I have a question about balancing a heating/cooling system in a home.?

Question

My home is a vaulted 2 story townhome. The second floor is open to the first, in other words I can look down from the second floor and see the entire first floor. The air flow is strongest to the upper floor. I am not sure how to set the vents for the most economical use of my heating and cooling energy. I have looked and there are no dampers in the system and I would prefer not to have to install any if I can avoid it. What is the best way to set the vents in the rooms to make the most economical use of my heating/cooling system?

Answer 1

Don't bother renting a airflow hood. If you don't know how to calculate the airflow needed at each register than you will be wasting time and money. Each room will have to be measured in cubic feet. Then you need to know the proper cubic feet per minute of air you need to have and the static pressure of the duct you have feeding each room. Is the duct sealed? Is it solid or flex duct? Is it a plenum system or or do you have a trunk line?

If you don't want to pay a professional TAB certified technician the the best thing you can do is double check for dampers at the beginning of each run and if none are there put some in and through trial and error adjust it til it fills comfortable.

Answer 2

The vents themselves must have built-in adjustable louvers. Those are what you would use.

Get a thermometer and jot down what the temperatures are upstairs and downstairs. Start by closing the top floor vents to just about closed. Then wait till the next day and see what the two sets of temperature are. The upstairs should be colder and the downstairs warmer. If upstairs is too cold open the vents a little more and watch for another day. If the downstairs is too warm shut those louvers a little and watch for another day. See what the readings are then. Keep doing this by trial and error till you are happy with the result.