Adding a return air vent and other HVAC questions

[stryped1]

I have a single floor house plan. It was built around 1998. I have the same ac/furnace that was installed when we built the house. The unit is under t he house in a crawl space. The unit is on one end of the house with a 16 in ch main line that travels down the center from the unit to the opposite end of the house. 6 inch flexible duct branches from this trunk line to the va rious rooms. I believe my unit is either 3 or 3.5 tons. The return is a 16 inch flexible duct that goes from the unit to a 20x25 filter grill at the e nd of a hallway. (In the attachment, it shows the unit in a closet at the e nd of the hall. Like I said, my unit is under the house but this return gri ll is exactly where this closet is located on the blueprints).

I have torn ducts under my house due to cats that have gotten under there. I am in the process of replacing the 6 inch flex with 6 inch metal and insu lating the metal. I am also going to replace the 16 inch flex return with m etal.

The system seems to work ok when cooling in summer, however in the winter, the living room, which is at the opposite end of the house that my furnace is at, is always colder than the other end of the house. While I am doing a ll this work replacing ducts, I wondered if installing a second small retur n in my living room would help. The idea would be to pull the hot air risin g toward the celling to the floor. In my living room, there is a set of sta irs that goes to the bonus room. Sometimes, If I bring a kerosene heater to the living room in winter, I can tell the heat is going to the top of thes e stairs as it is much, much warner in that area.

Just wondered what your thoughts are on a second return and if this would h elp my problem.

Thanks,

[stryped1]

me ac/furnace that was installed when we built the house. The unit is under the house in a crawl space. The unit is on one end of the house with a 16 inch main line that travels down the center from the unit to the opposite e nd of the house. 6 inch flexible duct branches from this trunk line to the various rooms. I believe my unit is either 3 or 3.5 tons. The return is a 1

6 inch flexible duct that goes from the unit to a 20x25 filter grill at the end of a hallway. (In the attachment, it shows the unit in a closet at the end of the hall. Like I said, my unit is under the house but this return g rill is exactly where this closet is located on the blueprints).

. I am in the process of replacing the 6 inch flex with 6 inch metal and in sulating the metal. I am also going to replace the 16 inch flex return with metal.

, the living room, which is at the opposite end of the house that my furnac e is at, is always colder than the other end of the house. While I am doing all this work replacing ducts, I wondered if installing a second small ret urn in my living room would help. The idea would be to pull the hot air ris ing toward the celling to the floor. In my living room, there is a set of s tairs that goes to the bonus room. Sometimes, If I bring a kerosene heater to the living room in winter, I can tell the heat is going to the top of th ese stairs as it is much, much warner in that area.

help my problem.

Sorry, here is the link to my house layout:

[DerbyDad03]

me ac/furnace that was installed when we built the house. The unit is under the house in a crawl space. The unit is on one end of the house with a 16 inch main line that travels down the center from the unit to the opposite e nd of the house. 6 inch flexible duct branches from this trunk line to the various rooms. I believe my unit is either 3 or 3.5 tons. The return is a 1

6 inch flexible duct that goes from the unit to a 20x25 filter grill at the end of a hallway. (In the attachment, it shows the unit in a closet at the end of the hall. Like I said, my unit is under the house but this return g rill is exactly where this closet is located on the blueprints).

. I am in the process of replacing the 6 inch flex with 6 inch metal and in sulating the metal. I am also going to replace the 16 inch flex return with metal.

, the living room, which is at the opposite end of the house that my furnac e is at, is always colder than the other end of the house. While I am doing all this work replacing ducts, I wondered if installing a second small ret urn in my living room would help. The idea would be to pull the hot air ris ing toward the celling to the floor. In my living room, there is a set of s tairs that goes to the bonus room. Sometimes, If I bring a kerosene heater to the living room in winter, I can tell the heat is going to the top of th ese stairs as it is much, much warner in that area.

help my problem.

re: "In the attachment,..."

This is usenet. You can't "attach" anything. You can post an image or file at a publicly accessible website and post the link back here. Some will fol low the link, others won't trust it.

re: "I have a single floor house plan" and "In my living room, there is a set of stairs that goes to the bonus room."

It sounds like somebody didn't follow the plan.

