Heating Problem

[Peter H]

I hope someone from this excellent group can assist me with this problem. W= e have a cold room on the second floor of our house. We have a forced air, = natural gas heating system and there is only one vent in the room. There se= ems to be very little airflow through the vent. I've checked down the duct = to see if there is any restriction and there doesn't seem to be any problem= . I suspect that the duct is separated somewhere between the furnace and th= e supply vent... The problem is that the vent is inside the ceiling and wal= ls for it's entire run.

My question is: what would be the easiest way to inspect this duct. It has = at least 2 or 3 offsets in it before it makes it's way back to the furnace = so I can't just lower a camera in there.

Thanks for all replies.

Peter H

[clare]

have a cold room on the second floor of our house. We have a forced air, natural gas heating system and there is only one vent in the room. There seems to be very little airflow through the vent. I've checked down the duct to see if there is any restriction and there doesn't seem to be any problem. I suspect that the duct is separated somewhere between the furnace and the supply vent... The problem is that the vent is inside the ceiling and walls for it's entire run.

least 2 or 3 offsets in it before it makes it's way back to the furnace so I can't just lower a camera in there.

You are pretty well going to have to check from both ends with a camera to see how much is definitely good, and locate where the ofsets are that are likely to have opened up, then drill the wall to insert a camera and look at the joints. You can see a lot through a half inch hole with the new flexible inspection cameras. If it is separated you are going to have to open it up to fix it.

[EXT]

If it is separates somewhere, you should feel a hot spot on the wall/ceiling where it has pulled apart. I should imagine that with 2 or 3 offsets that the pipe is too small for the bends and length, restricting the airflow. If this is over a garage or unheated crawl space, that would add to the loss of heat and may require some remedial foam insulation to embed the pipe once the size and bends are corrected.

[Tony Hwang]

have a cold room on the second floor of our house. We have a forced air, natural gas heating system and there is only one vent in the room. There seems to be very little airflow through the vent. I've checked down the duct to see if there is any restriction and there doesn't seem to be any problem. I suspect that the duct is separated somewhere between the furnace and the supply vent... The problem is that the vent is inside the ceiling and walls for it's entire run.

least 2 or 3 offsets in it before it makes it's way back to the furnace so I can't just lower a camera in there.

Hi, Is it a problem happened lately or was the room ever adequately warm? Leaking air is possibility but also air circulates. Where is the closest return air duct opening? If you do think hot air is leaking somewhere along the duct run, IR thermometer or/and amplified stethoscope may help pin point the spot.

[clare]

You MIGHT find the separation with an infrared thermometer.

[nestork]

Peter:

You could try an infrared inspection.

If warm air is being blown into the ceiling joist space at a separation in the duct, an infrared inspection will show the area of the ceiling that's the warmest, and that would logically be closest to the separation in the duct.

Also, air flow through ducting is highly dependant on how much air flow resistance the duct offers. The warmest ducts will be those with the greatest amount of warm air flowing through them. An infrared inspection camera will show whether there's any air flow at the UPSTREAM end of the duct. It could be that the length of the duct combinded with it's size and offsets provides too much resistance to air flow, so there's little air even entering the duct. You might need to add a booster fan to that duct.

[trader4]

He could probably rent an inspection camera from a tool rental shop. Or perhaps make one from a cheap camera from Ebay that can be hooked up to a notebook PC, attached to a snake.

Is the cold room over an unheated garage? That is often the case. Often it's not disconnected, just a poor design, too long a run, too many turns, too small a duct, etc. And unfortunately very ofter very difficult or nearly impossible to fix.

[Stormin Mormon]

Check the smple answers, first.

1) is the damper open? 2) Do you have enough return air?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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My question is: what would be the easiest way to inspect this duct. It has at least 2 or 3 offsets in it before it makes it's way back to the furnace so I can't just lower a camera in there.

Thanks for all replies.

Peter H

[HeyBub]

Here's an answer to a question you didn't ask: Add a space heater to the room.

[Existential Angst]

Short of infrared, you could try to FEEL the wall, by hand, for warm spots in the walls/ceiling. This might give an indication of where the problem begins, if separation/leakage is the problem. Toward that end, some people's hands are more sensitive than others, depending on how dry, calloused, weather-worn a pair of hands are. Kids/the wife might have better hands for this.

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

I'd invest in an infrared thermometer for that game.

$35-- you can spend more if you like- but they sure look like the good one I acquired 10 years ago]

Mine doesn't get used often-- but when it does, it is indispensable.

amen on that- It would take 10 degrees for me to feel a difference. The thermometer will pick up a tenth of a degree.

A candle and/or incense in the center of the room might show you if there were drafts, too.

Jim