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HVAC Air Handling

Don | Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on December 7, 2008 07:22am

My daughter bought a fixer-upper in southern MS.  Built in about 1976.  Has air return as one humongous louver in kitchen for all rooms in that sect of house – Kitchen, Living room, master bedroom, two baths & a large walk in closet. Is there any reason why I cannot convert air return for individual rooms to individual louvers in ceiling & ducting connecting to top of plenum in attic space.  That is IF I reduce the area of the humongous louver in the kitchen?  If you close any door, the room w/ the closed door gets no air, since it effectively closes off the return air path.  Do not want to put louvers in all the doors for fire safety.

 

Don

Don Reinhard
The Glass Masterworks
“If it scratches, I etch it!”
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  1. danski0224 | Dec 07, 2008 02:56pm | #1

    Adding individual returns is doable as you describe.

    If the ducting is in the attic, make sure it is sealed at the connections and insulated with R8 or better.

    Are the existing doors undercut by at least 1"?

    Fire safety?

    Unless the doors are fire rated, what's the point? If you put the grille openings low, you naturally eliminate most of the potential smoke issue.

    You will also circulate the smoke unless the HVAC system has a smoke alarm interlock like a commercial building. 

    Locating the openings in the walls is a bit more difficult but looks more conventional.

    1. Don | Dec 07, 2008 05:52pm | #2

      Your's is the answer I'd hoped to get!  It made sense to me, but I wanted confirmation.  Air distribution currently SUCKS (as opposed to blows lke it should).  The attic is terible - insulation all upgescrewed & ratty.  That also will get improved.  The temps outside have dropped to the upper thirties/lower forties the last few nights & wife & I have felt like we were in an air conditioned room in Atlanta in July.  Air blowing in was that cold.  Current ducting is P-poorly insulated.  For easy installation way back when, the inlet ducts are in the ceilings along the interior walls, as opposed to along the exterior walls where the HVA contractor put them in our own house in Atlanta, w/ the return air ducts along the interior walls.

      I would switch the ducting to match the pattern in our house when installing the new returns & insulate the Heck out of both sets of ducting to save on money & increase comfort.  We/ve been here in summer & it's like a sauna back in the rooms I'm talking about.

      Doors aren't under cut & are only typical thin skin doors, but they qare better tha nothing for the present.  Smoke detectors are non existent, so that gets up graded, also.  All in its time & availability of money.

      Last winter I had to replace, actually add, a plenum return in the kitchen because the original return was just a big cavity in the wall that was supporting mold & a terrible dust problem.  This house is an un-cut gem.  Just needs some work to bring it out of the dark ages when energy was dirt cheap & plentiful.

      Thanks.

      DonDon Reinhard
      The Glass Masterworks
      "If it scratches, I etch it!"

  2. Clewless1 | Dec 07, 2008 10:46pm | #3

    I agree w/ what you are doing, too. Also agree ... fire safety and doors is a non-issue. Bigger issue is sound going through the grill IMO. You can get sound 'proof' doors w/ grills, but not for a reasonable cost and probably not what you want to pay for.

    Seal the ducts!!! Your biggest loss/gain is duct leakage in your kind of situation. In your mild climate and if you have wall/clg insulation and double glazing, having supplies at the perimeter is less of an issue ... many efficient modern homes have short ductwork that ends at interior walls ... purposely. Only potential problem is the potential for short circuiting to the return air before it does it's job in the room.

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