[trader_4]

me ac/furnace that was installed when we built the house. The unit is under the house in a crawl space. The unit is on one end of the house with a 16 inch main line that travels down the center from the unit to the opposite e nd of the house. 6 inch flexible duct branches from this trunk line to the various rooms. I believe my unit is either 3 or 3.5 tons. The return is a 1

6 inch flexible duct that goes from the unit to a 20x25 filter grill at the end of a hallway. (In the attachment, it shows the unit in a closet at the end of the hall. Like I said, my unit is under the house but this return g rill is exactly where this closet is located on the blueprints).

. I am in the process of replacing the 6 inch flex with 6 inch metal and in sulating the metal. I am also going to replace the 16 inch flex return with metal.

, the living room, which is at the opposite end of the house that my furnac e is at, is always colder than the other end of the house. While I am doing all this work replacing ducts, I wondered if installing a second small ret urn in my living room would help. The idea would be to pull the hot air ris ing toward the celling to the floor. In my living room, there is a set of s tairs that goes to the bonus room. Sometimes, If I bring a kerosene heater to the living room in winter, I can tell the heat is going to the top of th ese stairs as it is much, much warner in that area.

help my problem.

Adding a return to the LR might help, but it won't be because it will pull heated air down from the ceiling. If it helps it would be by moving more warmer air from the rest of the house into the LR. If the existing return is centrally located and of adequate size, a better idea might be adding an additional heat/cool register to the LR. Have you checked that there is decent airflow from the existing registers? You can also close off or partially close off registers in other parts to balance it out. Just don't close off too many or you could have problems.

[DerbyDad03]

me ac/furnace that was installed when we built the house. The unit is under the house in a crawl space. The unit is on one end of the house with a 16 inch main line that travels down the center from the unit to the opposite e nd of the house. 6 inch flexible duct branches from this trunk line to the various rooms. I believe my unit is either 3 or 3.5 tons. The return is a 1

6 inch flexible duct that goes from the unit to a 20x25 filter grill at the end of a hallway. (In the attachment, it shows the unit in a closet at the end of the hall. Like I said, my unit is under the house but this return g rill is exactly where this closet is located on the blueprints).

. I am in the process of replacing the 6 inch flex with 6 inch metal and in sulating the metal. I am also going to replace the 16 inch flex return with metal.

, the living room, which is at the opposite end of the house that my furnac e is at, is always colder than the other end of the house. While I am doing all this work replacing ducts, I wondered if installing a second small ret urn in my living room would help. The idea would be to pull the hot air ris ing toward the celling to the floor. In my living room, there is a set of s tairs that goes to the bonus room. Sometimes, If I bring a kerosene heater to the living room in winter, I can tell the heat is going to the top of th ese stairs as it is much, much warner in that area.

help my problem.

My brother once lived in a first floor apartment that was built on a slab. The registers and returns were both at the top of the wall.

Read: Ridiculously inefficient during the heating system.

He built low profile ducts with slow moving fans at the bottom to draw the heat down from the registers to the floor. For the returns, he left out the fans and just let the system's fan draw the air from the floor back up to the returns. (There was no AC to deal with)

There was a significant reduction in his heating costs and the rooms were much more comfortable once the ducts were added.

[DerbyDad03]

same ac/furnace that was installed when we built the house. The unit is und er the house in a crawl space. The unit is on one end of the house with a 1

6 inch main line that travels down the center from the unit to the opposite end of the house. 6 inch flexible duct branches from this trunk line to th e various rooms. I believe my unit is either 3 or 3.5 tons. The return is a 16 inch flexible duct that goes from the unit to a 20x25 filter grill at t he end of a hallway. (In the attachment, it shows the unit in a closet at t he end of the hall. Like I said, my unit is under the house but this return grill is exactly where this closet is located on the blueprints).

re. I am in the process of replacing the 6 inch flex with 6 inch metal and insulating the metal. I am also going to replace the 16 inch flex return wi th metal.

er, the living room, which is at the opposite end of the house that my furn ace is at, is always colder than the other end of the house. While I am doi ng all this work replacing ducts, I wondered if installing a second small r eturn in my living room would help. The idea would be to pull the hot air r ising toward the celling to the floor. In my living room, there is a set of stairs that goes to the bonus room. Sometimes, If I bring a kerosene heate r to the living room in winter, I can tell the heat is going to the top of these stairs as it is much, much warner in that area.

ld help my problem.

Sorry, I hit "send" too soon.

What I am getting at it is that instead of messing with the system itself, why not consider a duct from the ceiling to the floor to draw the warm air down . This duct could be external (i.e. *on* the wall, like my brother did since he was renting) or in the wall to hide it. A temporary external duct would tell you if it helped at all.

[stryped1]

All of my supply vents are already in the floor.....

