Poor heat in new construction house

[sharhart]

I bought a new construction home and this is my second winter in the house. It was cold last winter but not too bad because we kept the house warmer than normla because we had a newborn. this year we decided to keep it at 68 degrees and it is freezing!

Here's the problems I found. Maybe someone can offer some advice.

1. Windows are drafty. I put plastic on some of them but they have sills on the bottom that don't allow a tight fit when the plastic stretches over them. The plastic pulls off the corners on the bottom so it is not a tight fit.

1. Some outlets on outside walls are drafty. I installed the rubber mats that fit behind the faceplate but I still get a small draft where the switch pokes through the plate.

2. Exterior doors are drafty in the corners. I put weather stripping in the areas where it was needed. Still small drafts in places but much better than it was before I weather stripped it.

1. The air from the furnace doesn't seem to reach the rooms at the end of the line too well. My daughter's room is o the second floor directly above the basement furnace. Her room is nice and warm. Our bedroom is on the other sid eof the house and it is freezing. My wife wears sweats and runs a posrtable heater to sleep. I wish I knew about furnaces to give the specs. Maybe the furnace is too small for the house? Also, I accidentally turned the draft knob one day and don't know where it should be set for the draft control. Could this be the problem? How do I know where to put it?

2. Bathroom fan vents are drafty. I may have to go up in the attic and splice in a bathroom exhaust fan draft blocker, but how do I access the one in the first floor ceiling? That one is the worst. Woudl I have to cut through the floor above it?

If I have someone come in to service my furnace, will they be able to help determine the cause of my heat issues?

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[jamesgangnc]

Is the draft worse when the heater is running? A leak somewhere in the flex lines outside the conditioned space can cause a vacuum condition inside the house, drawing outside air in.

Most units are installed with adjustable vanes on many of the vent lines running to the various rooms. These can be used to restrict the flow to the closer rooms and should be wide open for the farther away rooms.

You probably ought to call the guys that installed it. There is likely a new home warrenty that is still in effect.

You can use the adhesive backed foam on the top and bottom of the windows.

The unit is probably not too small if it was able to keep the house warm last year with a higher thermostat setting.

[Bubba]

It sounds like you certainlly got your moneys' worth with that builder. Isnt the lowest bidder just great! Bubba

[geothermaljones]

Has anyone changed the filter? Disposable filters should be changed monthly, with every utility bill. Have the installing contractor show you a copy of the Manual J load calcs...

goodluck geothermaljones

[ATJaguarX]

I had a similar problem. The duct feeding our master bedroom is on top of the furnace and heats our room to extreme temps. Since I have another vent in our room that is further down the trunk line as well as one in our master and 2 in our bathroom, I closed the damper on the duct feeding that main line. I have a similiar problem in regards to a newborn. My child is 6 months old and the line that feeds her room is at the farthest end of the trunk line. I wound up closing alot of the vent's dampers 1/2 way to force more air into her room. Before I did that, I found that her room (on really cold days) was 5 degrees colder then the main living area (she has two outside walls and a large window).

Maybe others can recommend what I did, but I have concern that I might be hurting my HVAC system by having too much of the dampers closed (I have my own post on this forum regarding this).