I've been working on some more duct work. Namely the cold air return in the living room. What a total disaster that was (the previous job). I've got it sorted out, but now I'm left wondering if I have enough venting for the cold air return on my furnace. Basically, I have 13 hot air ducts (12 are 5" diameter, and one is 4"), and the only cold air return is from one 6" and one 5" duct. It seems to REALLY suck the air when the furnace is running, which makes me think that I might need another return. That's not a problem, though, since I CAN connect a second 5" duct right along side the current one (going upstairs) but I just don't know if I *SHOULD* or not. Heating systems are usually carefully calculated and balanced for every house, but I'm not entirely convinced that it was done properly in mine.
I want to get an expert in, to have a look, but the place I want to use isn't open on weekends. :(
Other than this, I haven't done much on the house lately (though the duct work job was quite messy and isn't done yet).
Dude, everything else in your house was completely screwed up by some previous owner or other - HOW CAN IT POSSIBLY BE that something as finicky as the heating system is right?
ReplyDeleteWell, the only reason I think that it might be OK is that it DOESN'T cost me much at all to heat the house (the highest bill(s) from last winter were around 106-102$/month). So as far as I can tell, the heating system works efficiently, I'm just wondering if my modification would improve it even more. I know that a bunch of the actual ducts were total hack-jobs, and that some of the original system was removed (there used to be a vent in the spare bedroom upstairs (the one that I call the Laundry room). There also used to be a vent going under where the tub is now (no longer connected).
ReplyDeleteMy house (1914 Foursquare) is still set up for the original gravity feed furnace. All of my upstairs registers and some downstairs are on the interior walls (wrong) and I only have two returns, both downstairs and on exterior walls (wrong again). So I am going to have the Manual D calculations done and run all new ductwork throughout the house (hopefully with minimal removing of plaster). I have an oversized furnace, which doesn't help. Last year I had one month's gas bill cost me $520. And at that I was still freezing all the time. I need to redo everything and get a new furnace and some attic insulation.
ReplyDelete