[Rick O'Shea]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

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On 07/11/2016 08:46 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote: This is usenet. You can't "attach" anything. Real usenet servers do.

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[DerbyDad03]

Please see the comments I added afterwards.

You can still use the duct work to draw heated air down to the floor.

[lawrence.jamesnc]

me ac/furnace that was installed when we built the house. The unit is under the house in a crawl space. The unit is on one end of the house with a 16 inch main line that travels down the center from the unit to the opposite e nd of the house. 6 inch flexible duct branches from this trunk line to the various rooms. I believe my unit is either 3 or 3.5 tons. The return is a 1

6 inch flexible duct that goes from the unit to a 20x25 filter grill at the end of a hallway. (In the attachment, it shows the unit in a closet at the end of the hall. Like I said, my unit is under the house but this return g rill is exactly where this closet is located on the blueprints).

. I am in the process of replacing the 6 inch flex with 6 inch metal and in sulating the metal. I am also going to replace the 16 inch flex return with metal.

, the living room, which is at the opposite end of the house that my furnac e is at, is always colder than the other end of the house. While I am doing all this work replacing ducts, I wondered if installing a second small ret urn in my living room would help. The idea would be to pull the hot air ris ing toward the celling to the floor. In my living room, there is a set of s tairs that goes to the bonus room. Sometimes, If I bring a kerosene heater to the living room in winter, I can tell the heat is going to the top of th ese stairs as it is much, much warner in that area.

help my problem.

Possibly a little. You might also consider 8" lines to that end of the hou se. And adding an additional supply if there is only one.

[Micky]

What were the original ducts made of, that cats could rip them?

Isn't an indoor kerosene heater a potential killer, and I don't mean that metaphorically? Carbon monoxide, you know. They all make it, it's just a question of how long and how much, and once you're asleep, you won't be able to answer that.

[DerbyDad03]

First, if you are concerned with carbon monoxide exposure then you should have very loud CO detectors installed wherever you think the potential for exposure exists.

Second, indoor kerosene heaters are common and considered safe when used and maintained properly.

Stolen without permission from:

"Although kerosene heaters are very efficient while burning fuel to produce heat, low levels of certain pollutants, such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide, are produced. Exposure to low levels of these pollutants may be harmful, especially to individuals with chronic respiratory or circulatory health problems. To ensure that you and family members are not exposed to significant levels of these pollutants, you should follow carefully the following rules of safe operation:

o Operate your heater in a room with a door open to the rest of the house.

o Open an outside window approximately one inch to permit fresh air to effectively dilute the pollutants:

- if you must operate your heater in a room with the door closed to the rest of the house, or

- if your home is relatively new and tight, or older but has been winterized to reduce air infiltration from the outside."

Based on that document, it appears that with minimal effort, you can safely use a kerosene heater indoors.

[trader_4]

Portable ones are widely used on job sites and such, and I don't recall them killing anyone. Last few killed or sickened around here that I recall were from running generators indoors or a blocked furnace flue. I suppose if you're dumb enough you can manage to kill yourself though.

[Stormin Mormon]

Should help. Totally makes common sense.

[Micky]

What if you're not concerned about it?

(more below)

You know, I think if I had posted that they were safe, you would have posted all about the risks. That someone might not know or might forget to open a window or a door to the rest of the house. That there are people who don't know they need to make any effort, or who for some reason don't make it. That's what I think you would have posted if I had said they were safe.

[DerbyDad03]

Then you are ignorant i.e. uninformed (that's OK, as long as you are teachable) or you are an idiot i.e. informed but not concerned (that's not so OK, unless you are the only one that gets exposed).

(more below)

Your thinking is incorrect.

I think they are safe, I have used them, I would use them again.

If I was concerned about the use of a kerosene heater indoors, I would have responded to the OP (as you have) with my concerns. Since it appears that you are the one with the concerns, I responded to you.

[bob haller]

see a HVAC contractor. the

the most effective fix mightbe to relocate the furnace and AC tyo the middle of the home.

the existing furnace is near 20 years old. anew furnace will likely be more efficent. and the costs wouldnt be toobad since your already replacing the ductwork

[Jon Smyth]

If cats can get in your crawl space, so can cold air. Who the f* built your house, Alf and Ralph Monroe?

Fix the holes in your crawl space and insulate crawlspace walls.

[clare]

And use REAL ducts. Anything a cat can tear into has no business in an air hsndling system. Use galvanized steel, or nothing.