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I walked through a 2-story house under construction nearby and noticed elliptical heating ducts (4×9?)that ran from the basement to the 2nd floor in the exterior wall. There was about 1.5″ of compressed fg insulation between the duct and the outside wall. In MN this seems to be a bad idea.
My guess is that they didn’t want to stack the 1st and 2nd story walls and also because they used i-joists for the 2nd floor they might have had to box in the ducts. What are you’re opinions on this setup?
Steve
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Steve: My opinion is that it is poor practice but not fatal to the heating system. I calculate about 300 BTU/hr being lost through that compressed FG when the forced air system is running. That's only 1% of the output of a 30,000 BTU/hour (small) furnace. But that section of wall will be losing 10 times more heat than a normal section of wall because of the reduced R-value and the high temperature differential. At least they could have put in higher R-value rigid foam. -David
*Steve and Dave. Ductwork in exterior walls or in attics is a NO-NO. And in the floor beneath windows is also a no-no. Install the ductwork in interior partitions. Some argue that so located duct sealing is not necessary.But others disagree. GeneL.
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I walked through a 2-story house under construction nearby and noticed elliptical heating ducts (4x9?)that ran from the basement to the 2nd floor in the exterior wall. There was about 1.5" of compressed fg insulation between the duct and the outside wall. In MN this seems to be a bad idea.
My guess is that they didn't want to stack the 1st and 2nd story walls and also because they used i-joists for the 2nd floor they might have had to box in the ducts. What are you're opinions on this setup?
Steve