One hot room

franksmom_2010

13 years ago

Hi everyone! We have a room in the house that we think was originally the garage, but was converted to living space back in the '80's. The room gets very warm in the summer, and stays cool in the winter. We thought all of the problem was due to a large bay window that faces southwest. We've hung thermal drapes over the window, and that has helped some, but the room still seemed so stuffy.

Yesterday I got up on a step ladder and felt the vent with the a/c on, and it feels like there's barely any air coming through, and the air that I could feel didn't feel particularly cool. I checked the vent, and it's all the way open.

Does this sound like a duct problem? Is there anything we can do to diagnose or fix the problem before calling an a/c company? If it is a duct problem, any ideas on how pricey that would be to fix?

The room doesn't have a door, and is adjacent to our family room, where we spend a lot of time, and it makes both rooms uncomfortable in the evenings. Thanks for any advice!

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Comments (3)

zippyhvac
13 years ago
You've got four possible/likely problems..

1:) You won't get much airflow out of your ducts, if there isn't a "return" duct to the a/c unit. Without a return, you're basically trying to "compress" the air in the room with a fan, and it doesn't work well. 2:)Insufficient capacity of the HVAC unit to deal with the increased area of the added room. 3:)Broken/kinked/disconnected duct - possible, but not as likely - how much time do you spend in your attic?? 4:)no insulation in the walls or ceiling - if you bought from a "flipper" or a moron, they could have left the walls and ceiling uninsulated Ductwork is actually pretty inexpensive to repair or replace yourself, and not that hard - other than being hot(or cold) and uncomfortable (walking on joists, sheetmetal cuts, cramped spaces)
franksmom_2010
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Zippy!

I took the vent off to get a better look at the duct from this end, and it's pristine. Looks brand new. Weird.

So, about the returns...we just have returns around the indoor unit (air exchange?) and no where else in the house. All of the other rooms are comfortable, so I'm not sure that's the issue.

The HVAC had BETTER be the right size! We bought a new unit before we moved in. It's an American Standard Heritage 16 heat pump. $$$$$$$$$$$$ The house is around 2900 sq. ft. One of the things the installer said, though, was that we had one main duct coming off the unit, then it split out throughout the roof. I'm guessing it's not supposed to be that way?

It's certainly possible the duct isn't intact in the attic. But, this room is the farthest spot from the attic access, and it's in the high 90's-100's from now until September, so we may have to wait until fall to really get a better look.

Buying from a moron is MOST likely. We've been in the house a year, and are still undoing/redoing their handywork. These were DIY people who shouldn't have. Ah, the stories I could tell! It wouldn't surprise me at all if there was no insulation in the walls or ceiling of this room. We know we need more insulation in parts of the attic, but I don't think we paid particular attention to this area before. I was too distracted by the bay window that wasn't installed correctly, and you can feel the wind blowing through the frame.

Perhaps the best solution would be to put in a door, and keep it closed during the extreme weather, and use fans when I'm working in that room? Seriously, thanks for the input. When it cools down, we'll take a better look up there and see what we find.
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arcas
13 years ago
If it's a converted garage, I'm wondering if they bothered insulating the outside walls when they did the conversion?

But on to the problem of no air coming out of the vent...I'm going to guess it's a problem with the duct. Perhaps it's torn (either accidentally or by mice, etc).

Or...since presumably this vent was added when the garage was converted into living space, it's also possible that the contractors did a lousy job attaching the new duct to the supply trunk. Or they may have cut corners and used duct that's too small. Next time it rains or early one morning, turn the AC on and climb up in the attic and take a close look.

One hot room

Comments (3)

zippyhvac

franksmom_2010
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arcas

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One hot room

Comments (3)

zippyhvac

franksmom_2010Original Author

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arcas

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franksmom_2010
Original Author