Hi All,
I have a 42 year old bungalow in Southern Ontario with a finished basement (though the basement was most likely unfinished when the house was originally built). The warm air ducts on the main floor are all located at floor level around the outer edges of the house, under every window. In the basement however, the ducts are in the ceiling and located in the centre of each room. Each floor has return ducts located at floor level near the centre of the house.
I'm wondering why the basement ducts are located in the centre of each room and not the outer edges, like the main floor. Is it because they're in the basement? in the ceiling? was it just simpler/cheaper to do it this way? It seems to me that placing them in the centre robs the outer half of the room from some warm air flow since the warm air would enter the centre of the room and immediately flow towards the return air ducts in the centre of the house.
Where possible, I'd like to move the basement ducts from the center of the room to the outer edges. I'm hoping this will help mitigate some cold spots that seem to exist near the outer edges of the basement. Before doing so I'd like to hear if anyone knows any reason not to do this. I'm worried that they were placed in the centre for a reason and don't want to find out the hard way why.
For example, the outer basement walls are uninsulated, and covered with panelling. Would placing the heating ducts closer to the outer walls increase the likelyhood of warm air condensing on the cold walls in the winter?
Thanks in advance for your help.