Hello All,
I have a house that was built in 1958. It is a ranch on a crawl space. The furnace sits in the garage. This is a Carrier Downflow 100k btu furnace w/3 ton AC. The house is a total of 1700 sqft (Including the garage) Maybe 1400 ish for living only. Supply's are from the crawl and returns are in the attic.
I am in need of a new system. The current system was installed in 2003. I have been told it has a cracked heat exchanger, and I know the exhaust motor need replaced. It leaks enough water that it filled my burner box. I currently have this band aided with a Mountain Dew Bottle diverting the water to a condensate pump.
SO far I have had two companies out. On guy said i needed all new duct work. One says I need only the return duct work fixed. The supply is 8X16 from the garage to the other end of the house (30 feet ish). The return is where I know I have an issue. Its 14 inch spiral round duct. I have one central return in my hall. There are 3 bedrooms that are tied into the same panning as the 14in return.
First guy told me that each bedroom needed to have its own return line to the main plenum box on top of the furnace. This is 20-1/2 X 20-1/2. He said he would change the 14 metal pipe to 14 flex r6 duct, and then run the 3 bedrooms with 6in R6 duct to the main box. He would add a return to the Living room and install Boots at each location because they are only panned right now.
2nd guy just said it all needs to be replaced. He would put a plenum box 15 feet into the attic with a 14 in duct back to the furnace and run each bedroom to that new plenum box.
My question is this. Because each bedroom is cold when i close the door. Who is right in fixing this issue? Im fairly handy and think i can tackle the attic issue. I just don't want to mess something up more than it is. THe current piping all not attached to anything and is drawing outside air. This caused issues last summer with 80% and higher humidity in the house.
With the supply duct in the basement im leaning toward leaving it unless there is a real reason to change it out. I have 10 runs off that main trunk. I want to delete or move one run. 1st off the main trunk is a 10inch pipe to the kitchen then a 6in into the kitchen maybe 4 feet away. I have 2 6in supplies into the LR and one each into the bedrooms that are 6in. Then I have 2 6in runs into the Family room (flex duct going through a brick foundation wall) and one 6in into the Bathroom. I would like to delete the 10in duct unless it is needed for air flow. If that is the case then I want to move it to the family room because it stays warmer in the summer or cooler in the winter.
I want to thank you in advance for your help. I can make up a drawing if it helps. Sorry for the long post. Each HVAC Company has quoted ~1200 for the Attic duct work and the one company quoted me 3500 for replacing all the crawl duct. I don't know if that is out of line or not.
I have a house that was built in 1958. It is a ranch on a crawl space. The furnace sits in the garage. This is a Carrier Downflow 100k btu furnace w/3 ton AC. The house is a total of 1700 sqft (Including the garage) Maybe 1400 ish for living only. Supply's are from the crawl and returns are in the attic.
I am in need of a new system. The current system was installed in 2003. I have been told it has a cracked heat exchanger, and I know the exhaust motor need replaced. It leaks enough water that it filled my burner box. I currently have this band aided with a Mountain Dew Bottle diverting the water to a condensate pump.
SO far I have had two companies out. On guy said i needed all new duct work. One says I need only the return duct work fixed. The supply is 8X16 from the garage to the other end of the house (30 feet ish). The return is where I know I have an issue. Its 14 inch spiral round duct. I have one central return in my hall. There are 3 bedrooms that are tied into the same panning as the 14in return.
First guy told me that each bedroom needed to have its own return line to the main plenum box on top of the furnace. This is 20-1/2 X 20-1/2. He said he would change the 14 metal pipe to 14 flex r6 duct, and then run the 3 bedrooms with 6in R6 duct to the main box. He would add a return to the Living room and install Boots at each location because they are only panned right now.
2nd guy just said it all needs to be replaced. He would put a plenum box 15 feet into the attic with a 14 in duct back to the furnace and run each bedroom to that new plenum box.
My question is this. Because each bedroom is cold when i close the door. Who is right in fixing this issue? Im fairly handy and think i can tackle the attic issue. I just don't want to mess something up more than it is. THe current piping all not attached to anything and is drawing outside air. This caused issues last summer with 80% and higher humidity in the house.
With the supply duct in the basement im leaning toward leaving it unless there is a real reason to change it out. I have 10 runs off that main trunk. I want to delete or move one run. 1st off the main trunk is a 10inch pipe to the kitchen then a 6in into the kitchen maybe 4 feet away. I have 2 6in supplies into the LR and one each into the bedrooms that are 6in. Then I have 2 6in runs into the Family room (flex duct going through a brick foundation wall) and one 6in into the Bathroom. I would like to delete the 10in duct unless it is needed for air flow. If that is the case then I want to move it to the family room because it stays warmer in the summer or cooler in the winter.
I want to thank you in advance for your help. I can make up a drawing if it helps. Sorry for the long post. Each HVAC Company has quoted ~1200 for the Attic duct work and the one company quoted me 3500 for replacing all the crawl duct. I don't know if that is out of line or not.