wrote in message
oups.com...
| On Mar 7, 9:38 am, "trbo20" wrote:
| On Mar 7, 12:07 am, "dean" wrote:
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| Hello all,
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| I have a wood furnace in my basement with central forced air, and
| right now (all winter so far) I have been leaving the basement
door
| open so that the cold air return is sucked down the stairs.
|
| I'm considering connecting up the returns to the furnace so as to
make
| a closed system, and I wanted to know if this makes much of a
| difference in fuel usage and/or house temperatures. Right now, the
| furnace has a struggle with a 50-degree difference outside vs.
inside,
| so if its 20F outside, I can almost not reach 70F inside.
|
| Any experiences welcomed here.
|
| Thanks
|
| DeanB
|
| There are so many variables to consider here that I don't think
anyone
| will be able to answer your question by comparing their own
| experiences. How well insulated is your basement from the rest of
the
| house? How well insulated is your basement from the outside? How
far
| with the air returns have to run? What size ducting will you use?
| How well insulated is your house? What is the level of difficulty
in
| installing the ducts? What is the air volume of your basement as
| compared to the volume of your house? What would be the total cost
of
| installing the returns?
|
| If the duct is just a straight shot up from the furnace into the
floor
| above, then that would be both easy and cheap to install. Consider,
| however, that the temperature difference at the surface of the floor
| and the basement ceiling probably isn't going to be all that much.
|
| Some of these questions can't ever be answered with a high degree of
| precision. If you really want an accurate projection on your ROI
for
| this project, I'd talk to a qualified HVAC consultant who can do an
on
| site inspection
|
| With that said, also don't forget that if your basement is very
poorly
| insulated and dips below freezing, you risk rupturing your pipes, or
| ruining any stored materials such as latex paint.- Hide quoted
text -
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| - Show quoted text -
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| As said, based on that limited info, no one can give you an answer.
| But if your furnace can't maintain 70 when it's 20 outside, something
| is wrong and I doubt a return is going to do much to solve it. Is
| the furnace running continously?


same problem with brand new "concord 80 plus" oil furnace (forced air)
runs continuously
heating bill is $1200 per mth. in N.E.
why can't the furnace reach 70 degrees?
it has a hard time maintaning 68 degrees over night.

insulation .................well..................none. built in 1911
returns..................yes
5000+ sq. ft. house

what size should the nozzle be?

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