The a/c come out cold out of all the 4 bedrooms in the upper floor of the house but the only return vent is in the hallway. During the summer it gets REALLY hot upstairs and i think it is due to no return vents except for the one in the hallway. Is there any way to fix this ... for a reasonable price? Any Ideas?
No return vents in upper floor of house? HELP!
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GQhandymen
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I forgive you. :laughing: Just never make any mistakes in the tile section, those guys make the good doc look like a snow bunny..CompleteW&D said:Thank you.... Especially since in the middle of summer when that attic air may be as high 120 degrees or more.... and the R/A plenum or ductwork in said attic isn't sealed properly, you will be pulling much warmer (a better choice of words?) return air back to the air handler than you would have if it were sealed properly.
Now granted, the good Doctor, may be more educated and able to pull links out the wazoo at my poor choice of words, but I was trained and worked for one of the most respected HVAC contractors in this city. He's now long since retired and has sold his business to his kids. But back then, he was the head of the Licensing board here in Indy, helped form, set up the ciriculam (sp?) and was on the board of (what at that time was) the only accredited trade school for HVAC technicians in town.
He was way ahead of his time in a lot of commercial refrigeration and HVAC solutions. We were pushing duel fuel systems (heat pumps with gas back ups) residentially, long before they became fasionable and promoted by manufacturers today. We had mandatory monday evening training meetings once a month, where we would cover all kinds of topics related to all things HVAC. Some were commercial in nature, and I was strictly residential, but I was still required to attend. I'm sure, at some point we covered the very same topic about super heated air that the good Doctor brought up. But, I'm old now and don't remember.
But all of that doesn't mean squat. I understand that. I have not been through the intense and rigerous training of an HVAC technician. But I learned a lot from the man and together we solved a ton of airflow problems (mostly involving poor R/A situations) and improved the comfort of those we helped. He was very tough on me requiring every job I sold to be based on Manual J calculations with detailed drawings of the existing HVAC layout. He would question me about existing ductwork placement and would ask why I hadn't thought of doing this or that to improve the air balance in a particular part of the home.
He would get pretty upset with me if I missed something, so I learned quickly to look at everything and try to come up with solutions before he would even ask. It was constant back and forth Q&A debating solutions. When other companies would make a 30 minute sales call on a 100 degree day and try to sell a condensing unit only, I was required to do a detailed load calculation and drawing of the existing system layout and make recommendations on improving the entire system.
So, do I know everything? No, not at all. But, I do stand by what I said in my first post because we did many similar things moving air flow around in older homes to improve the balance and thus increasing comfort and efficiency for our customers.
I was a little over zealous in my second reply and shouldn't have been. I apologize to anyone I may have offended.
Its allright man,just remember to breathe! :laughing:Thank you.... Especially since in the middle of summer when that attic air may be as high 120 degrees or more.... and the R/A plenum or ductwork in said attic isn't sealed properly, you will be pulling much warmer (a better choice of words?) return air back to the air handler than you would have if it were sealed properly.
Now granted, the good Doctor, may be more educated and able to pull links out the wazoo at my poor choice of words, but I was trained and worked for one of the most respected HVAC contractors in this city. He's now long since retired and has sold his business to his kids. But back then, he was the head of the Licensing board here in Indy, helped form, set up the ciriculam (sp?) for - and was on the board of (what at that time was) the only accredited trade school for HVAC technicians in town.
He was way ahead of his time in a lot of commercial refrigeration and HVAC solutions. Residentially, we were pushing duel fuel systems (heat pumps with gas back ups), long before they became fasionable and promoted by manufacturers today. We had mandatory monday evening training meetings once a month, where we would cover all kinds of topics related to all things HVAC. Some were commercial in nature, and I was strictly residential, but I was still required to attend. I'm sure, at some point we covered the very same topic about super heated air that the good Doctor brought up. But, I'm old now and don't remember.
But all of that doesn't mean squat. I understand that. I have not been through the intense and rigerous training of an HVAC technician. But I learned a lot from the man and together we solved a ton of airflow problems (mostly involving poor R/A situations) and improved the comfort of those we helped. He was very tough on me requiring every job I sold to be based on Manual J calculations with detailed drawings of the existing HVAC layout. He would question me about existing ductwork placement and would ask why I hadn't thought of doing this or that to improve the air balance in a particular part of the home.
He would get pretty upset with me if I missed something, so I learned quickly to look at everything and try to come up with solutions before he would even ask. It was constant back and forth Q&A debating solutions. When other companies would make a 30 minute sales call on a 100 degree day and try to sell a condensing unit only, I was required to do a detailed load calculation and drawing of the existing system layout and make recommendations on improving the entire system.
So, do I know everything? No, not at all. But, I do stand by what I said in my first post because we did many similar things moving air flow around in older homes to improve the balance and thus increasing comfort and efficiency for our customers.
