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Very low airflow in bedroom, too much elsewhere

9K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  hvaclover 
#1 ·
I purchased a 30 year old home in 2008 and have had this issue ever since we moved in....its not essential to us staying warm or cool but its something I'd like to get information on.

I've got a few of the vents closed in the house as we're never in those areas and would rather have heat where we are. Mostly the one's right next to the doors.
However now we're renting the upstairs bedroom and its becoming an issue.

The vents closest to the blower unit pump out A LOT of air. It's to the point the upstairs bedroom vent needs to be blocked off to stop the room from melting or freezing.
However the master bedroom which is furthest from the blower gets no air (you can barely feel it when you put your hand over the vent).

One thing I have noticed is in the master bathroom the floor gets very warm as if the air gets to that point but then stops. Could the duct-work have collapsed?

Its all floor ducts with a concrete foundation so I'm concerned that's the issue and we'll need to start taking the floor apart.
I'm tempted to physically block off all the other vents and just see if the increased air pressure blockage clears any blockage....but not sure if that's a good thing to do.

Thoughts? Advise?
Thank you :)
 
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#4 ·
It may be just easier to just cut access into the first floor ceilings to replace the duct work with proper sized ducting. The Gypsum board can be replaced, along with the "Popcorn" can be re-applied once the repairs are done. There is a episode on Holmes on Homes about improper ducting in one of the homes, and how they fixed it by resizing the ductwork. Some areas got 6", others got 7" or larger as needed. Pay the cost for a HVAC contractor that has the proper tools to allow for measuring air flow and temp at each vent.
 
#7 ·
Perhaps there's a damper partially/mostly closed to that room?
My wife like our bedroom as cold as a fridge, maybe the POs did too?
When we tore out our old furnace and ductwork here, we found a blanket had been stuffed in one end of the duct-run. Ya just never know....

DM
 
#8 ·
Our duct work is in the floor (concrete) so we can't get to it easily unfortunately.

The only options for the ducts are open or closed floor grates and the on/off switch for the system itself, nothing else.

I put cardboard over the floor grates and put weight on them and put pillow case in the two wall vents and left the two master bedroom grates open.
There was a little more airflow..but nowhere near enough.

I'm still thinking the duct work is blocked or collapsed somewhere between the main part of the house and that bedroom.
 
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