Jennifer K asked:
We’re having some problems cooling our house. My husband says it’s because we need a new heater unit (forced air oil heater) and it’s not blowing the air. I say it’s becuase we need to reposition ducts that were covered or disconnected when we redid the kitchen and the house is so hot because the sun beats in the sliding glass doors all afternoon and the only working vent comes out behind the stove and then the hot air goes all through the house and the remaining working vents (3) can’t keep the house cool (it’s a small house, but there should be 6-10 working vents). He says air should be blowing quite rapidly out the vents. I’ve never experienced a central air system where air came flying out the vents, it usually slowly flows out. I know we need to replace our heater by winter, but I think a set of blinds for the window and fixing the ducts and vents is the answer for now (and cheaper, too!). Can anyone give me an opinion from a heating/air conditioning professional standpoint?
Martin
We’re having some problems cooling our house. My husband says it’s because we need a new heater unit (forced air oil heater) and it’s not blowing the air. I say it’s becuase we need to reposition ducts that were covered or disconnected when we redid the kitchen and the house is so hot because the sun beats in the sliding glass doors all afternoon and the only working vent comes out behind the stove and then the hot air goes all through the house and the remaining working vents (3) can’t keep the house cool (it’s a small house, but there should be 6-10 working vents). He says air should be blowing quite rapidly out the vents. I’ve never experienced a central air system where air came flying out the vents, it usually slowly flows out. I know we need to replace our heater by winter, but I think a set of blinds for the window and fixing the ducts and vents is the answer for now (and cheaper, too!). Can anyone give me an opinion from a heating/air conditioning professional standpoint?
Martin
Tags: Air Conditioning, Central Air System, Sun
Sorry,but 3 vents aint gonna cut it. You need to fix the damage to the duct you did when you “re-did” the kitchen.No,the air coming from the vents should not be blasting out of the vents unless you have a high velocity system which is not the case here. Most times the fan speed for a/c is at a medium speed(being low,med and high,high will be for heat,some manuf. take it a step further w/ med-high speeds but those are newer units usually and not yours I’m sure).Sounds to me like there could be a few things causing this. If your furnace is in need of replacement,Why? Is there a problem with the fan/blower?Does the fan even come on?Fix the vents you disconnected and as you stated ,put up some window shades to limit the heat load entering the house. ****TACT H*** You’re crazy fan speed is VERY important,if your fan is on LOW the evaporator will freeze up not having enough airflow across the coil. Go back to school !!
Well, I’m not a pro, but I do know something of passive solar. You are right to block the sunlight as this causes heat in the room. My A/C blows hard from it’s vents. I currently have a heat pump and it does work with the same control unit as the heater, but it is separate.. if you understand what I mean.
I’d add more vents, you can’t have too many of those!!
FIx the duct work!!!! I am a HVAC instructor. Wihout proper airflow you are wasting money and your time. Fan speed has nothing to do with it, if the ductwork is not properly sized or hooked up. Different areas of the country use different fan speeds. In hotter climates, the fan is on high speed. Air conditioning does two things 1. remove heat from the house 2. remove humidity from the house. Fixing the ductwork and putting up shades on your windows is the best route to take.
All rooms should have operating vents- period!!!! If you do not remove the heat from the room, it will travel to the next room & then the next room and so on. If you do not have operable vents in all room, do not even use the A/C until you do- you are just wasting time and money. Think of you house like a steamship. You want to keep you ballist tanks (rooms in your house) balanced. If you do that the ship will float (house will be cool). If one tank is too full (room too hot) then the ship strugles to keep up steam (higher electric bills). If too many of these tanks fill up (rooms too hot) then the ship will sink TITANIC ( your house). Make sense?
You need to ask yourself a couple qestions before you replace your units & fix your ductwork.
1. Did you add square footage to the house when you remodeled? If you did - a big increase in the square footage could mean that your current system may be too small to keep your home comfortable. .
2. Did the system cool the house before the remodel? If it did then you have a duct problem or leakage problem. Have the ducts repaired and sealed, clean you ducts if possible ( construction dust, attic dirt & bug droppings could be in your ducts now, that means your are breathing it), have your coil cleaned also (if the coil is dirty then you are losing the efficency of you cooling & the unit is working harder to provide less cooling).
3. Are your vents near the outside walls? If they are great, you want to develop an envelope around the house, so as heat comes in it is betten back by the cool air. If not - get high velocity type registers to blow the air out to the outside walls, once again you want to push the heat back before it gets too far into the house.
4. Before you change your unit - Do you need to?
Have several different companies examine your system before you consider changing it. All companies must do a Manual J on you house. What this is a load calculation of your house - which direction is it facing, window sizes & thickness, insullation, people in house, electonics, etc. All this is put into a program and it properly szes the unit for your home - the days of rule of thumb are GONE!!!!
Your problem is not too uncommon, just fix it correctly before you spend alot of money in a new system. Look at the symptom to fix the problem! Don’t chase ghosts - that is expensive and it does not fix the problem.