly feel air comming out of heat register. I am going to read if I can change blower speed during low output operation, but I do not believe this is a case. Duct sizing - even if it is a problem, it would cost too much to tear walls, floors and ceilings to change that. Blockage? Maybe. How do I test that? Air is comming in when furnace blower operates at highest speed. I did try to put in snake (used usually in plumbing) into register, but could not see anything. It looks like that this room is too far from furnace, it has at least 3 90 degree angles and that might be a problem.
Another thing to check for is return air capability. In order for air to flow into the room from the duct, the same amount of air must flow out of the room and back to the furnace. Make sure doors are open and cold air returns are not blocked.
Hi, Call the expert and balance the system. I had to redo some duct work to solve the problem like yours. My son's upstairs bedroom is farthest from furnace and was always cold in the winter. Had to call furnace guy. It is OK now. Tony
To what degree? Forced hot air heating was retrofitted to this old house. The return duct (12x24) sits behind my TV stand. Due to the size of the TV itself the cabinet is 10 inches out from the wall. Should that be enough?
I did try a couple in my home . . yea I knew better, but I tried anyway. One helped, but did not really resolve the situation. Due to some unique situations it did not cause any noise or vibration problems and did bring the room temp to bearable, but not right. The other did cause noise and offered no noticeable improvement.
Someday I will be doing some serious HVAC works and those two problems will be addressed properly.
I had a similar problem, but with cooling, not heating. The last run that goes to an upstairs bedroom is at the end of the duct run. They used small round ducts to run from the end of the rectangular duct in the basement to go to the second story bedroom, which is a long way, as it's a large home. There is no cost effective way to add or expand the existing duct work.
So, I added one of the squirrel cage booster blowers near the end of the rectangular duct, just before the round duct branchs that go to the second story. It's the type that use a cutout in the bottom of the duct and part of the blower then sits inside. While it's not a cure all, it has definitely helped a moderate amount. I tried holding paper over the registers with it on and off and can see a noticeable difference and it's definitely cooler in the summer, though still not ideal.
Since I only had a problem with cooling, I also wired it up to the furnace blower with a switch, so that I can shut it off in winter, as I didn't want to pump extra heat where I don't need it.
I'm surprised there aren't more solutions to this problem available. For example, if they had a blower unit that was rectangular, the size of the duct, and could replace a cut out section, one would think that would be a higher performance solution. Of course, we all know the right answer is it should have been done right to begin with, but it's too late for that.
How air tight is this room? We had a similar problem because there was no way for air to leave the room. I nipped 1 inch off the bottom of the bedroom door and the problem was solved.
A long run with a 3- 90 angles will make flow less than optimum. Replacing that run and insulating will do alot. I just insulated my ducts and the 1 cold room is now more even to the others. You may slightly reduce other vents flow but it can harm the furnace. Proper ducting is best, a fan may or may not help. How is attic insulation, that would be an easy way to boost overall efficiency and perhaps help your cold room the most.
You hit on something that was brought up at a rheem school on duct fans. Duct fans can slow the air down if the Cubic feet per minute is above the cubic feet per minute of the duct fan. It will act as a block to any air flowing above the rating of the fan's C.F.M. rating.
if you need 200 CFM for the duct size and you get a fan rated for 150 CFM . the air flow will only be 150 CFM and block the other 50 CFM that should have flowed through it.
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