My kids room is cold

snmhanson · 12-19-2006, 09:03 PM

Every morning when I go get my 1 year old up her room is very cold compared to the rest of the upstairs. We have two seperate heat pumps - one for the upstairs and one for the downstairs. The upstairs thermostat is located in the hall near the steps and the overlook down to the foyer so one problem in general we could be having is that heat is rising from below and influencing the upstairs thermostat. I may try to move that to the other side of the wall that it is on which would place it in our bedroom. Since we are on heat pumps we keep the downstairs at a pretty consistent temperature but we lower the upstairs temp at night for sleeping comfort. Anyway, like I said her room is much colder than our bedroom or my son's room which is just across the hall from her room. I haven't really checked into all that much yet and I plan on heading up to the attic to have a look at the ducting but I thought I would see if anyone else has any ideas about what to look at. FWIW, her heat vent is open and I felt heat coming out of it the other evening but it is difficult to say if it was coming out at the rate it should have been. However, her setup is basically the same as my sons. In other words, the SF of the room is approximately the same, it has windows that face the same direction and they both have a single vent in the ceiling. I guess when I check the (flexible) ducting in the attic I will see if there is a kink in it or anything but does anyone have any ideas of anything else I should be looking at? Thanks.

Matt

sloooo · 12-19-2006, 10:55 PM

Check the air flow out of your daughters duct and see if it is about the same as the others. A way to do this is to get a piece of string or yarn and place it over the vent and measure how far out the air push's it. Then measure the others and it will give you a good idea if you have air flow problems. Next, go in the attic and look at the duct work. I had the same problem when I bought my houst 5 years ago. I bought it new and thought I would not run into any problems for a while. But, for some reason, my son's room was always colder than the rest of the house. I went up into the attic and found that when they installed the fire sprinklers, they had layed the sprkinler pipe right over the duct work and crushed it. A new house and they did that crap...lol. I was pissed to say the least. So, looking at the duct work and you might find a good reason why it's not working.

PATMAN · 12-20-2006, 10:17 AM

That room should stay as warm as your sons room, moving the thermostat might help but it sounds more like a duct problem. If your daughter's room is on the north wall, has more windows that could influence the heat load. Also, if you keep her door closed at night and there is not a return vent in the bedroom that could cause problems. You might have to add another duct to that room.

Christopher · 12-20-2006, 11:35 AM

snmhanson,

More often than not, the problem you describe is the result of the problem room having excessive heat loss, not a deficiency in the HVAC system. For example, if the cold room was the only room over a poorly insulated garage, that would explain everything.

It would be useful to measure ceiling, wall, and floor surface temperatures and compare to other rooms.

Some power companies offer a free Energy Audit service that can make these measurements for you, down to every square inch of your house showing you where the thermal leaks are.

Let us know what you find...

...Christopher

snmhanson · 12-20-2006, 12:16 PM

Thanks for the info. I am about to climb up and check out the ducting. I'll let you know if I discover anything. I was also thinking last night that it could be because her door is closed whenever she is in there. I'll start with the easy task of checking the ducting and then progress from there. Thanks again.

Christopher · 12-20-2006, 12:51 PM

snmhanson,

Quote:

I was also thinking last night that it could be because her door is closed whenever she is in there.

If your system only has a central return (most do these days) then the doors need to be sized so that there is a 1" gap between the bottom of the door and the floor/carpet. If this compromises privacy too much, then the room needs to be ducted to the hallway as the upscale builders do.

...Christopher