I just moved to a new town and the Wife and I are renting one of these
"three-story" townhouses and have discovered the heating is just
whacked. It's forced hot air (natural gas). There's a ten degree
difference between the first and third floors, and I don't know what
to do.

The first floor contains a garage and family room, which is ~66F day
and night.

The second floor is the main living level - a living room/dining room
over the garage and a kitchen/dining area over the family room. Temp
in the living room is ~68F. The thermostat is on the wall in the
doorway between LR/DR and kitchen and is always set to 71F.

The third floor is three bedrooms, 2 small and one master with
cathedral ceiling and ceiling fan. The upstairs registers are always
closed. The temp avgs. 75F during the day and bumps to 77-78F in the
morning. The MBR faces east, as does the kitchen.

The HVAC has no zones - just the usual aluminum-faced fiberglass
ductwork going to the upper floors - so I can't control what heated
air goes where short of closing registers. None of the air returns are
blocked on any of the three levels, so I don't believe it's that, and
a sheet of paper does get sucked against the returns when the heat is
running.

Since this is a rental and I can't go cutting into ductwork and the
like to install zones, short of getting space heaters, do I have any
options to reduce the temp in the bedrooms a bit? Even though the
ceiling of the garage is insulated, could we be losing heat through
the living room floor, and that's why it's cooler, even in the
afternoons when we get sun there?

"Kyle" wrote in message
oups.com...
I just moved to a new town and the Wife and I are renting one of these
"three-story" townhouses and have discovered the heating is just
whacked. It's forced hot air (natural gas). There's a ten degree
difference between the first and third floors, and I don't know what
to do.

The HVAC has no zones - just the usual aluminum-faced fiberglass
ductwork going to the upper floors - so I can't control what heated
air goes where short of closing registers.

Sounds a bit like my old house. You need to balance what you have. The
most obvious step is to close down the registers in the over heated spaces.
This brings in less warmed air to that room and forces more into the areas
that are cooler. Given the high temperature of hte bedrooms, I'd shut them
down most of the way or even completely.

It may be helpful to have a fan someplace to move air to where you want the
heat too. Another possibility is to have the blower run continuously so
that air is moving between zones all the time. Experiment over a few day
and allow some time between adjustments to see results.

In article .com, "Kyle" wrote:
I just moved to a new town and the Wife and I are renting one of these
"three-story" townhouses and have discovered the heating is just
whacked. It's forced hot air (natural gas). There's a ten degree
difference between the first and third floors, and I don't know what
to do.

The first floor contains a garage and family room, which is ~66F day
and night.

The second floor is the main living level - a living room/dining room
over the garage and a kitchen/dining area over the family room. Temp
in the living room is ~68F. The thermostat is on the wall in the
doorway between LR/DR and kitchen and is always set to 71F.

The third floor is three bedrooms, 2 small and one master with
cathedral ceiling and ceiling fan. The upstairs registers are always
closed. The temp avgs. 75F during the day and bumps to 77-78F in the
morning. The MBR faces east, as does the kitchen.

Sadly, this is a very common problem.

1. Check the filters (make sure you've found all of them)
and replace if appropriate.

2. Balance the registers as far as you can.

3. Assuming heating costs are a concern, I'd consider
lowering the thermostat setting and adding a space
heater of some kind to the family room. This will
likely reduce your gas bill by a significant amount.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On 5 Mar 2007 08:51:10 -0800, "Kyle" wrote:


The HVAC has no zones - just the usual aluminum-faced fiberglass
ductwork going to the upper floors - so I can't control what heated
air goes where short of closing registers.

What's wrong with closing registers? I do that and it works for me.

None of the air returns are
blocked on any of the three levels, so I don't believe it's that, and
a sheet of paper does get sucked against the returns when the heat is
running.

If the return was blocked, you wouldn't get much heat, and you have a
lot of heat.

On 5 Mar 2007 08:51:10 -0800, "Kyle" wrote:

I just moved to a new town and the Wife and I are renting one of these
"three-story" townhouses and have discovered the heating is just
whacked. It's forced hot air (natural gas). There's a ten degree
difference between the first and third floors, and I don't know what
to do.

The first floor contains a garage and family room, which is ~66F day
and night.

The second floor is the main living level - a living room/dining room
over the garage and a kitchen/dining area over the family room. Temp
in the living room is ~68F. The thermostat is on the wall in the
doorway between LR/DR and kitchen and is always set to 71F.

The third floor is three bedrooms, 2 small and one master with
cathedral ceiling and ceiling fan. The upstairs registers are always
closed. The temp avgs. 75F during the day and bumps to 77-78F in the
morning. The MBR faces east, as does the kitchen.

The HVAC has no zones - just the usual aluminum-faced fiberglass
ductwork going to the upper floors - so I can't control what heated
air goes where short of closing registers. None of the air returns are
blocked on any of the three levels, so I don't believe it's that, and
a sheet of paper does get sucked against the returns when the heat is
running.

Since this is a rental and I can't go cutting into ductwork and the
like to install zones, short of getting space heaters, do I have any
options to reduce the temp in the bedrooms a bit? Even though the
ceiling of the garage is insulated, could we be losing heat through
the living room floor, and that's why it's cooler, even in the
afternoons when we get sun there?

Is there a way to set your furnace fan to run
all the time? Because it sounds like you've
got enough heat, it's just in the wrong place.
circulating the air with your existing handler
should fix that.

