I have a forced air system. At night I would like to be able to stop or reduce the heat pouring in to certain rooms. Our current ceiling registers can only be dampened with a screwdriver (what a dumb idea!) and that sort of precludes daily adjustment.
Years ago, I lived in a home where all the ceiling registers had pull chains. I've looked & looked & not found anything. Do any of you gurus have a source?
Thank you,
ME
The registers are not supposed to be adjusted after the initial air balancing. the system is designed to maintain a constant, even temperature throughout the house. Closing off rooms is like trying to partition off part of your refrigerator or oven that you not using. It will actually cost you more in utility bills and comfort, not to mention that it can be detrimental to the system itself. "pull chain" registers went out in the 1970s as techs and contractors learned more about building science.
I see. Well, I think I have a bit of a special case, and would like to find a source nevertheless. My home is over a hundred years old & I have several rooms that get too hot or too cold, depending on where the sun is. The folks that installed the HVAC system five years ago tried their best, I'm sure, but we've never found a way to keep all the rooms comfortable. Being able to adjust on the fly, while perhaps not the best solution, is the the only one I can come up with.
Yeah he is so full of himself
Sorry--dunno about your pull chain registers but zoned hvac system using multiple thermostats and automatic opening dampers is still alive and in fact is one of the few arena here that is still thriving, but he likes to scare people and mis-inform them by saying shit like "its against the law for me to install a used fossil appliance" and he thinks its okay to imply that it will cost more to heat only a camp trailer that's parked in a barn than it would cost for someone to heat the entire old drafty barn to the same temp.
Nut job IOW
Dumb idea? Are you high? WTF is so hard about turning a screwdriver? Are you related to stormy?
What bullshit. I close off my kid's rooms when they go off to college. I actually am so cheap, that I put cellophane under the registers.
When you go in these rooms on a cold day, you can see your breath. I've never had any issues with condensation, etc. The day before they arrive, out comes the cellophane and they're good to go.
So tell us oh brilliant one... what do you do to compensate for the system airflow issues?? or do you not care about temperature rise on your furnace??
Steve in my guitar room I place a thermometer/hygrometer in it to see how the climate was. Martin and Gibson recommend the humidity be kept between 44% and 54% Rh and temps between 72 and 78F. Needless to say the humidity was low so I bought a small room humidifier that automatically turns on and off at set point. That took care of my humidity problem. I keep the room closed off and the temp would get too high so I closed off the register and after some experiments I have everything is good. With 8 grand or more worth of instruments I want the climate right. They sure do sound better to.
Closing off one register off a six inch run isn't going to affect temp rise all. I bet you couldn't detect any difference with a thermometer.
So I agree with HVAC. Closing off one register isn't going to adversely affect anything.
Please re-read the OPs post... he is talking about multiple rooms.
So what. He just wants to close some down a little here and there. No different than closing down balancing dampers. Not all homes have balancing dampers any way. Newer ones probably do but not older ones. In reality if someone actually did a manual D you wouldn't need dampers. But they don't and usually every run in the joint is 6 inches.
If he wants to close off a few rooms I doubt that's going to make a huge difference on anything. But we don't really know because we cant see it.
What you should have told him is that pull chain registers were commonly found on old gravity furnaces and even if he found them they wouldn't fit into the ceiling boot.
I think he had already figured that out for himself, which is why he was looking for the round ones
Mikey is just disagreeing because he likes to disagree with you Steve.
Damned.. I certainly hope you are not in charge of Heatloads, Duct design or Gawd forbid, Airbalancing. I cannot blame this lunacy on Unionism. You are obviously a self made fool. I guess those warehouse personal are not as fussy as Homeowners and office person.. including Computer complexes.
Thank you all for your help.
While I would still like a temporary solution (e.g., pull-chain register), I have found, thanks to these posts, some remote-controlled dampers.
(HVAC - Regarding your "are you high" comment: My ceilings are 9' high & I am disabled, so I cannot stand on a ladder safely. Note also that adjusting would have to be done at least twice a day in some rooms.)
On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:08:25 -0600, Don Ocean left spaces for comments ):
Don I've been trained in all of that so I understand the principles enough to know there is a relative range of operation that is tolerable to both man and machine. Our job is to create a environmental harmony between man and machine. That's what we strive to do isn't it?
Do you honestly think a few 150 cfm either way that is spread out through an entire system is going to make a huge difference in equipment operation or comfort?
An on site analysis would naturally be in order before recommending anything specific but, I mean really, what are we talking here a few hundredths of extra static? Do you really think that is going to create a disharmony? Or are you just over blowing the entire subject.
Then I call that a resounding success. maybe even a break through. Congratulations I'm impressed. It's like the Mac is back or something...
Self Made, yes. But of these days you will find out that we're all fools.
Not when there are vacant.
You better be nice to me Don. I may need a job someday. If that happens I plan to move to S.D. I have a tool bag and if your not careful Ill make you hire me. :)
On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:36:15 -0600, "Steve" left spaces for comments ):
Oh I didn't realize that. Sorry.
If he was handy he could fab something up with a spring and pull chain a damper and hinge. But I guess since he cant use a screw driver that's out of the question. :)
Maybe he should hire some tin knocker to do it for him.
On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 21:01:01 -0800 (PST), snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com left spaces for comments ):
Sorry about the screw driver crack. :)
The remote controlled dampers sound ideal.
On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:05:16 -0600, Don Ocean left spaces for comments ):
I like disagreeing with Steve because he likes to disagree and disagreeable people agree with me and is why I like disagreeing with disagreeable people. Like you Don. :)
It's furnace(s). I have 2. One for each floor. But who cares about that? What I want to know is, what happened to my original post? It's gone.
On Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:36:59 -0500, "HVAC" left spaces for comments ):
Your original post is still here. I just deleted the message body and re-retrieved it so your post wasn't canceled or deleted.
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