For those who also have forced hot air....

[brooktrout]

I've noticed, as I'm sure a lot of you have, that the registers and return air ducts for my forced hot air furnace are AWFULLY cold :grrr: What can be done about it? Do you guys go around opening and closing them all the time? Is there a product to alleviate this? Some type of "automatic" louvers? Thanks!

 

[milner351]

mine are cold cause they are all at the outside walls....

never put much thought into it.... the walls are cold, the windows are cold, it's cold outside ---- I now am getting the idea why so many don't like exterior chimneys - I don't either - but I'm stuck with one.


one thing for sure - with the stove on the first floor, and the furnace in the basement --- the basement is COLD

--- I think the ideal set up for a wood stove heated house is a central chimney in a house with a walk out basement
- put a big stove in the basement - keep the mess down there, with a nice 4ft wide central stair case to keep that heat moving up.

 

[perry]

i had noticed the same thing. i had cold draft coming from my ducts. a heating guy told me that with the wood stove going it is pulling fresh air into the house threw the vents and not to touch it. he said this is normal and working properly. my house and furnace is 7yrs old. not sure if this is all true but i believe him and it sound right.

 

[begreen]

I'd guess the floors are a bit cold too. Insulate the ductwork and insulate the basement.

 

[Hogwildz]

If your not using them at all, they make a magnetic cover you just slap over the opening.

 

[milner351]

Yup
we use those in the two bedrooms we keep closed off upstairs, I can't recall where my wife got them, but they are sort of rubbery - you can cut the stuff with scissors, but they are magnetic and do a great job sealing off the outlet vents.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

I can relate to your forced hotair problem. Since my house was built in 1750, some of my crawl spaces are 6-16 inches. I cant get any insulation under the floor or wrap my heating ducts. I also can't lay down any poly. But some good news is that the walls are filled with foam insulation. I really can't imagine heating this house without Wood heat! But since Geroge Washington was only 18 when this cape was build, I guess I can't complain.

WoodButcher

 

[billb3]

If they're on the floor, books or dirty laundry work wonders.

 

[Henz]

I have th esame exact problem, or situiation I should say. My ducts are all insulated but cold air still seeps into the house, its quite noticable. We have luvers on all of them, I go around and close them and open them up. I also use a towel over them as well in the loving room area and kitchen. I ahve one large return in between my kitchen and living room that is really cold too. I use a floor mat to cover it. Once covered, it makes a huge difference.

My basement is only accessed from the outside. 1/2 basement, 1/2 crawl space. I am planning on buying one of those ceramic heaters with thermostat and setting it up in the middle of my basement on low/med to see if it makes a difference at all. Anyone else do this??

 

[begreen]

If you're occasionally using the furnace, it's not a good idea to block off vents. It will unbalance the system when it's running and can shorten fan life. Blocking the vents is a short term fix. Addressing the source of the cold is a far better long term fix.

 

[Henz]

I know when my furnace is gonna kick on, I have a programmable thermostat. I always re-open the vents during the day when we are at work knowing that the furnace will kick on before we get home on cold days. I also open all the vents prior to going to bed for the same reason.

 

[perry]

here is what i was told on another site.

Hello to all,
The fresh air make up is a code requirement and is very important part of a HVAC system in todays newer more tightly built homes. They allow fresh air into the home to replace the air lost through exhaust vents, etc. In your case the air is probably entering the home to replace the air that is going into your wood stove and up the chimney. Unless your stove has an outside fresh air intake of its own there is no good way to remedy this. Most current systems will have a vent or blower fan switch on the thermostat that will run the furnace blower only. If you run the blower it will pull your warm air from the location of the wood stove and help distribute it throughout the home. Doing this several times a day will help balance the heat in the home and cut down on the cold draft from the duct registers. Something else to keep in mind is where are your plumbing runs at? If in the crawl space and you are heating only with the wood stove there is a risk of frozen pipes if we get cold enough. Another reason to run the blower occasionally.
But whatever you decide to do please do not block off the make up air, for your sake as well the rest of the family

 

[begreen]

That's a separate topic. The other site's poster is talking about fresh air feed (makeup air) to the HVAC system. One should never block that off.

As noted, using the hvac system to circulate heat will have mixed results varying from fair in a well insulated house with insulated ductwork that is in the heated space, to lousy with a system that has ducts running through a cold space, particularly if the ductwork is uninsulated.