ransley writes:
On Jan 21, 10:17Â*pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
On Jan 21, 8:50Â*pm, ransley wrote:

On Jan 21, 6:49Â*pm, Bob wrote:

On 1/21/2010 13:02, ransley wrote:

Cutting a hole for a basement return might do it, I did it.

That may cause problems depending on the proximity to the furnace with
the return air duct drawing in combustion air. Â*As for the angle iron
idea, this doesn't have to be iron; aluminum may be used. Â*It only needs
to be strong enough to stop the sheet metal from flexing.

Since when do furnaces need ducted returns, Ive seen no return ducts
many times, just the furnace intake.

In colder cliimates a return plenum is almost always necessary to
circulate ari in rooms far from the furnace. Â*Houses you saw must have
been 40 - 50+ years old.

Im where houses are 200 yrs old, but AC is the only reason you actualy
need returns on every floor, sure its probably more even heat with
returns but I think his are undersized, even a small 2" vent in the
basement would help and circulate heat better, but if he has AC he
need a pro to evaluate his ductwork sizing, whith my new unit thats
exactly what the installer did and found my returns to small, we added
alot more and it help balance temps.

Parts of our house are over 200 years old in fact... and the central
heating was probably put in about 100 years ago.

We do plan to put in AC which as you note requires returns on the higher
floors to work properly -- in fact, one of our reasons for not investing
in the HVAC work now is that we want to do it all right when we add AC
and do renovations rather than doing it half-assed multiple times...