Going to agree with everyone else, the 22" for ducting seems CRAZY! We run both Heating and Cooling systems here, and everything stays within the conditioned space. I understand your struggles though. When I brought my plan to local HVAC companies, I was quoted $12k for the system and EXTENSIVE bulkheads throughout the house. It was CRAZY. Thankfully my father works at a college that trains HVAC specialists, and when he brought my plans to the instructors there, they created an AWESOME system, with ZERO bulkheads, utilized all the interior space (just a small double wall in the middle of the house for the main trunk to come up) and the final system was just $3000 including the furnace and all ductwork when we installed it. Tested all the loads, temperatures and velocity of the air through the system in all outlet vents last night and the guys at the college ran the performance numbers this morning. Just need to turn down one damper and I have PERFECT heat and circulation in the entire house. Sometimes I just think it's an easy way for these guys to make $$ and get a bigger job by suggesting these crazy (but way easier) systems. It certainly would have been easier to assemble and design with a giant void in the house or bulkheads everywhere, but I'm not paying them 4x the price to make life easy on them.

How can any energy audit be unbiased unless you do it yourself? All the companies that do these audits give you estimates for work they would do to improve energy efficiency. So they're not unbiased. They want your money. Living in AZ in a house that was built in 1998 during the "boom", there are tons of code violations, but since I was not the original owner, I have no recourse. I can't say for sure, but it appears that one of the violations involves roofing -- the tile -- and/or the attic "floor". The insulation is filthy and some is brown (mold?), the ductwork has huge piles of dust sitting on top of it, tape on the air handler is coming off, there is a piece of duct tape holding up a beam of some sort, and a couple of holes I saw in the attic (all I did was pop my head in) drilled in the plywood "floor" for electrical wires are splintered and cracked. I don't know where all that excess wood is going. One of the great big flexible ducts has a plastic tie around it almost choking it off. In much of the attic, there is so much pink stuff I can't see where the ducts are or where I might walk. In another part of the attic, the insulation is completely missing and the ceiling has cracked below. I saw all this just by popping my head in and looking around. It's a mess and I don't know what to do. It looks like the flexible duct I could see has serious problems. I can't believe anyone in their right (or wrong) mind would think putting flexible ductwork in attics of homes in suburbs of Phoenix, AZ -- a desert -- is a good idea. I don't see how there can be rigid metal beneath, which is what is necessary. I had that in the attic of my previous house, and other than issues with non-service of my heat pump for years by a company I paid to actually service it, heating and cooling was great and my electric bills were low. But since I moved to a smaller home, the electric bills have gone up. I've had energy audits. Everyone says I need my ducts sealed and new dampers, but they won't go into the attic and they won't tell me how they will access the ductwork. Everyone says the ductwork is probably leaky. How do they know there is even ductwork there if they can't see it? Are they just guessing? That's what I'm thinking. So I don't know what to do.