On Mar 5, 6:40 pm, Goedjn wrote:
On 5 Mar 2007 08:51:10 -0800, "Kyle" wrote:



I just moved to a new town and the Wife and I are renting one of these
"three-story" townhouses and have discovered the heating is just
whacked. It's forced hot air (natural gas). There's a ten degree
difference between the first and third floors, and I don't know what
to do.

The first floor contains a garage and family room, which is ~66F day
and night.

The second floor is the main living level - a living room/dining room
over the garage and a kitchen/dining area over the family room. Temp
in the living room is ~68F. The thermostat is on the wall in the
doorway between LR/DR and kitchen and is always set to 71F.

The third floor is three bedrooms, 2 small and one master with
cathedral ceiling and ceiling fan. The upstairs registers are always
closed. The temp avgs. 75F during the day and bumps to 77-78F in the
morning. The MBR faces east, as does the kitchen.

The HVAC has no zones - just the usual aluminum-faced fiberglass
ductwork going to the upper floors - so I can't control what heated
air goes where short of closing registers. None of the air returns are
blocked on any of the three levels, so I don't believe it's that, and
a sheet of paper does get sucked against the returns when the heat is
running.

Since this is a rental and I can't go cutting into ductwork and the
like to install zones, short of getting space heaters, do I have any
options to reduce the temp in the bedrooms a bit? Even though the
ceiling of the garage is insulated, could we be losing heat through
the living room floor, and that's why it's cooler, even in the
afternoons when we get sun there?

Is there a way to set your furnace fan to run
all the time? Because it sounds like you've
got enough heat, it's just in the wrong place.
circulating the air with your existing handler
should fix that.

Thanks to all of you who replied. We called the property management
company who said it sounded as though someone should take a look, and
did.

First, I was not clear in my OP because we had closed the registers in
all the rooms on the bedroom level and it still was waaaay out of
whack temperature-wise.

The HVAC guy who came out suggested just what you did, Goedjn, which
is to keep the blower running constantly in order to move the air
around and even out the temps. He says it's the equivalent of keeping
two 100 watt bulbs on all the time, so I guess we won't have that much
of a hit in the electric bill.

There are three issues: (1) the strike plate on the door between the
family room and the garage was not installed properly so there's a gap
around the seal and air comes in there (temp solution: seal the door
shut with seal 'n peel caulk until I can fix that this Spring); (2)
the house faces east-west which means there will always be a
temperature imbalance front-to-back on sunny days; and here's the
biggie (3) the HVAC system should never have been installed where it
was and how it was. The ducts have so many twists and turns over I-
beams and around joists in order to get them run to some rooms that
the air is effectively blocked, which is why we have almost no hot air
coming out the ducts in the living room.

Now if only we could get the humidity over 21%, we might actually be
somewhere approximately close to comfortable this Winter. I never
thought I'd say this about a house with no insulation in the walls,
but I miss my old house with the fantastic circa 1950 ducts and the
Aprilaire 600 whole house humidifier...

There are three issues: (1) the strike plate on the door between the
family room and the garage was not installed properly so there's a gap
around the seal and air comes in there (temp solution: seal the door
shut with seal 'n peel caulk until I can fix that this Spring); (2)
the house faces east-west which means there will always be a
temperature imbalance front-to-back on sunny days; and here's the
biggie (3) the HVAC system should never have been installed where it
was and how it was. The ducts have so many twists and turns over I-
beams and around joists in order to get them run to some rooms that
the air is effectively blocked, which is why we have almost no hot air
coming out the ducts in the living room.


You should be able to get an inline booster fan for the
room-end of the excessively twisty ducts.

On Mar 8, 12:34 pm, Goedjn wrote:
You should be able to get an inline booster fan for the
room-end of the excessively twisty ducts.

An option I would definitely consider except I haven't been able to
find a "temporary" booster fan, and will not go to the time and
expense of installing something in what is someone else's house. The
HOs do not seem concerned about mitigating the problem, so the wife
and I will adjust accordingly.

The good news is the HVAC guy from the property management company
told us we stand to have lower cooling bills than average this Summer
since cold air pushed to the second floor will come down the steps and
keep the first floor temperate.

We just have to have sweaters and blankets available on the lower
floors in the Winter...

"Kyle" wrote in message

The good news is the HVAC guy from the property management company
told us we stand to have lower cooling bills than average this Summer
since cold air pushed to the second floor will come down the steps and
keep the first floor temperate.

He is an idiot. You pay, one way or another, to remove the heat from the
air.

On Mar 13, 4:45 pm, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:
"Kyle" wrote in message

The good news is the HVAC guy from the property management company
told us we stand to have lower cooling bills than average this Summer
since cold air pushed to the second floor will come down the steps and
keep the first floor temperate.

He is an idiot. You pay, one way or another, to remove the heat from the
air.

True, but perhaps it's not that the HVAC guy is an idiot but that I
didn't explain this well. For one thing, I shouldn't have said "lower
than average" but "lower than your average heating bill for this
neighborhood". The idea here is that the AC will not have to work as
hard as the heater to bring the house to the temperature called for by
the thermostat.

It is 7-8 degrees warmer on the bedroom level than on the main floor
because the air is pushed there rather than to the main level and the
thermostat is on the main floor where there is next to no air
circulation.

In the Summer the temperature and circulation disparity should be
mitigated by cool air's propensity to settle and warm air to rise.
Since most of the air will still go to the bedroom level and settle to
the main floor, the two levels should be fairly close in temperature
as a result.

At least, that's the theory. We'll see come June, July and August.