I have a room that never seems to get enough heat or AC. I have a split level. The furnace is below the family room and the cold/hot room is above the family room. You'd think that'd be a short-ish run of duct work but it does bend a couple of times. I'm thinking of putting a booster fan like
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Do they work? Any comments on the brand or model I should be aware of? I'd rather walk into my h/w store or home center and go home with one but I can't find one locally. Is that to be expected or have I just looked in the wrong places?
On 6/26/2009 9:12 AM Christopher Nelson spake thus:
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in. Do they work? Any comments on the brand or model I should be
Sounds like almost the exact problem one of my clients has: a room far away from the furnace that doesn't get enough heat.
I was suggesting that they look into installing a booster fan in the duct to that room, until I ran into a guy who seemed quite knowledgable about these kinds of heating problems. After a long discussion, I came to understand that while a booster fan *might* work, there are other things that need to be considered:
o The duct itself may be part of the problem. The typical corrugated type of duct can impede airflow; replacing it with duct that is smooth internally can help, as well as eliminating unnecessary bends.
o The overall configuration of the furnace and ductwork is important. Any furnace has a limit to how much air it can move, so the question is whether the ducts, plenums and return vents are properly sized. If they're not, that can contribute to the problem.
Unfortunately, in my case this puts this problem outside of my area of expertise; my clients need to talk to a competent HVAC person to get better answers. You might want to as well.
You probably have some poorly balanced and improperly routed/ fabricated ductwork. Although a duct fan might help, in the long run if you get the system modified by knowledgeable professionals it will work the way it should and by working right it will save you $$, maybe even enough to pay for the rework in a few years. You might be missing essentials like cold air returns, etc. Whatever you decide, good luck. There are a lot of HVAC hacks out there.
I have the same problem. One room is 2 degrees hotter or colder than the rest of the house. I got a quote for $ 550 to run 30 feet of larger ducts from the furnace. Don't know about a duct fan. Could imagine that it is somewhat noisy right in the duct. Of course, you would have to run a 120 Volt Cable from the furnace blower to the fan, wired in parallel, unless you want the fan on all the time.
I am lazy and decided to live with it. My parents had to contend with more than 2 degrees temp differential. The Cro Magnon Men had even bigger problems (drafty caves).
Our house had one (installed by previous owner) that I just recently removed. Terribly noisy. That room sounded like the furnace blower was in the room with you. We have noticed no temperature difference since removing it.
my house if very old i can only fit a 9 inch duct upstairs, in the summer t emps would never go under 76 77 degrees i talked to 4 hvac specialist they all said it would cost over 4000 dollars to fix the issue. well i decided t o try something a little different i used a 10 centrifugal fan pumping 1100 cfm used an ribu1c which is just a relay powered of the thermaustat and jus t like that problem fixed my temps now hover at 68 plus the fan is whisper quiet. dont listen to these hvac people all they wanna sell you is an expen sive piece of tin metal, my setup has been running for 2 years now no issue s and also have installed it on 4 friends systems with no issues
temps would never go under 76 77 degrees i talked to 4 hvac specialist the y all said it would cost over 4000 dollars to fix the issue. well i decided to try something a little different i used a 10 centrifugal fan pumping 11
00cfm used an ribu1c which is just a relay powered of the thermaustat and j ust like that problem fixed my temps now hover at 68 plus the fan is whispe r quiet. dont listen to these hvac people all they wanna sell you is an exp ensive piece of tin metal, my setup has been running for 2 years now no iss ues and also have installed it on 4 friends systems with no issues
Do you have a link to the blower you added? There are various types. I added one of the squirrel cage ones where you cut a hole in the bottom of a rectangular duct. I thought it helped, but years later I bought one of the air flow measurement instruments and measured the air flow with it on and off and there was virtually no difference. I think it may depend on what kind of blower you install.
er temps would never go under 76 77 degrees i talked to 4 hvac specialist t hey all said it would cost over 4000 dollars to fix the issue. well i decid ed to try something a little different i used a 10 centrifugal fan pumping
1100cfm used an ribu1c which is just a relay powered of the thermaustat and just like that problem fixed my temps now hover at 68 plus the fan is whis per quiet. dont listen to these hvac people all they wanna sell you is an e xpensive piece of tin metal, my setup has been running for 2 years now no i ssues and also have installed it on 4 friends systems with no issues
Here's some links to some duct booster fans sold at Home Depot:
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DB6GTP/202797339
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DB208/100080191
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2797334
If you have an account at Grainger, they also sell duct booster fans:
mmer temps would never go under 76 77 degrees i talked to 4 hvac specialist they all said it would cost over 4000 dollars to fix the issue. well i dec ided to try something a little different i used a 10 centrifugal fan pumpin g 1100cfm used an ribu1c which is just a relay powered of the thermaustat a nd just like that problem fixed my temps now hover at 68 plus the fan is wh isper quiet. dont listen to these hvac people all they wanna sell you is an expensive piece of tin metal, my setup has been running for 2 years now no issues and also have installed it on 4 friends systems with no issues
r-DB6GTP/202797339
n-DB208/100080191
That last one is the type I installed. Per my airflow readings, it didn't do anything. IDK about the other type, but this squirrel cage is useless.
er temps would never go under 76 77 degrees i talked to 4 hvac specialist t hey all said it would cost over 4000 dollars to fix the issue. well i decid ed to try something a little different i used a 10 centrifugal fan pumping
1100cfm used an ribu1c which is just a relay powered of the thermaustat and just like that problem fixed my temps now hover at 68 plus the fan is whis per quiet. dont listen to these hvac people all they wanna sell you is an e xpensive piece of tin metal, my setup has been running for 2 years now no i ssues and also have installed it on 4 friends systems with no issues
That's a good point. If the insulation is inadequate, that could be a big factor. Adequate venting helps too.
OP didnt' say what the $4K solution from the hVAC contractos was. One big thing is that frequently there aren't enough return ducts upstairs. Adding some could make a big difference. But depending on contruction, sometimes that is impossible or close to it. Sometimes you could DIY if you have some basic skills and can figure out a path.
Sad thing is that this stuff isn't rocket science and if you do it correctly before the house is built, it shouldn't wind up screwed up. But sadly there are plenty of cases where it does. Another solution might be a mini-split if it's just one or two rooms upstairs that are a problem.
I was born in January and my mother thought my bedroom was too cold, so they had a booster fan put in the duct to my room. My mother was always happy she did so. She's also the type who would have used a thermometer to decide it was too cold and again after the fan went in.
I plan to go back to my home town next year. I could ask the current owners what kind of fan it is. I'ts only been 66 years.
Where were you taking the airflow readings?? If it was down in the ducts near the main fan I would not expect you would see much difference with or without the booster. The booster isn't to make the system move more air, it's to case the way the air gets distributed to change so more comes out where you put the booster in. Less will come out somewhere else but at least you will have a more even distribution so the whole house gets to the same temp instead of one part too hot/cool.
My son put one in a loooong run from the furnace to the most distant room. It boosted the airflow at the register in that room and balanced the temps very well.
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