Cold air returns in balloon framed house

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Greenwood
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Cold air returns in balloon framed house

Post by Greenwood »

I'm trying to get my basement and attic sealed and insulated. My house is balloon framed. It has always been colder in winter/hotter in summer upstairs, with reduced air flow coming from the vents up there, worse on one side of the house than the other.
I've been sealing the ducting, will be insulating at the rim joists and basement walls, and eventually will make my way to the attic.
With the construction of a new addition, I see that the joists are set into the block concrete walls and that cold air returns are simply made from a sheet of tin nailed to two joists that run from wall to wall in the basement, and that the 'cold air' space is the cavity in the wall that runs from basement to attic. That is, it is random air leakage into that space from the outside that provides the cold air intake for the returns. The cold air returns are on the outside walls, and the heating vents are on the inside walls.
I'm thinking that the lack of proper air return is what is causing the poor blowing in the upstairs.
Any thoughts or experiences with this? Any suggestions on how to fix it?
Thanks!
Andrea

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GibsonGM
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Re: Cold air returns in balloon framed house

Post by GibsonGM »

I think you should talk to an HVAC person, see if you couldn't run a new intake from outside or some such thing. Or something (flex duct type of thing?) that can be run up a wall cavity to the attic, etc. Be sure they understand your insulation plans when discussing it...Mine just has a large grate in the kitchen (out of the way).

It may be possible to terminate the way it's being returned now, is what I'm getting at. But I'd want the opinion of a pro before I changed it up.

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Mick_VT
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Re: Cold air returns in balloon framed house

Post by Mick_VT »

usually lack of blowing is more due to lack of suck from the returns. For example a room with no return will have much less effecting heating than one with. My understanding is that ideally most rooms (other than kitchen or bathroom) should have a return. Not sure if this helps any. I have this same kind of return setup, and personally I don't like it much especially as my joists are antique and especially leaky, and my crawlspace is damp and dusty
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nhguy
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Re: Cold air returns in balloon framed house

Post by nhguy »

It sounds like you will need all new runs for both hot and cold sides. Have you considered just changing to hot water heating, which you would likely find more comfortable? Have a tight envelope is most important with hot air heat, as it wants to pull air from every crack. You could talk to an HVAC company get those costs, plus when your furnace may need replacing. Then talk to a plumbing company and see what the cost of hot water would be, plus the pay back. They have lots of very efficient hot water radiators now.

phil
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Re: Cold air returns in balloon framed house

Post by phil »

mine originaly had a heater int he basement, a big grate above it and eat went into a central hallway. doors were used to shut any areas not needing heat, there were no air returns.

later when forced air was installed they closed the grate and ducted heat to outside walls usually nbear windows. a couple of returns were installed on the main floor but no returns in the attic since heat just ends up there anyway. the doors are cut a bit higher to allow the cool air to drift down the stairwell if the doors are closed.

obviously you can't low air into any space without a way for air to get out.

one thing I don't;' like about the installation is that the ducting in the basement in some areas limits the headroom which is already a bit low by today's standards.

another option is to install forced air in the attic and duct it down to the lower floors. Perhaps in your house you could have it that way. Your furnace needs a footprint somewhere. or yea you can consider hot water or in floor heat or electric baseboards.

keep in mind if you ever plan on rental suites that they can't share the same air so in some cases just adding electric baseboards in those areas might be more suitable than forced air. also if you want electric heat you have to see if your panel can handle the current, it might need to be upgraded to get more amps. In my case I needed to add a new panel and new wires to the street to handle the larger panel. I don't have electric heaters but it's easy to add them now.

Ive been noticing some fancy new grills. I saw some yesterday on sale in home depot that although they look nice, these restrict the flow as they are not louvered vents they are designs cut into the flat metal plate and if you install those you might have a 4x10 pipe but the grate may only have half the surface area to let the air out of the pipe, causing a restriction. of course people buy them and stick them in not realizing it is choking their heating system.

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