4 ms·

I have a two story home with one central air unit and the distribution of heat is terrible, some rooms get super hot, the whole downstairs is super cold. Are t

I have a two story home with one central air unit and the distribution of heat is terrible, some rooms get super hot, the whole downstairs is super cold. Are there any affordable steps one can take to improve these kinda of problems?

nine_k 5y ago
Add a fan that makes the air circulate: it should blow vertically and try to mix the hot air at the top with cold air below. Same thing helps with air cooling units which tend to freeze your feet only: push cold air up with a fan.
coryrc 5y ago
"HVAC balancing" would be a good search term for you.
hedora 5y ago
This is not particularly affordable, but most things that cost more will be a waste of money. If HVAC balancing fails: Replace the furnace with a heat pump with a variable rate fan and compressor. The unit will run constantly at low speed. It will also be super energy efficient, so there might be tax incentives. You can get a hybrid gas or resistive heat model, which will fall back on conventional methods of heating as appropriate. As upgrades, you could add a central (de)humidifier, air exchanger, and forest fire smoke air filter, depending on what other problems your area has. You could also try getting a two zone system (separate temperature control and blowers for upstairs and downstairs), but that probably means tearing into walls or something. The always on slow + quiet fan is a much better solution.
JKCalhoun 5y ago
Identify the really hot rooms, see if the windows are modern. If not, replace with double-pane, low-e windows. Sorry, all I can think of that's maybe affordable. As other's say though, closing off vents and such you might be able to manually re-balance the house. My last home had two "zones" and therefore two thermostats. But it required also some complicated baffles in the ventilation system to open and/or close the two zones independently. I didn't install it, it might have been pricey to do so.

nine_k 5y ago

Add a fan that makes the air circulate: it should blow vertically and try to mix the hot air at the top with cold air below. Same thing helps with air cooling units which tend to freeze your feet only: push cold air up with a fan.

coryrc 5y ago

"HVAC balancing" would be a good search term for you.

hedora 5y ago

This is not particularly affordable, but most things that cost more will be a waste of money. If HVAC balancing fails: Replace the furnace with a heat pump with a variable rate fan and compressor. The unit will run constantly at low speed. It will also be super energy efficient, so there might be tax incentives. You can get a hybrid gas or resistive heat model, which will fall back on conventional methods of heating as appropriate. As upgrades, you could add a central (de)humidifier, air exchanger, and forest fire smoke air filter, depending on what other problems your area has. You could also try getting a two zone system (separate temperature control and blowers for upstairs and downstairs), but that probably means tearing into walls or something. The always on slow + quiet fan is a much better solution.

JKCalhoun 5y ago

Identify the really hot rooms, see if the windows are modern. If not, replace with double-pane, low-e windows. Sorry, all I can think of that's maybe affordable. As other's say though, closing off vents and such you might be able to manually re-balance the house. My last home had two "zones" and therefore two thermostats. But it required also some complicated baffles in the ventilation system to open and/or close the two zones independently. I didn't install it, it might have been pricey to do so.