Seems there are a lot of members who are experienced in homeowner issues. I’d sure like some opinions on our situation.
We moved into our 10-year-old home a few months ago. I was very happy to see that the furnace was one of those high-efficiency ones, that we had a good air filtration system, etc. Even a humidifier!
But all is not as it seems. We noticed right away that we were just not getting the kind of air flow from the vents that we would expect (and I’ve lived in lots of places so I know the range of normal). We investigated the baffles downstairs and found that each vent has its own adjustment. We adjusted away, but didn’t notice much difference.
Then I realized that although there are return air vents in most rooms, in the upstairs rooms they aren’t doing much at all. A fluffy feather held in front of them when the heat is on produces almost no movement. What’s more, the return air vents are actually not ducted - they are just empty spaces between the walls! I was shocked at this. This is not a cheaply made house in general. Is this normal? Why would anyone not install actual duct work in the returns?
We went down into the (heated) basement and sealed up all the leakages we could find in the ductwork. We replaced the air filter (eww, hadn’t been done by the previous guy in far too long). But we still feel the system underperforms.
We got all the replacement filters for the humidifier and cranked it up, only to find out it wastes gallons of water per day when it’s running. (I wrote to the company, Aprilaire, basically asking “WTF???” and they said the water usage is “perfectly normal.”) We think that’s ludicrous so we’re back to room humidifiers and lots of dry skin and staticky cats.
Does anyone have any input into the apparent weakness of our furnace? The reason I’m asking here instead of calling a random HVAC professional is that in the past when we’ve had problems with the HVAC we have been hugely disappointed in the caliber of people who showed up. In short, we’ve been traumatized.
If an HVAC professional in the Columbus area would like to comment in a private message, that would be fine as well. TIA for your input.
Quick hijack (I have no words of wisdom for your situation) -
How do you know how much water your humidifier is using? I have an Aprilaire too and I would like to know how much MINE uses. It never occurred to me that it’d be “gallons” but I have no way of knowing how much it uses.
Well, if you look at Aprilaire’s website they will tell you approximately how many gallons the thing uses per hour it’s working. A more empirical method might be to locate the tube that takes the water to wherever it takes it, pull the end out and put it into a bucket. Make it a large bucket.
Try this link (see question number 20):
We figured we were wasting at least 10 gallons of water a day, right down the drain. During the month we had the humidifier up and running we saw our water usage increase hugely. At least in our case the water was running into a ravine on our property, but in a lot of instances it’s going into the public sewer system which means it’s a further burden on public sewers.
Their FAQ section, which is in the link I provided above, is interesting. Don’t believe that you have to order genuine parts directly from them. Several other companies online carry genuine Aprilaire parts at substantial savings.
Unfortunately, too many contractors do not take the time to do a complete calculation to properly size an HVAC system, such that you are given a ‘ballpark’ unit which may be too big, but is more often borderline.
To get air flowing evenly throughout the dwelling, ductwork should have adjustable dampers installed, but this is often skipped, particularly in residential work, resulting in a system which has greatest flow in rooms closest to the unit, and minimal flow at the remote rooms, which sounds like what you’re experiencing. Without the duct dampers, it’s difficult to get a system to balance and provide even flow at all discharges.
WRT return air, it is common to use stud and joist bays for return air, but they need to be effectively sealed, too.
Without seeing your system, it’s impossible to put a $ figure on what is needed to improve comfort, but I’d start with thorough recheck for leaks, evaluation of system sizing and ductwork, installation of turning vanes or duct dampers, and system balancing.
I don’t comprehend this. I have never seen an installation like this, but I am not an A/C guy. Just putting a grill in the wall without any return the the a/c doesn’t do anything I can see. Perhaps the OP means that the return path doesn’t have actual piping-it is just sheetrock back to the furnace. That is common, though around here it is no longer within code. But there must be a path back to the furnace or the “return” isn’t going to.
I’m an HVAC professional and a regular poster on HVAC issues on this MB and I live in Dayton, about 60 miles from you. I go to Columbus occasionally (I just put in a system in Dublin) and would be glad to talk to you via phone first, and in person later if you are satisfied with our phone call. PM me if interested, no charge for phone calls, no matter the length.
You may search to see my contributions to other HVAC threads if you’d like.
Oops, I can see I wasn’t clear. We do have those dampers, which are accessible in the basement. Each register has its own damper. We’ve nearly closed the ones closest to the furnace. In the summer we gave more air to the ones upstairs, and now we’ve done the opposite. Despite this, as far as we can tell none of this makes any difference.
I wish it weren’t the case. I can just about feel all the bits of crump and ook glomming onto the sides of the studs and the inside of the drywall in a way they wouldn’t attach to the inside of ductwork.
My concern is that the furnace is having to work harder to do what it needs to do, which means we’re using that much more fuel and the system will also wear itself out sooner. If the return air vents aren’t sucking, then less air is going to be coming into the rooms. It’s quite frustrating.
We have the leaks sealed, and there were some doozies in the basement. (Which is a heated and cooled space, but why waste it down there?) As far as getting the system sized and balanced, we’ve just had so many horrible experiences trying to get an HVAC professional to do that kind of thing that we’re about burned out on it. One guy we called out attempted to fix something at our last house with an old license plate. No one seems to know anything more than how to check the pilot light, even though we’ve called and asked for someone who really knew his stuff.
YVW. the raindog is a heckuva lot closer to you than I am, and imagining his jobsite performance to be as detailed and thorough as his answers on SDMB, you should be in good hands.
