I live in an air-conditioned mobile home.
There are no return ducts. Air is returned to the furnace in the utility room.
Some rooms are quite cooler than others, so I've closed the outlets in those rooms.
Friends tell me that if you close the outlet ducts, theres a chance of freezing up the cooler coils.
Possible ??
Any rule-of-thumb for measuring/avoiding this ?
As a rule of thumb, if it freezes up then you've closed too many vents.
hvacrmedic
This is Turtle.
Years ago there was 2 rules of thumb about closing vents.
1] don't do it.2] Never close more than 1/3 the volume of air off or 1/3 of the number of vents in your home.
TURTLE
I could never understand this, when you close off unused rooms aren't you lessening the load on the system over all? In heating and air-conditioning? Or is it worse for one verses the other??
Thanks, Rich
Thats basically what I ended up doing.
I closed the vents closest to the furnace intake. Full-open the ducts furthest away.
House temps feel alot more balanced room-to-room now.
You unblance the air flow that was designed into the ductwork. Now, that said, mobile home units are different animals. What the OP needs to do, since the air handler that is in the unit is made to operate on a higher static, is to start with the ducts closest to the air handler, and almost close them, not fully, but almost. As he gets farther from the unit, (air handler) the ducts should be progressivly open till the registers at the farthest end, are open all the way. Air, being fluid, goes for the path of least resistance, and this will insure max air flow to the farther ends of the home, while still allowing for cooling and heating to take place.
Yes, you are, but the systems are designed to run at a certain capacity. If the capacity is not used, they will cycle more frequently. Is that bad? Depends. Compressors are often rated at X starts per hour.
You have to understand about load on the system. With few exceptions of some variable machines, the heater or AC compressor is either off, or it is on. The thermostat is a switch that turns it off or turns it on. There are those people that when chilly will turn the thermostat up higher thinking it will heat faster. No, it won't. When you turn on a light in a room, it is on. Pushing the switch harder does not make it brighter. Same with a heating and cooling systems. Burner on is putting out full capacity.
Shutting down dampers will change the air flow and static pressure on the blower. If it has a lot of resistance, it can actually work harder trying to overcome the blocked vents as it would just blowing and circulating the air. Just like blowing through a straw, bigger is easier. Ed
Not as a general rule, since many systems are staged.
Doesn't work that way. The blower will unload with greater static.
Just like blowing through a straw, bigger is easier.
Lower resistance with a constant applied force means more work, not less.
hvacrmedic
Not as a general rule, since many systems are staged.
Doesn't work that way. The blower will unload with greater static.
Lower resistance with a constant applied force means more work, not less.
hvacrmedic
Not as a general rule, since many systems are staged.
Doesn't work that way. The blower will unload with greater static.
Lower resistance with a constant applied force means more work, not less.
hvacrmedic
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