If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
|
Posted by RandyCorona on June 13, 2008, 9:08 am
Only CA return is at the base of the air handler, and it's in the kitchen area.
The house is on a slab, no lower level access.
Would it work to add a few passive CA vents in the bedrooms, about 30 feet away,
and route it through the attic, or just cut some vents, back to back in the wall
partitions, to aid the circulation?
At my home in Florida, we had back to back passive vents above the doorways, but
that didn't seem to work well.
Is ther an external forced air system that might help? Like a powered vent in a
wall?
|
|
Posted by dpb on June 13, 2008, 9:44 am
RandyCorona wrote:
> Only CA return is at the base of the air handler, and it's in the kitchen area.
>
> The house is on a slab, no lower level access.
>
> Would it work to add a few passive CA vents in the bedrooms, about 30 feet
away,
> and route it through the attic, or just cut some vents, back to back in the
wall
> partitions, to aid the circulation?
>
> At my home in Florida, we had back to back passive vents above the doorways,
but
> that didn't seem to work well.
>
> Is ther an external forced air system that might help? Like a powered vent in a
> wall?
None of those is very good for various reasons...
Internal passive vents have no significant pressure differential to
cause any movement and don't help recirculation much at all unless there
are areas that are essentially blocked (like bedrooms w/ doors closed,
etc.).
Exhausting cooled air to the attic may aid circulation but it will be an
energy-costing hog to simply dump cool air outside--might as well open
the windows and run the A/C at the same time.
The powered vent is even more of the same.
Only real solution likely would be to run a return plenum in the attic
for the missing returns.
--
|
|
Posted by dpb on June 13, 2008, 12:25 pm
dpb wrote:
...
> None of those is very good for various reasons...
...
Actually, one thing that might help comfort would be a few ceiling fans
strategically placed to at least do somewhat better at circulating the
air -- it won't really help the return problem, but might improve
comfort level by simply having some air moving.
--
|
|
Posted by RandyCorona on June 14, 2008, 8:35 am
>> None of those is very good for various reasons...
So your suggestion is to do nothing?
Been doing the ceiling fan thing, and while it helps the room, I know the coil
is getting the airflow it should.
Got a hot water heater and 2 walls blocking the access to the CA in the base,
but I think I will try and run a plenum into the attic and to at least a couple
of bedrooms. The living room is very near the AC and we seldom cook in the
kitchen, but you can feel the lack of circulation and even a slight odor due to
it.
|
|
Posted by dpb on June 14, 2008, 8:58 am
RandyCorona wrote:
>>> None of those is very good for various reasons...
>
> So your suggestion is to do nothing?
I'm only saying "no" completely to the venting cooled air to the outside
-- the passive vents could help some depending on the arrangement of the
house and if there are the ceiling fans to help w/ some circulation. I
still doubt they would be unlikely to be a major panacea except in very
unusual arrangements. It wouldn't take a lot of expense to find out if
wanted to experiment, however.
> Been doing the ceiling fan thing, and while it helps the room, I know the coil
> is getting the airflow it should.
Is there a "not" missing there?
> Got a hot water heater and 2 walls blocking the access to the CA in the base,
> but I think I will try and run a plenum into the attic and to at least a couple
> of bedrooms. The living room is very near the AC and we seldom cook in the
> kitchen, but you can feel the lack of circulation and even a slight odor due to
> it.
So you cook where? (Sorry, couldn't resist... :) )
It would be the sure answer to getting some return, certainly. It is,
of course, a more significant project and does have some potential
drawbacks as well.
A couple of things to consider are whether one or two returns only will
then disrupt distribution excessively from the other areas of the house
w/o specific returns and, of course, the return duct in an attic space
will want to be well insulated and tight.
Unfortunately, it's impossible to give a definitive solution w/o
actually having layout, etc. A competent HVAC guy might be useful
before jumping in too extensively.
--
|
Page 1 of 2 1 2 > last >>
| Similar Threads | Posted | | COLD AIR RETURN | March 9, 2006, 10:32 am |
| Automatic foundation vents not closing when it is cold | December 3, 2007, 9:57 pm |
| When is a Cold Air Return required | February 22, 2006, 2:26 pm |
| Cold Air Return placement | May 25, 2006, 11:29 pm |
| Opening in cold air return | April 15, 2007, 6:19 pm |
| Cold Air Return placement | May 31, 2007, 12:07 am |
| Cold air return near the ground or ceiling? | May 27, 2006, 4:12 pm |
| Worth adding cold-air return? | March 7, 2007, 12:07 am |
| Any way to take advantage of a cold air return to run a cable? | August 17, 2007, 5:24 pm |
| Return water too cold- crack the boiler? | February 22, 2006, 1:43 pm |
|
|
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap