cold air return in bedroom


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Old 12-15-14, 01:02 PM
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cold air return in bedroom

Hello, I have a 1300 sq ft ranch house, my primary source of heat is a pellet stove. The main living areas stay pretty consistent in temperatures, but the bedroom on the other side of the house gets a little chilly, I was wondering if adding a register at floor level and connect it with ducting with an inline fan to the living would help remove the cold air from the bedroom and let the warm air move in.
 
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Old 12-15-14, 01:10 PM
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Air needs a path both ways, in & out. If you keep the bedroom door closed & add a return with a fan, you are not going to be able to bring the warm air into the room(s).
 
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Old 12-15-14, 03:18 PM
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Bedroom door is always open, even when we are in there.
 
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Old 12-23-14, 07:24 AM
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What about a cold air return and a supply line, one pulling air from ceiling level in living room and blowing into ceiling level of bedroom, cold air return pulling from floor level of bedroom and blowing to ceiling level of living room.
 
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Old 01-02-15, 01:49 PM
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I installed a register right over top of the stove, install a 6" inline fan rated for 250 cfm and installed 6" insulated flex duct to a register in the ceiling of my bedroom, after 2 hours of running and a box fan blowing air out at floor level there has been absolutely no change in temp, any suggestions?
 
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Old 01-02-15, 02:03 PM
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What is the temperaute of the air coming out of the register? What is the temperaure in the room? You might be moving too much air.
 
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Old 01-02-15, 02:08 PM
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Its about 71-72 degrees coming out of the register, the room is 64
 
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Old 01-02-15, 02:37 PM
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Heres a thought I had, but haven't asked about. My primary source of heat now is a pellet stove located in the living room, and I have oil fired baseboard heat. I have been wanting to install central air in my house, and if I am going to do that I was thinking of buying a heatpump/ac combo. I would like to set it up so that the heat pump would run to keep the 2 bedrooms and kitchen a tad bit warmer, like in the 70 degree range. I'm not sure how efficient heat pumps are in PA and if it would be worthwhile even doing.
 
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Old 01-03-15, 10:45 AM
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Heat pumps are particularly good when the outdoor temps are 35* or better. Unless you live in a really cold region of PA, I don't see why a heat pump wouldn't do well. It doesn't cost that much more for a heat pump as opposed to straight cooling.
 
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Old 01-04-15, 10:23 AM
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Thats what I thought as well, I want to get central air in the house, so I mys well add a heat pump while I am at it, I think heat pump would be great for supplementing the stove and keeping the colder parts of the house warm.

I can do all the duct work myself, so that will save a good bit but I might have a professional install the actual unit.
 
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Old 01-04-15, 12:46 PM
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I have a heat pump. I don't know much, but after watching 2-3 installers work all afternoon replacing one that died I was impressed with how finicky they were, including with the ductwork. I wonder if the installers have to do the ducts themseves to make your warranty good.
 
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Old 01-04-15, 01:46 PM
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If you opt to have a heat pump instaled, I suggest you install at least 5kW of strip heat just to knock off the chill when the pump goes into defrost mode. Here's a program I have personally used & was happy with, which will help you calculate the correct size heat pump for your home as well as telling you how much air needs to go to each room. From that, you can figure what size duct you need for each room. The website is HVAC Software, HVAC-Calc for Heat Loss, Heat Load Calculations
 
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Old 01-04-15, 05:00 PM
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Thanks grady, that is pretty handy.

I was over at my girlfriend's cousins how last night and their sole source of heat is a heat pump. There new heat pump and duct work was installed in their basement, it was a retrofit to an existing system. However, what I saw was that there was no return ductwork, however in its place they had one large 24x24 grill at floor level in a central location of the house that allowed air to flow down to the basement, where the air handler was.

I found this interesting because I never really knew this would work, I assume since the air has a place to move to while being replaced by new warm air, the cold air will find its way down that grate. If its possible I would love to do this in my house.

I have two options for ductwork. I can install it in the unconditioned attic, which in honesty I would like to stay away from.

Or I can install it in my finished basement, this would require some custom ductwork and soffits built to conceal the ductwork. If I do it this way however, I will not be able to run any return ductwork. However I was thinking if I added in a floor level vent in the living room, dining room and 2 bedrooms, it would allow the cold air to sink out of the rooms while being replaced by the warm, the air would just get sucked back into the unit in the basement.

Installing it in the basement would also allow me to add some ducts to the basement to help heat, and possibly even move my stove down there right by the return intake to pull the heat and move it around the rest of the house.

These are all just thoughts.
 
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Old 01-04-15, 05:58 PM
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For heating purposes, both supplys & returns should be at or near the floor. For cooling, however, low suppys & returns cause the cool air to come out of the registers & essentially run right across the floor & down the return creating very cool ankle level & higher temperaures as you go up.
 
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Old 01-04-15, 06:05 PM
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What if I were to use the wall cavity as the return duct, a return grill at ceiling level and one at floor level, when heating close the register at ceiling height, when cooling close the one at floor level.

The wall cavity return duct would just open up into the basement. I don't know if this would even work or not.
 
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Old 01-04-15, 06:36 PM
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It absolutely will, & does, work. As a rule of thumb, a 2x4 stud space 16" on center will carry 125-150 CFM. For cooling you need to move 400 CFM/ton (12,000 btu/hr) of cooling.

Good thinking. I was prepared to offer that very suggestion but didn't want to overload you at one time.
 
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Old 01-04-15, 06:52 PM
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Would I need to attach these wall ducts directly to the return duct of the air handler, or just let them flow into the basement?
 
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Old 01-05-15, 02:44 PM
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It would be preferable to go to the air handler.
 
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Old 11-18-15, 05:46 PM
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I have a cold air return between 2x4 studs in a wall, where with a remodel, will be a pocket door. So when the pocket door is closed the wall cavity is open to the cold air 'duct' but when the door is open, there is a partial block since the door is in the cavity. Would this have a dramatic effect or is there a simple solution to route around he pocket door?
 
 

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