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#1
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Placement of Warm Air Ducts in Basement
Hi All,
I have a 42 year old bungalow in Southern Ontario with a finished basement (though the basement was most likely unfinished when the house was originally built). The warm air ducts on the main floor are all located at floor level around the outer edges of the house, under every window. In the basement however, the ducts are in the ceiling and located in the centre of each room. Each floor has return ducts located at floor level near the centre of the house. I'm wondering why the basement ducts are located in the centre of each room and not the outer edges, like the main floor. Is it because they're in the basement? in the ceiling? was it just simpler/cheaper to do it this way? It seems to me that placing them in the centre robs the outer half of the room from some warm air flow since the warm air would enter the centre of the room and immediately flow towards the return air ducts in the centre of the house. Where possible, I'd like to move the basement ducts from the center of the room to the outer edges. I'm hoping this will help mitigate some cold spots that seem to exist near the outer edges of the basement. Before doing so I'd like to hear if anyone knows any reason not to do this. I'm worried that they were placed in the centre for a reason and don't want to find out the hard way why. For example, the outer basement walls are uninsulated, and covered with panelling. Would placing the heating ducts closer to the outer walls increase the likelyhood of warm air condensing on the cold walls in the winter? Thanks in advance for your help. |
#2
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Placement of Warm Air Ducts in Basement
I'm wondering why the basement ducts are located in the centre of each room and not the outer edges, like the main floor. Is it because they're in the basement? in the ceiling? was it just simpler/cheaper to do it this way? It seems to me that placing them in the centre robs the outer half of the room from some warm air flow since the warm air would enter the centre of the room and immediately flow towards the return air ducts in the centre of the house. It was probably just easier, and I don't think the air-flow patterns are likely to match what you're expecting. Unless you're getting fairly high-velocity air flow, coming out a nozzle aimed at the returns, what should happen is that the warm air comes out of the supply, and billows out across the ceiling, forming a warm air layer that slowly lowers as cold air gets sucked out at floor level. |
#3
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Placement of Warm Air Ducts in Basement
your poor heating is also due to insufficient insulation. the basement
needs a separate heating zone including powered dampers and another thermostat control. look up the costs of making a below-grade basement comfortable in winter versus easier living in the habitable areas of the home. please first see: http://www.buildingscience.com/resources/basements.htm |
#4
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Placement of Warm Air Ducts in Basement
Thank-you both for your replies. I found the link to
http://www.buildingscience.com/ especially useful. What a great site! |
#5
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Placement of Warm Air Ducts in Basement
it would be best if you can insulate the walls. also,make sure your
funance has the capacity to handle the extra sq. ft. finally if you move the main trunk you might be making very long runs to your existing rooms up stairs which will effect you air flow. |
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