Heat Retention Issues

Hi Guys,

I am having a problem with the heating system in my house. To give you a little background, my house is an end of group townhouse located in Baltimore MD. The house is brick and was constructed in 1952. I have a Weatherking 80pj07ebr01 gas furnace.
I am having an issue with keeping heat in my house. For example, I have my furnace set to 68F tonight and the outside temp is 30F. My furnace will run to maintain the heat and shut off. The furnace will kick back on within 10 minutes, so my furnace runs a lot of the time just to maintain heat. It is also much colder in the bedrooms on the upper level.
I was patching some holes in the bedroom upstairs and noticed the walls are 1/2 inch plaster and there is only about a 1/2 inch between the plaster and the brick wall, I did not notice any insulation. Also, before I moved in, some return duct work was relocated in the basement. I am not sure if this is an issue with the furnace, the duct work, or the insulation.
Are there any tests I can run or readings I can take to help narrow this problem down? It is very cold and uncomfortable, plus I know it is costing a lot to constantly run the furnace. Thanks guys!

The weatherking is a fairly new unit that was put in correct?...
The furnace back in the 50s were made to heat the home with all windows open that's why they had a much higher btu range then the ones of today.
The fact that if you do have only 1/2" between your wall is not good either is the wall cold?
Get a meat thermometer stick it at the registers see if your getting same temp that the thermostat is set at.

The furnace should keep the temp. within a degree to 1-1/2 degrees. The amount of time it runs and the time off depends on heat loss of house. All rooms should be the same temp if the home is insulated the same and the heating system is laid out right.
It sounds like you have heating engineering problems, that you will have to find a co. that can come in and do a good heat loss and check out furnace sizing and ducting.
But first you need to check the house and start fixing that problem. Paul

Have you checked what you have for insulation on the ceiling?

Thanks guys,

Isola: I will grab a thermometer this weekend and check the air vents to see the temps. But yes, the walls do feel cold upstairs. The most noticable of the areas is the upstairs of the house where the bedrooms are.

Paul: Do you recomend I start with a heat loss survey before I modify any of the HVAC system?

Neal: I know there is no insulation in the cieling of the basement or the cieling of the first floor. One the second floor about 2/3 of the house is covered in a flat roof and the other 1/3 above the master bedroom has a cockloft/attic that does not have an access panel cut into it, so I have never been up there to check.

Sorry if this double posts:

Isola: Yes, the walls are cold to the touch. The problem is most noticeable on the top floor of my house, where all the bedrooms are. In fact, I have to use a little heater in my room at night to keep it from being cold. I will get a good thermometer this weekend and take some measurements.

Paul: Would you recommend I start with a heat loss/home energy survey before starting any modifications?

Neal: I know there is no insulation in the ceiling between the basement and the first floor and between the first floor and the second floor. 2/3s of the second floor is covered by my flat roof, so I imagine that any insulation is minimal. The other 1/3 of the roof is above the master bedroom and has a small cockloft/attic that does not have an access panel. I imagine that whatever insulation is in the house would only be located in the attic space if at all.

Definitely check the insulation everywhere you can, every house I have worked on in this area that were built in that era were badly under insulated. Usually the attics have virtually nothing left...blown in insulation that has compressed over time, making it in-effective. It would be the first place I checked.

The wall construction you are seeing is pretty typical, too. Furring strips on brick, plaster and nothing else.

Looks like I am going to have to cut a hole in the ceiling to check the insulation. I know there were a couple sheets of asbestos sheeting in the basement that I had abated. Is there any possibility that asbestos was used in the attic insulation as well? If so, is there an easy was to check for this? Thanks.

It's possible...if they used it in one place...

If you don't have any access to the space, try taking a ceiling light fixture down, sometimes the electrical boxes weren't finished up tight, or you can cut a little out within the footprint of the fixture, and still have it covered.

Is there any vent screens top side of the home? Maybe if so to look in there 1st.

Before you do any repairs get that energy survey done first.
There should be no insulation between the floors from one floor to the other unless you want to deaden the sound tranmission from one floor to another.
The only way to add insulation in the walls is going to be to remove the inside walls.
How old are the windows?
If they have been replaced with replacement windows did anyone remove the casings and fill the void around the jambs with insulation?

Thanks guys, looks like the home survey is the place to start. The windows are less than 5 years old. I am not sure if any insulation was added at all as they were installed before I moved in. I will get the survey ordered and post the results online!

Knowing replacement window contractors in this area like I do...I doubt they did anything at all. Most of them cut the old out behind the casing, slide in the new, cover the exterior damage with aluminum...sometimes they actually caulk it.

Do you have snow on your roof? If the snow melts on your roof while other houses have a full blanket of snow, you are way under insulated in your attic.