There’s probably a more appropriate forum available for a HVAC questions, and if you know of one please let me know.
Since I’m posting here, if anyone here can answer I’d appreciate hearing from you.
We have just finished an addition to the home serving as a granny flat. The lot is irregular in 3 dimensions, the ground floor of the addition is four feet above the floor of the existing house, and the main floor is at road level – the addition is built at road level as the addition is partially built into the side of hill.
Not to make a short story long, and get to the point, the first floor of the addition is 4 to 5 degrees cooler than the top floor which is at a comfortable temperature. The heating is central – natural gas forced air furnace, duct work throughout the house, though I only see one return register near the floor in the big open room on the first level (on the first floor there’s near ceiling registers in the bathroom, bedroom ceilings, and one in the big open living room)
There’s only one thermostat – on the top floor. The first level is finished with a bedroom, bathroom, living room as the intent is to live in it. Each floor is about 900 square feet.
The contractor is telling me: too bad, that’s the way it is, no changes, that’s the way it is at his house.
This does not seem right to me, especially after the amount money paid to the contractor.
Can anything be done to make the first room more comfortable temperature wise?
Thank you in advance,
Shivering in the dark,
Rod
Replies
Rod,
If you post over in Breaktime you will undoubtedly get some good feedback from HVAC folk. I live in the south. At the moment, my shop is a wee tad toasty. Can you spare some cool air...?
Best!
-Jerry
Jerry,We're living in a NAFTA world, and will gladly swap some cool air from Canada for some warmer air. Thanks for your suggestion.Rod
Rod,
You would have to put the "unaired" areas in separate zones. This would require a theromstat or sensor in each zone. Each zone could be a room if you so desired.
You will need to have dampers installed in your ductwork to control air flow. Each damper would require a motor actuator to open and close the damper. If you used a thermostat with contacts, it could control the motor actuator. If you used sensors, they would have to have some form of controlling unit that your sensor would talk to, which in turn, would operate the motor actuator. The controlling unit (with proper design) could interface with your computer for adjustable control.
Find a good reputable HVAC contractor in your area to learn about this furthur. Tell that so called contractor you used to take a friggin hike--he's a moron.
Hope this helps.
Chris.
Thanks Chris,That makes a lot of sense to me, just did not have the background to confirm it. It's not a big place so it could have easily been built in.Regards,Rod
This is very common ('like that in my house when the AC is on). it's usually due to poorly-designed/cheap/inappropriate ductwork; e.g., the problem in our place was that the ductwork was designed for heating only, and then an AC coil was just added later.
Unfortunately, ductwork is the hardest thing to change. As others have said, maybe somebody over in Breaktime can help more.
Thanks Barry. Air conditioning was part of the contract so the design should have been incorporated in the design. Using your input and others I'll have to have some more pointed questions.Thanks again,Rod
Having had apartments that were carved out of houses, I have had experienced this problem a couple of times. First off, I would stress the importance of insulation and suggest that you insulate well. Second, if the problem is the ductwork which has been mentioned and I suppose this is the real culprit, I would look into putting in a booster fan in the duct that is not heating/cooling adequately and wire it in parallel with the furnace fan with a separate installed thermostat in the inadequately heated/cooled room. You wouldn't believe how much improvement this makes. What it does is rob the furnace or AC of when it first starts up, then when the room reaches the proper temp it will shut off that fan and allow the heat/cool to go to the parts of the house that was normally heated/cooled before. The fans are quite cheap but you must have access to the ductwork.
Thank you, that's a very creative idea.Are booster fans a standard product for HVAC?Regards,Rod
Ugh! My computer has been down for a couple days so thanks for your patience. I'm not quite sure what you mean "standard product." I don't think the HVAC installer would use them as it would be a reflection on their quality of engineering and installation but it certainly gets the job done. If you do this, be sure you wire the fan in series with the furnace fan and its own thermostat. That way it won't be running if the furnace is off or its thermostat is not calling for heat/cool. If you are using it for both heating and cooling, you will need either two thermostats or a combo heat/cool thermostat sort of like you have for the rest of the house. Would be glad to try to answer any other questions. Now they will wear out in time and probably faster than the furnace or AC.
Edited 6/3/2008 10:47 pm ET by Tinkerer3
Thanks Tinkerer, no worries.By "standard product", I was meaning to ask if booster fans are a common item used in HVAC systems (versus an off the shelf fan rigged up to make it work in the HVAC systems). The contractor implied that this is news to him and I just wanted to confirm it's a common HVAC item.Regards,Rod
Please do one thing before you listen to anything else. Call an HVAC company that can come out and conduct what is called a balance test. This test will run you a few dollars, but it will tell you what is wrong, where the problem lies and how exactly to correct it.
In my case, I needed to add a return and increase the size of the riser duct to balance out my houses system, The key word you mentioned was CENTRAL heating and air conditioning.
Thank you Unionlabel, that sounds like a really good point.Rod
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