nealtw
Contractor retired
Dosn't cost much and easy to close up if you don't like the effect.
Just caught up on this thread last night, and my first thought was put the return in the loft. Would that have been possible?
I thought it would be a good time to bring this tread up again and post what I did and the results, for what its worth. I added an updated sketch. What I ended up doing was installing two return points in the new hallway, near the floor. So now I essentially have all my air returning to an area in a about 10' diameter. There is a return upstairs too. The furnace seems to be operating just fine, no odd cycling or shutting off on limits. I had it gone through by a local HVAC company and everything checked out (except the igniter). Yesterday I installed a new Ecobee thermostat in the hallway not far from the new returns.
That said, I have another question. Because of the unusual construction of the house the area of the hallway is considerably warmer than the main portion of the room. The 1/2 bath gets really warm and the furnace room does too. The upstairs bedroom is a loft type arrangement so there are no walls so warmer air tends to move up there. That is directly above the new hallway. When the blower kicks on the warmer air is pushed down from the loft and effects the thermostat, it rises really quickly so the furnace wanted to cycle off quickly. Once off the temp would drop back to the main room temp and restart. I ran the blower, no burner, and I can get 1.5° rise just from the airflow. I will be installing a ceiling fan soon to push the warm air down the stairwell from the loft area. So the Ecobee comes in. I run only from the remote sensor placed in the main living area of the room and so far the cycles seem more normal. Now the question. Would it be a good or bad idea to cut a return air opening into the return air duct in the furnace room to move the extra warm air around a bit? Its a down flow furnace so the duct is right there. I could install an adjustable louver to control it a little. It just seems like I'm wasting heat in that little utility room that would be better served in the living end of the house.
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