Need advise: Two rooms not getting any heat from air ducts

[Goadude]

Hi all:

I recently bought a 3 storey house + basement house. I have a gas furnace in the basement for heating. On the third floor of the house there are 4 air ducts which have hot air blowing with a good flow from them. There is a room below this one on the second floor where there is a air duct but no air is coming from it at all. Howeve in the other rooms on the second floor the air s coing with a good flow from all the vents. Similarly there is a kitchen on the first floor and there is one vent directly below the room on the second floor where there is an air duct but there is no air coming from the air vent. However there are other vents on the first floor where the air is coming in properly from the air vents.

I noticed that on the second floor, in one of the ducts (which works) there is a string attached to something down in the duct.

My questions are: (1) What could be the reson that there is no air coming from the one vent on the second floor and also from the vent directly beneath it on the first floor? Is it possible that the previous owners from whom I bought the house installed the ducts but never connected the ducts to some main air pipe?

(2) What is that string in the duct used for?

(3) Who do I call to fix this? A general contractor or a furnace guy or ???

Thanks, Goadude

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Have you removed the grill and looked into that duct with a flashlight to see what the string might be attached to? You might also need a mirror if you can't get your head in there. Be sure to use one of those thingies that keeps your glasses from falling off. :-)

[Proctologically Violated©®]

In my ducts, there are 3 ways to close them off

1. Dampers in main lines, which would shut off more than a few vents.
2. A damper just below the vent. gotta unscrew the grill, louvers assembly, stick your hand down the duct, and look for a lip, pivot or some kind of diverter in the duct, and move it to open or close the duct. Or in between. If you have central A/C added on, you will have to do this each season! a pita.
3. The louver, behind the grill.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, That string may be attached to a damper. Can you pull or realease it? If it's indeed damper and it's closed, that may be the reason there is no hot air flow in that room. I have such a set up. When one room furthest from furnace is not getting eonough hot air, I can adjust damper to increase or decrease air going to that room.

[Goadude]

Thanks for your replies folks. I pulled the string (and tied it to a screw so it remains pulled) and it seems to make no difference to the air flow from any vent!!! Whats surprising is that there is an air vent on the second floor in a bathroom adjacent to this room that not getting any heat, and the air vent in that bathroom has a strong and good air flow from the heat duct!!!

Who do I call for such probelms? A general contractor or a furnace person?

Thanks, Goadude

Show quoted text -

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Heating contractor. Speak to a few friends or neighbors first, for recommendations. Some of these companies are hideous. Others are terrific. You want to find a terrific one and stick with them for a long time.

[trader4]

Also, as was suggested, a flashlight and mirror can go a long way to figuring it out yourself. You want to try to trace the vertical duct runs and see where they go from top to basement. Figure out which vents have air, which don't and how they are interconnected. Have you checked all the ducts in the basement to make sure they are connected? It's very common for them to have joints covered with duct tape, that deteriorates and then they come apart. For repair, use the aluminum tape. Also, it's not unusual to find a vent that was never connected at all during the install.

[N8N]

This may sound stupid, but is it possible that the vents in question are actually returns?

nate

[Proctologically Violated©®]

Mebbe run an electricians wire down, and see if sumpn is blocked??

[scott21230]

I was also thinking the same thing. Also, if the houses in your neighborhood were all built at the same time, buy the same builder, and are essentially the same, it might help to ask around.

[Goadude]

Thanks for your help folks. I got a handyman to come a take a look at the duct issues, and we found that (a) the second floor bedroom and the kitchen vents were connected to a pipe, but that pipe was capped and was not connected to any hot air feed!! (b) the string in the duct pipe did nothing since that particular heat pipe was open and was not connected to any source (c) the furnace for some reason had a face plate removed from one of the openings coming out of it which was open and therefore was losing a lot heated air which also resulted in less pressure from the working vents. The home inspector I had engaged befroe buying the house should have caught these things....well he didnt. Thankfully these are not too big issues and can be fixed.

Goadude

was suggested, a flashlight and mirror can go a long way to

[Tekkie®]

Goadude posted for all of us...

Asked and answered MANY times - do your own research.