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Heating & Air Conditioning

Need more heat in the Bedroom!

12 years ago

We live in a two story home (cape) built in 1950. Forced hot air furnace is located on one end of the basement and the cold Master Bedroom is on the second floor on the other side of the house. There is only one return (double sided) in the house and itÃ¯Â¿Â½s located on the bottom of the interior wall on the first floor. There are no returns on the second floor at all. Also, the two rooms on the first floor closest to the furnace are warmer than the rest of the rooms in the house.

My plan of action:

Luckily, I have a way to bring a return up to the second floor hall placing it at the bottom of the wall and figured I would cut some holes in the bottom of the bedroom doors and cover them with louvers. TheyÃ¯Â¿Â½re flat panel doors so cutting a large enough rectangle hole in them is easy enough. Also, I was thinking of install Dampers on the two ducts supplying the rooms on the first floor that are always the warmest.

Please! If someone has a better idea kindly share it with or in your opinion if my plan sounds like it will work let me know. - Thanks

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Comments (6)

bus_driver
12 years ago
Forced hot air furnace? It may not matter in the solution you seek, but what is the fuel?
mike_home
12 years ago
Are you getting good air flow to the master bedroom and is the temperature of the air the same as the other rooms?

Do a feel of rush of air flowing into the return on the first floor?

My thinking is the problem is in the supply and not the return. It is very difficult to tell without examing the duct work.
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imannym
Original Author
12 years ago
mike home - Supply to the bedroom is very weak and the temp is weak as well. So, I have examined the duct in the basement and in fact his past weekend I exposed the duct leading to the room by cutting open the kitchen ceiling. I realy wanted to make sure I had no leaks. It's in perfect condition. Now I have a 1' X 18' opening in the ceiling to patch... Well worth it! Before I close it up I will insulate it with Foiled Bubblewrap. The return on the first floor is sucking in air but, no mad rush of air or anything like that..It does hold paper even when only covering half of the vent. NOTE: In the winter when standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor there is a rush of cold air coming down the stairs. I contribute this to the fact there is no return on the second floor. thanks for your comment(s)
mike_home
12 years ago
There is no harm in adding another return duct. But I fear you will do a lot of work and still not solve your problem.

How big is your house, what size furnace do you have, and how old is it? What type of filter do you use and do you change it often? What are the deminsions of your main duct?
imannym
Original Author
12 years ago
mike home - The house is 2k sq feet. Not sure of furnace size (BTU) until I find the Manual. I had it installed new 5 years ago with an "A Frame" for AC in the plenum.
Duct supply duct size is: 8"X18"X11'reduces to 8"X15"X11' reduces to 8"x10"x9' - 31' in total length. The 6" duct branching to the bedroom is in the 8"X10" section and is 26' away from the furnace. Then it's another 28' in 6" duct to the bedroom...oh...there are 9 - 6" supply ducts before it.
The filter is changed regularly and we use a 16X25X1 Flanders "EnergyAire" from Lowes or HomeDepot.
mike_home
12 years ago
The size of the furnace is usually coded into the model number. If we assume you have a 80-100K BTU furnace, then in my opinion your duct work seems too small. See if there is a a way to increase the sizing leading up to the bedroom branch.

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