inline duct blowers for central air....

[tomstevens26]

Hey everyone... here goes a central heat/air question.

Just bought a two story house. The central AC unit is the original one that came with the house (it's 4 years old) and I'm having a little trouble keeping certain rooms in the upstairs cool. Downstairs can be 70, and the rooms upstairs range from 73-76. Had a tech out today and he said that the house really could use a second unit just for the upstairs, but he said the installing blowers in the ducts would get more cold air upstairs and distribute it better than it currently is. He said it should really help, and may solve the problem altogether. Well, he quoted $450 to do it, and since I'm not wanting to spend several grand for a separate unit I'm thinking maybe I'll go try that route.

Anyone else here have experience in using blowers like this? I just don't want to pay $450 and come to find that it didn't help.

Thanks for any advice.

Tom

 

[woowoo]

The folks over here dont like them
www.hvac-talk.com
I would go with zoning myself........

 

[mrCide]

i once put a block of 6 panaflo l1a's in my duct .. it didnt really do much of anything, though they were fairly weak fans.

 

[tomstevens26]

Originally posted by: woowoo
The folks over here dont like them
www.hvac-talk.com
I would go with zoning myself........

Thanks. Doing my own googling I've found stuff about zoning, but I'm not really sure what it is. Isn't that just adding a system for upstairs, or is there more to it than that?

 

[ICXRa]

I used one of these duct boosters in our last house to help cool a garage that I had converted to a studio. This increased the airflow about 3 or 4X but there was next to nothing coming out before that due to the length of the run I had to install. It will help but it will be difficult to say how much.

 

[woowoo]

Zoning is dividing up your ductwork.
Two thermostats one AC
Get it?

 

[Lounatik]

I finshed off a room at the top of my house and I went he boosted route because I didnt have the green to replace my AC. Worked OK for the past three years and just last week I start to hear a rattle coming from inside the wall. Friggin fan blade is hitting the inside of the collar for some reason, and I had to disconnect it. I installed it inside of the wall so I will EVENTUALLY cut the damn thing out. Skip it and put a window unit in(at least temporarily). Thats what I wound up doing.

I also did not see too much airflow improvement when it was working properly, because I had a real long run to start with and the fan basically was providing almost all of the push.


Peace


Lounatik

 

[tomstevens26]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I currently have a window unit in the room that gets the hottest - I was just hoping to replace it. The other room gets warm, but it stays around 75, even on a sunny day with the temp outside at 96, so that's not too bad. I guess I won't have the boosters installed. It just seems like too much money for something that may not provide a solution. This house will hopefully be a long term solution, so maybe later down the road I'll consider adding a unit for upstairs if it continues to be an issue.

Tom

 

[spyordie007]

you probably dont need a second unit; like woowoo said if your one unit is powerfull enough to cool the whole house zoning would probably be a less expensive route. Besides who wants to have 2 AC units sitting outside their house?

 

[waggy]

we have the same problem in the house we are buying.

they have had a few poeple to look at it but nobody can figure it out.

All the other rooms upstairs get a pretty good blast of cold air. Its just one big room that gets only a trickle of air comeing from the vent. Its rather frustrating.

 

[tomstevens26]

Originally posted by: spyordie007
you probably dont need a second unit; like woowoo said if your one unit is powerfull enough to cool the whole house zoning would probably be a less expensive route. Besides who wants to have 2 AC units sitting outside their house?

Well, I guess I just don't understand how zoning would help. For example, a bedroom and rec room at the end of the hall (furthest away from the unit) get a lot more airflow than the bedroom at the end of the hall closest to the unit. The bedroom (by the rec room) gets OK air flow, and the rec room gets really good airflow. The other bedroom (the one with the window unit) has virtually no air flow coming from the register. If all zoning does is make the unit kick on if the temp in one zone is off (am I understanding that correctly) then I don't see how cooling the rest of the floor is going to help, when the one room that gets virtually no air flow is still not getting much air flow. Again, maybe I'm not understanding it

Tom

 

[tomstevens26]

Originally posted by: waggy
we have the same problem in the house we are buying.

they have had a few poeple to look at it but nobody can figure it out.

All the other rooms upstairs get a pretty good blast of cold air. Its just one big room that gets only a trickle of air comeing from the vent. Its rather frustrating.

Yeah, pretty much the same situation I'm in. This one vent just has very little airflow. The dampers on it are wide open, just no air seems to be making it down here. It's on the side of the unit, so it doesn't make sense....unless of course the trunk that runs up to this floor is running all the way under the house to the other side, and then up and back down. But that wouldn't make much sense. I agree....it's extremely frustrating. I know one thing....if we ever do buy another two story house in the future I won't even consider one that doesn't have a separate unit for upstairs.

Tom