Hi Davidro1 - I'm not sure where you would like the newspaper taped... to cover the filter opening or hanging down from the filter opening. Let me know, and I will give it a go when my camera girl gets home tonight. The owners manual does not specify anything on ducting other than to calculate equivant length and say that the bends should be as far apart as possible. Here is the chain of correspondence I've had with Zephyr after I had contacted Customer Support on the phone and the service man came out: Hello Zepher - I contacted my contractor at the beginning of November with this issue... it is still not resolved. No one (including Zepher customer service and the Zepher service man) can seem to figure out what is going on. We had our kitchen renovated last year and are having problems with the exhaust fan. The contractor installed a Zepher AK8100AS (600cfm on max). Here is the situation... We have 8 foot ceilings. The vent hood is installed inside the cabinet above the stove and is 39.5 inches above the cook top. The exhaust exits the top of the unit in a 6" pipe, make a 90 degree bend (perpendicular to the wall the stove is on) in the ceiling, runs to the next joist opening (18 inches ish), makes another 90 degree bend and runs 4 feet (parallel to the stove wall) to the outside of the house. There is what looks like a large dryer vent on the outside of the house with a single flap and a triangular shield. The only joint I can see in the cabinet is a joint... no screws or tape. I don't remember what is in the ceiling. The vent is really loud when it is operating, and there are no appreciable differences in sound between the 3 speeds (the spec sheet gives the range of 1.4 - 6 sones for L/M/H). The vent appears to be blowing into the kitchen. When I light a candle and hold it up by the fan, the flame dances around, it isn't being pulled. It feels like air is blowing in when I put my hand next to the grate, and it will not hold a piece of paper against the grate. When I set the candle on the stove and blow out the candle, the smoke 'wallows' around and eventually dissipates into the kitchen... it isn't sucked up. The vent flap on the outside of the house opens when the fan is on. The manual specifies the hood to be mounted 26-36 inches above the cook top... we are too high, but that should not be an issue if I am holding a candle close to the fan. The Zepher service man says the hood is operating correctly and thinks it is an installation issue. Zepher customer service thinks it is a ventilation issue. Installer can't figure it out and need parts from the cabinet installer to lower the unit before he can start trouble shooting... Another retailer suggested that with the two bends so close together there maybe some flow issues causing some of the air to blow into the house and some out of the house. Can you help me resolve this issue? The response from Zephyr: From what you are describing, its almost 100% guarantee to be a duct issue. If the duct, as you say, is 6 inches on the hood, we would need to determine if the duct is 6 inches in diameter, all the way thru. We have had issues to where installers will reduce the duct size between the hood and its exit point, down to 4 inch diameter. The best way to determine if its a hood issue or a duct issue, is that the duct will need to be disconnected at the hood, and then the hood turned on. This isolates the duct run from the hood. The main issue that you describe is all 3 speeds sound the same. this is 100% issue with the duct, most likely being reduced in size. When this happens, the hood will be noisy and air will actually blow downward back into the kitchen. When the hood is on, it is trying to force a very large amount of air thru the duct. if the duct is smaller or reduced in size, it is trying to force 6 inches of air thru a smaller opening, which it cannot do. that excess 2 inches of air has no where to go but back down thru the hood into the kitchen. My response: Thanks for your quick response. I am fairly certain that there is 6 in duct work in the ceiling. The flap on the vent on the outside of the house is 6 inches in diameter, and the venting that sat in my kitchen. I am attaching a picture of the venting sticking out of the ceiling and the vent piece going through the wall before it is installed... What about the short distance between the 2 90 degree elbows? Any other ideas? Zephyr response: if possible, please out line the entire duct run, how many feet inbetween turns, basically from start to finish. As for distance between elbows, there needs to be atleast 1-2 feet inbetween any type of turn My response: Just confirmed with the contractor that the ducts are 6 inches in diameter... That was the last thing the installer did on my job and has the receipt showing he purchased 6 inch duct work. The duct run is as follows: Vent Exit -> 12 inch (approx) 6 inch diameter duct -> 90 degree 6 inch diameter elbow (the turn takes the run perpendicular to the wall the stove is on) -> 4.5 inch (approx) 6 inch diameter pipe-> 90 degree 6 inch elbow (turns the run parallel to the stove wall) -> 54 inch (approx - max) 6 inch diameter pipe -> 6 inch wall cap with damper The installation manual does not specify distance between turns. If the best way to determine if the hood or duct work is at fault is to drop the hood, why didn't the Zepher service man do that? Comments? Zephyr Response: We see that the issue is most likely the 4.5 inch between elbows. It is always best to have ateleast 1-2 feet inbetween elbows. Being that 6inch is the minimum size, if you are to keep that run, you may have to increase the diameter of the duct to 8-10inch to possibly eliminate that restriction.

I'd be inclined to suspect a combination of fan dampers not closing properly and gross overchilling of the bathrooms. Aside and editorial: I'm not a doctor, but I consider anything below about 75 deg F too much change from outdoors for good health in the summer. The hotter your climate, the more critical this is. Seventy-eight or even 80F is ample cooling when the outdoor temp is in 3 digits. It saves significant money on your summer electric bill, too. Overcooling the indoors also makes you more miserable when you go outside, because it inhibits your body's ability to adjust to the heat. As you've seen, overcooling can also cause house problems. If the bathrooms were in the 60-65 deg F range, that's excessive. I've never heard of a bathroom with more than one heating/cooling register. Is the bath that huge??? Try closing off all the vents but one. Leave the doors open when the bathrooms aren't in use. Remove the fans from their housings and check for proper damper operation. Clean the dampers and ducts thoroughly with a brush and vacuum. Lubricate the dampers (if necessary) only with a dry lubricant, such as Teflon or graphite. It sounds like the fans aren't really working all that well. I think that the 14' run to the cap is too much, especially with bends. You need a shorter path to free air. Consider ducting the exhausts straight up through the roof (example). The roof cap will also provide a redundant damper. Use rigid pipe.