moving heat out of the attic
i live in the finger lakes region of new work, and recently purchased a 1950s-era ranch style house. 1 floor, about 1,300 square feet (7 rooms, three with an open plan) over a 4 1/2-foot crawl space. the house has forced air gas heat, no AC.
i’m a capable carpenter, but i know little about HVAC.
after moving out of the top of the heater, the hot air rise inside a huge metal box some 4 feet to the ceiling and then through it for another 3 feet. up there, in the unheated attic, the heated air is sent through five identical-sized round ducts to various areas of the house. intuition and a few years of reading FH tell me that’s a bad idea, and i’d like to move the heating ducts into the conditioned space. it would be a relatively easy project, from a carpenter’s standpoint, since the small size of the house, single floor and relatively open plan would allow me to run a box faux-beam along ceiling the center of the house and reach every room.
the problem i have is i have no idea of the proper methods and guidelines for modifying the heating duct system and still maintaining proper flow and balance. i’d hire a pro in a heartbeat, but the family budget won’t allow it right now. are there any rules, standards, good books or ready online references that would help a guy do this right?
PS: the returns run through the unheated crawlspace. i’ll be insulating down there next year and making it conditioned space, so that should set that right.
thanks for any help you can offer.
Replies
Greetings tree,
As a first time poster Welcome to Breaktime.
This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again which will increase it's viewing.
Perhaps it will catch someone's attention that can help you with advice.
Cheers
If you do not need the attic space for stoage (or cannot normally access it, the easiest solution in your situation is to wrap the ducts with 6" insulation batts, foil side out.
If not feasible, there are quite a few web links for heating duct airflow drop that can help you balance the system.
if you are sure you are cost'n yourself a ton of money with the current system...
and you have a limited budget...
I'd insulate the pletum (the large box off the top of your unit) and run insulated flex duct off of that to each existing register...
get the same sized flex as the round duct is now... they will be cut off leaving 2-3" at each end... these will become the collars that you will slip the flex onto... tape and zip tie as required... and you nowyou should have an insulated leak free system...
$200 in material and a few hours work... should pay for itself the first year
p
thanks for the advice.we get a good bit of snow here, and i can see the wasted money every time we get a fresh few inches. you can even trace the ductwork by the snow-free stripes running along the roof. of course, after the first few inches of snow, it all gets covered. then i've got one heck of an ice dam machine.what's the best way to insulate the pletum?i'll get the work done and let you know how the gas meter reacts.
insulating the sheet metal i would guess would be the most time consuming depending on access ... foil backed duct wrap... warp it like you would a christmas package... but before you do... use a few tubes of duct sealing caulk on every joint you see.... we use a staple gun that flairs the staples to hold it in place then tape every joint & seam with foil duct tape...
your other option is an sticky back foam & foil duct wrap... and another option is to use foil backed 3/4" foam board cut to size and taped at the corners... anything you do will help
p
I think your time and money would be better spent "conditioning" the attic and leaving the existing ducts in place. If this isn't feasible, you can try enclosing the ductwork with XPS and/or fiberglass (sealing first if necessary).
If it were my house I'd find a good HVAC guy in your area and ask him what to do. I've found a lot of hvac practices are regional. So chances are that other houses in your area have the same thing and some of them have fixed it. So a good HVAC guy would have seen this before and figured out what gives costumers the most bang for their buck.