Heat Pump Air Return Flow


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Old 11-04-05, 08:59 AM
dklauk
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Heat Pump Air Return Flow

We have been in our house for 6 years with it built in 1978 with central a/c using a heat pump. We have had a great deal of dust in this house and I discovered today that the main hallway air return goes directly down into the crawl space.

Why would one design such a system? Where should the air flow to from the air return vent?

Thanks.
 
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Old 11-04-05, 10:17 AM
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Id say need more info on your setup there. Is there no duct on that grill to the unit? Did it pass code ?????? Is there a filter in the unit and you change it every 30 to 90 days??? Is the crawl space sealed up ???insulation on the walls???? A 6 mil poly down on the ground there???

Why would one design such a system? Where should the air flow to from the air return vent?
It will keep the floor warm. The cold air return should go to the return side of the unit down there.

ED still cleaning up from Wilma
 
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Old 11-04-05, 10:54 AM
dklauk
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Originally Posted by Ed Imeduc
Id say need more info on your setup there. Is there no duct on that grill to the unit? Did it pass code ?????? Is there a filter in the unit and you change it every 30 to 90 days??? Is the crawl space sealed up ???insulation on the walls???? A 6 mil poly down on the ground there???



It will keep the floor warm. The cold air return should go to the return side of the unit down there.

ED still cleaning up from Wilma
When I shine a light down the register I see a lot of dust and seems like a large opening visible to the crawl space. Did it pass code? My guess is that it somehow got passed.

There is a filter in the heat pump and I do change it every 90 days with one of the expensive electratic type filters from Lowes or Home Depot.

There is insulation int he walls but probably R-11. And, there is no poly on the ground, just plain old dirt.

Thanks for any additional input you could provide.

I am not sure how to tell the difference between a cold air return and warm air return. Can you briefly explain?
 
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Old 11-04-05, 11:24 AM
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Originally Posted by Ed Imeduc
ED still cleaning up from Wilma

Welcome back Ed.. I was wondering if you got hit bad or not.. How did your home hold up from her?
 
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Old 11-04-05, 11:27 AM
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Just to start go to http://aboutsavingheat.com/crawlspace.html

Read it You do need a 6 mil poly down on that ground.

the return cold air goes back to the unit. the warm air comes out into the rooms.

Still in clean up mood here. Got power back. Wind 125 mph,it got all my solar on the roof for the pool. some roof shingles not bad. Sure got a lot of other homes here and let the rain in. almost all stop lights are out.Say cost to fix them about 4 mil. We where in the eye for about 45min with no wind. Then it came back 180o .with all the stuff it had blowed away it all came back at your home again. wind took a lot of the window shutters right off the homes down here.

ED Think Ill move Im to old for all this anymore
 
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Old 11-04-05, 12:13 PM
dklauk
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So.....

I have the small-type registers (8x12?) in each room. Also there are two large registers (8x30?), one (in the hallway at the baseboard, and one near a ceiling on a wall 90 degrees from the first large register.

The one at the baseboard is the one that I can look down and see open space, cleary w/o any metal duct.

Should this one near the baseboard have duct back to the unit or is it okay as it is for it to be an intake vent that sends air down to the crawl?

The real problem is that our house has a lot of dust--my wife is constantly having to dust the furniture, more so than any other house we have lived in.
 
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Old 11-04-05, 12:22 PM
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Go down there and see what you have for duct.Put the 6 mil poly down on the ground. New filter every 30 days. There also is a spray you can get to put on the filter intake sidewhen you put a new one in It helps

ED
 
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Old 11-04-05, 12:38 PM
dklauk
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One final question: when I go under the crawl looking at that register from underneath, should I see duct or not? Is it okay for that register to through the return air down into the crawl or should there be duct?
 
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Old 11-04-05, 12:48 PM
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It should have a duct from it to the air intake on the unit. Id call code and have them check it out.

ED
 
 

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