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Heating & Air Conditioning

Get conditioned air upstairs in all seasons?

5 years ago

I live in a small 2 story townhome (~16 feet wide by 32 feet long) with electric baseboard heating in all rooms and a mini split heater/ac unit in the downstairs. I want the upstairs bedrooms to be cooled and heated by the mini split as well. At present little to no cool air gets up their and the basebaord heaters still kick in upstairs in the winter.

The downstairs is open plan and the upstairs has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The staircase is on the long side of the home and is open.

So far I've considered installing a floor to floor transfer fan in the downstairs ceiling that would push air from downstairs into the master bedroom (and if it works, perhaps another for the 2nd bedroom) ($$$), putting a fan in the upstairs hallway and hoping the fan and open bedroom doors would get the air in the bedrooms enough ($$), or putting a hot tube (tube-works.com) in the staircase hallway and again hoping the open bedroom doors would get the air as well ($). Are there better ideas? Would one of these work better than others?

I wish I knew more about hvac and how to get the conditioned air from downstairs into the upstairs bedrooms, as that's my primary goal here. Any advice would be very appreciated. Thank you!

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Comments (4)

randy427
5 years ago
It's not just a matter of getting the conditioned air where you want it, you also need to get the unconditioned/return air back into the intake of your unit. Unfortunately, mini-splits are not designed to provide for this type of circulation in a multi-floor or a multi-room installation. An upstairs unit (A/C or mini-split) might be the best way to go.
sktn77a
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I wish I knew more about hvac and how to get the conditioned air from downstairs into the upstairs bedrooms, as that's my primary goal here.

Unfortunately, as you know, hot air rises and cold air falls. Getting cold air upstsairs from a downstarirs-only AC is going to be very difficult and probably won't work very well. You could add a minisplit upstairs, or relocate the downstairs evaporator upstairs and let thermodynamics do its job.
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Jeffrey Conor
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks for the feedback! It sounds like my best bet is to install a level to level fan in the floor to pull the air into the bedrooms and then it would return via the staircase. Or I could put in a window AC and have the room be slightly cooler, but louder and more expensive to run than a fan and a minisplit (and of course still use the baseboard heat in the winter).
ionized_gw
5 years ago
One option for the indoor part of mini splits are low static pressure air handlers with relatively short ducts. They can service more than one room. They are very flat and take up little space. You might be able to fit one in the top of a closet or design a fur down to contain it and be able to service the entire upstairs. I live in a hot climate and since i went from ducted to seven mini splits, I do not miss a cold air supply in the baths.

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