# Upstairs...HOT in summer, cold in winter



## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

No insulation, leaking windows, poor duct design to begin with. Can be a number of factors why the house is not working with the hvac system as it should.


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## Dooggins1 (Oct 16, 2011)

gregzoll said:


> No insulation, leaking windows, poor duct design to begin with. Can be a number of factors why the house is not working with the hvac system as it should.


Well if you put your hand in front of the vent when the heat or air is coming out it is a dramatic difference from upstairs and downstairs. You can hardly feel it upstairs.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

Dooggins1 said:


> Well if you put your hand in front of the vent when the heat or air is coming out it is a dramatic difference from upstairs and downstairs. You can hardly feel it upstairs.


That does not mean anything. If you can not feel it upstairs, you need to contact a hvac company or tech to come and look at the system to find out why. If anything, you may be better off placing a system on the second floor, just to serve that space.


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## Doc Holliday (Mar 12, 2011)

Where's the inside furnace located, basement? Hard pipe or flex?

Take pics.


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## Dooggins1 (Oct 16, 2011)

Doc Holliday said:


> Where's the inside furnace located, basement? Hard pipe or flex?
> 
> Take pics.


It is located in the attic and the duct work is the round flex type. I'll try to get some pics in a min.


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## biggles (Jan 1, 2008)

starve the 1st floor and make the second as the first floor was. with adjustments seal the discharge fles any place it is leaking..check the discharge duct on the furnace 360 all the way around it....take it you have ceiling return up on the second back to the furnace in the attic.the air should be the most closest o the furnace you have it backwards the duct dampers are starving the 2nd flr..where is the stat


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## jkv (Oct 23, 2011)

Sounds like you need to have the flex replaced they cause restrictions in the air flow. If you run the blower in the "on" position that will help with the air circulation and make sure any and all filters/coils is clean and do you know how many CFMs you are moving and the size of the unit? you should be moving 400 CFM per ton.


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## biggles (Jan 1, 2008)

do you have a return grill on the first floor that rises up into the attic or are the stairs the return


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## Joeychgo (Apr 26, 2008)

I have the same problem to only 1 room upstairs. It has 1 duct fed by a flex line and it gets minimal air flow. Changing that would be expensive due to tearing out walls, etc...

Do you think a duct booster fan would help?


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## biggles (Jan 1, 2008)

JOE......did you try to cheat down on the other supplies that are doing bigtime air...the unit only puts out a certain CFM it might be to difussed to make it to that one room if its at the end of the supply run forget it...might want to retap it nearer the air handler so you don't need to ripe a wall and are all the connection tight with no air leakage


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## Dooggins1 (Oct 16, 2011)

jkv said:


> Sounds like you need to have the flex replaced they cause restrictions in the air flow. If you run the blower in the "on" position that will help with the air circulation and make sure any and all filters/coils is clean and do you know how many CFMs you are moving and the size of the unit? you should be moving 400 CFM per ton.


I'll check on the unit size but how do I check the CFM's?


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## Dooggins1 (Oct 16, 2011)

biggles said:


> do you have a return grill on the first floor that rises up into the attic or are the stairs the return


Yes I do have one on the first and the second floor.


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## jkv (Oct 23, 2011)

You will need a manometer to check the CFMs you should be able to rent one. look on you model # for the size, if you dont know post the number and we will tell you the size.


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## Dooggins1 (Oct 16, 2011)

jkv said:


> You will need a manometer to check the CFMs you should be able to rent one. look on you model # for the size, if you dont know post the number and we will tell you the size.


This is the model number.


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## Dooggins1 (Oct 16, 2011)

Dooggins1 said:


> This is the model number.


Sorry this is a better picture.


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## Dooggins1 (Oct 16, 2011)

jkv said:


> You will need a manometer to check the CFMs you should be able to rent one. look on you model # for the size, if you dont know post the number and we will tell you the size.


This is a better pic.


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## Dooggins1 (Oct 16, 2011)

biggles said:


> starve the 1st floor and make the second as the first floor was. with adjustments seal the discharge fles any place it is leaking..check the discharge duct on the furnace 360 all the way around it....take it you have ceiling return up on the second back to the furnace in the attic.the air should be the most closest o the furnace you have it backwards the duct dampers are starving the 2nd flr..where is the stat


I seen no dampeners on any of the discharge ducts. 

These are some pics of my furnace. I'm guessing the two big ducts coming out of the top are the returns but I'm not sure. I really don't know much about hvac but I now a lot about welding if anyone had any questions about that.

Also the last pic is where one of the ducts coming off of the main one goes over and into another distributing box and more flex duct comes out of it.


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## jkv (Oct 23, 2011)

You have a 3 ton unit you should be moving 1200 CFMs. But if you have flex it wont matter you will have a restriction in there and not get the air that you need. If they put in double return vents, close the top in the winter and the bottom in the summer that will help. If you are not able to get are read a manometer, put your hand about 3 feet from the register your air flow should stop there.


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## jkv (Oct 23, 2011)

All your pics came up and your problem is that much flex. The only way to get that air moving right is to replace that with insulated ducts. If you look at the flex in pic 2 or3 you can see the resriction in that one but the ripples in the flex also restrict them as well so the longer the more resriction you will have. I hope this helps but the electric bill that you will save will give you a nice return.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

Doggins, with all of the goose necks that the ducts are making, no wonder why you are having problems. First thing is to get the ducts straight, and if needing radius bends, use hard piping to do that between the exit into the room, and the flex duct.


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## Dooggins1 (Oct 16, 2011)

jkv said:


> All your pics came up and your problem is that much flex. The only way to get that air moving right is to replace that with insulated ducts. If you look at the flex in pic 2 or3 you can see the resriction in that one but the ripples in the flex also restrict them as well so the longer the more resriction you will have. I hope this helps but the electric bill that you will save will give you a nice return.


If I block the intake upstairs then will that lower the out flow?


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## biggles (Jan 1, 2008)

is that furnace return ducted from the 2nd floor ceiling space or is that a filter I see and open :no: attic return in the first pix?like said in the first pix that flex bend is a retriction to where ever that flex supplies....


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## Dooggins1 (Oct 16, 2011)

biggles said:


> is that furnace return ducted from the 2nd floor ceiling space or is that a filter I see and open :no: attic return in the first pix?like said in the first pix that flex bend is a retriction to where ever that flex supplies....


The big duct with the goose neck in the first pic is the supply for the upstairs and that is where I'm having my issues. The big duct in the second pic is the return from the second floor. It doesn't seem to be an easy way to get that goose neck out since t comes it of the top. Any suggestions?


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

Dooggins1 said:


> The big duct with the goose neck in the first pic is the supply for the upstairs and that is where I'm having my issues. The big duct in the second pic is the return from the second floor. It doesn't seem to be an easy way to get that goose neck out since t comes it of the top. Any suggestions?


Already suggested how to solve. You will need to go back to post #21.


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## Dooggins1 (Oct 16, 2011)

gregzoll said:


> Already suggested how to solve. You will need to go back to post #21.


Hey great news!! I took that 12" duct off that was in the first picture I believe. Turns out the damper was 3/4 of the way closed. I opened it and put the duct back on but when I did that the damper closed again so I just removed it and it has dramatically improved the airflow. I m currently in the process of getting a 90 degree hard pipe to maybe help it even more. Just wanted to say thanks for all the help from everyone.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

You can actually get the dampers that are autocontrolled, that are bladders, but they cost more. If you ever decide to zone it out between upstairs and downstairs, that may be something to look into.


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