House was built in 1958 and has the return air vents on outside wall at base board and the heat vents on interior walls at 6″ off floor. Isn’t this contrary to current practice? Seems now they put the heat vents in the floor near outside wall and the return air vents on inside walls at 6 foot high. There is a return air in every room of the house which is a lot of ducting running in the crawl space. Which is best; heat on exterior wall or interior? Also could I consolidate some of the return air vents into fewer larger units and finally should they be near the floor or 6 feet up on the wall?
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Yes, what you described is backwards from the way it is normally done today. In fact, it is backwards from a 1955 house that I grew up in.
How is the comfort in the house?
Thanks for the reply tb1472000. I agree, it is the reverse of a house built in 1964 that we lived in many years ago.
The house seems comfortable and reasonably balanced but needs an increase in insulation for the attic. But it struggles in the summer to stay cool in the Nebraska heat.
According to the ACCA Manual T
"In cold climates, the outside wall location is generally preferred. However, in cold climates the inside wall location is acceptable if there are no slab or exposed floors but, the envelope must be well insulated and must have tight thermal pane windows"
Paul, thanks for the good info.
The house has a partial basement with remainder as crawl space. The insulation is less than what a Nebraska climate demands in the attic; not much can be done with the walls which are insulated with paper covered fiberglass. The windows are Andersons of the late 1950 era.
Based on your information, my plan is to consolidate the many long air return runs into fewer and larger ones that are closer to the furnace and on interior walls. In one case I can turn a 35 foot run to one return vent into a 14 foot run.
Also in time I want to move the interior wall heat vents to the floor near the exterior walls.