I was a little over zealous in my second reply and shouldn't have been. I apologize to anyone I may have offended.
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LOL.... well dang it. I was tryin' to say, while not technically or formally edjumacated in the business, I was trained by and worked for one of the industry icons - in these here parts anyway.
So, I'm not a total bufoon. Just got riled up a bit I guess.... because I felt my poor choice of words was turned around, used in a context that was not my intent and thrown in my face as though I was that very bufoon.
Once again, sorry everyone.
Inhaling, exhaling.... inhaling, exhaling :laughing:
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That goes without saying. Even a pool guy, a yard guy, a cashier at Wal-Mart knows that. :thumbup:
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I know this is a little, OK, maybe a lot off the OP, But here's my question any ways I have a photography darkroom in a spare bedroom that I would like to ventilate. I use the fan from my Central Air System for bringing in fresh air, but I have no return or way of getting the fumes out :no: Could I safely install a small return in the room and then tie it into the main return in the attic above? Or would it create a pressure issue when the room is in use with the fan running? I would think it would be a lot cheaper for me then having to install a special darkroom system. If this would work I will have my HVAC guy do it for me. He put the system in for me before about 10 years ago.
I have a photography darkroom in a spare bedroom that I would like to ventilate. I use the fan from my Central Air System for bringing in fresh air, but I have no return or way of getting the fumes out :no: Could I safely install a small return in the room and then tie it into the main return in the attic above? Or would it create a pressure issue when the room is in use with the fan running? I would think it would be a lot cheaper for me then having to install a special darkroom system. If this would work I will have my HVAC guy do it for me. He put the system in for me before about 10 years ago.
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568 Posts
you have a pressure issue without a return air, not the other way around.
the only thing which concerns me is the fumes. are they harmful? do you want the rest of your home smelling like the photo lab?
Perhaps an exhaust fan would work better. Measure the room's width x's depth x's heigth (total cubic volume in feet) and divide by 8 to achieve the correct cfm needed.
The 8 is the number of times per hour air refreshment rate, how many times it should recycle the air. Then you will have a seperate exhaust line which will not tie into the hvac system.
the only thing which concerns me is the fumes. are they harmful? do you want the rest of your home smelling like the photo lab?
Perhaps an exhaust fan would work better. Measure the room's width x's depth x's heigth (total cubic volume in feet) and divide by 8 to achieve the correct cfm needed.
The 8 is the number of times per hour air refreshment rate, how many times it should recycle the air. Then you will have a seperate exhaust line which will not tie into the hvac system.
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example: if your room is 12w x 12d x 8h than you would have 1152 cubic feet. Divide that by 8 and you would need a miminum of a 144 cfm fan or the next biggest that is made. You would need 120 volts run to the fan and an exhaust line.
that's it. Your hvac guy can install this for you.
that's it. Your hvac guy can install this for you.
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132 Posts
Thanks
I think I will go with the exhaust fan set up. There's a lot of choices for darkrooms. Just not cheap ones.
The room is 7'x12'. The fumes won't kill you, but there not great either. I wasn't even thinking about how the fumes would get pushed through out the house :no:
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Yup, you're welcome. Don't forget about the noise of your exhaust fan, measured in "sones". The lower the sone rating/number, the quieter the fan.
http://www.renovation-headquarters.com/exhaust-fan-noise.htm
Good luck.
http://www.renovation-headquarters.com/exhaust-fan-noise.htm
Good luck.
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2 Posts
I have no cold air returns need help
14 year old thread. This site is for professional contractors visit DIYchatroom
Build fake chimney chase outside from basement to attic.
Install plenum as needed to service.
Maybe a booster fan if needed.
Plenty of foil insulation and condensation pan? Drain pipe.
I d allso use for electrical remodel circuts..conduit oversized, and possible bathroom/ laundry water and DVW pipe stack....
Install faux brick tin chimney pot above shingle line if desired.
Heck you could install a real chimney if wanted too......
Radon/ air change, draft pipe if you believe in radon as an actual threat to your health from covered sump pit to roof peak....
Install plenum as needed to service.
Maybe a booster fan if needed.
Plenty of foil insulation and condensation pan? Drain pipe.
I d allso use for electrical remodel circuts..conduit oversized, and possible bathroom/ laundry water and DVW pipe stack....
Install faux brick tin chimney pot above shingle line if desired.
Heck you could install a real chimney if wanted too......
Radon/ air change, draft pipe if you believe in radon as an actual threat to your health from covered sump pit to roof peak....
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2 Posts
I just need to know if it's code to have cold air returns in Ohio if if someone has the code I can look up and read on to prove to the landlord that I need them there was some in the house then we got a brand new furnace and AC unit the old furnace was a down feed the new furnace is a up feed so the company that installed it to all the cold air returns and turned them into supplies and said we don't need returns
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