House heating

[NYHoustonman]

Random question,

Just got back to my mother's house in NY for the holidays, and the heating system still hasn't improved.

Basically, the same roof vents that are used for central air (which doesn't work) are used for heating. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem if the air was actively being moved, which it isn't. The hot air just sits around these vents, and this makes for some pretty high energy bills just to keep the house above 65.

Is this a common thing, or is there likely something wrong? I have no experience with this kind of thing, so I'm kind of in the dark, but common sense dictates (at least to me) that there's likely a broken fan or something somewhere...

 

[spidey07]

Sounds like something is broken. Clogged duct work, bad blower motor, thermostat, whole slew of things. Just call somebody to get it fixed. If it's not moving air it's just wasting money.

 

[theblackbox]

well, i couldn' tell you. all i have for heating is a wood burning stove and baseboard heaters that we rarely use.
during the winter, i like to just get the house to 62. thats more then enough.
without heat, if the weather in the day will get up 20, the house can maintain 47 on it's own.

thats weird that the house uses roof vents for heat, floor registers are so much better.

 

[NYHoustonman]

Originally posted by: theblackbox

thats weird that the house uses roof vents for heat, floor registers are so much better.

Yea, exactly my thinking, it just didn't make sense XD.

Originally posted by: spidey07
Sounds like something is broken. Clogged duct work, bad blower motor, thermostat, whole slew of things. Just call somebody to get it fixed. If it's not moving air it's just wasting money.

That's pretty much the answer I was looking for, I wanted to make sure we didn't have someone come out only to find it's working 'as intended.' Thanks .

 

[dullard]

If neither the central air nor the heat work well, you probably have a problem. It could be a whole number of issues.

The biggest issue is your vents on the roof. All that expensive air is blowing right outside your house instead of inside your house. You really should get someone to move those so that they are in your ceiling instead of your roof.

The real key for vent placement is that the return is not on the same vertical height as the vent. If the vent and the return are both on or near the ceiling, then all that nice temperature air stays on the ceiling. If they are both on the floor, then all the nice temperature air stays right on the floor. In neither case does the air get to where you are in the middle vertically. Instead, you'd need the return on or near the floor so that all the air must go from the celing to the floor. Or vise-versa. If that is your problem, then moving a return could be a very simple change, just block the return on the top of the wall and cut a new hole underneith it on the bottom of the wall.

But it sounds to me like you have something wrong with your system.

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: theblackbox
thats weird that the house uses roof vents for heat, floor registers are so much better.

Sounds like it's probably an old house that was updated cheaply.

Our place was built in the 1920s and the ductwork is terrible. Unfortunately it would cost more than it's worth to do a proper job of placing vents and returns.

 

[nakedfrog]

Our heat vents are in the ceiling, and returns on the floor. I just had central A/C installed a couple years ago.
Something should probably be moving that air around in your case, though.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Sounds like something is broken. Clogged duct work, bad blower motor, thermostat, whole slew of things. Just call somebody to get it fixed. If it's not moving air it's just wasting money.

its only wasting money if its not moving air and the blower is running. if the blower is busted, no draw on the power. no draw, no waste of energy.

id say call a repair man, heaters push air to heat the house, unless they have a radiator system. then it radiates heat.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: theblackbox

thats weird that the house uses roof vents for heat, floor registers are so much better.

thats a common misconception from a lot of east coasters. you arent the only people in the country, and in other climates, things tend to work differently. ive never seen a house in arizona with floor registers that didnt have wheels under it.

 

[Modelworks]

Floor registers are better for heat but then they come with other problems, like having to make sure your furniture doesn't block them, dirt that naturally falls into the vents then gets blown about the house.
Get some ceiling fans. They are great running at low speed, blowing against the ceiling in any home during the winter, regardless of heat type.