Where to locate basement heating vents

Ironman3

I'm am finishing my basement of my 4 year old home and the heating vents are currently located inb the ceiling. I have have found a few comments online that the vents should be relocated to about 1 foot off the floor in the wall. Is it best to do that for optimal heating? Also, if the vents are 1ft off the floor do I make a cold air return in the ceiling or also 1 ft off the floor? Thank you!

Big N8

Where are you located??


Running heat down the wall only works if you can do it on an interior wall. But to answer your question your return would be at the same height no matter where the vent came in. Just try and keep them away from each other a bit (across the room would be best).

Ironman3

I'm in Granger

right now my basement is framed only so I can rerout the heat fairly easily. I would have to extend the duct down the foundation wall. Should I not drop them?

Big N8

I think running them down an interior wall would be best. Don't run them next to the block wall if you can help it. I lot of homes here in MN have them in the ceiling so it can't be the worst way to go.

Marty S.

Around here basement supplies are always in the ceiling,over windows and exterior doors. Returns are kept low on interior walls to suck the cold off the floor.

hvac122

Ditto, but were from the same state.

Marty S.

Same town too!

hvac122

You own or work for someone here?

High Gear

My hvac guy and I were just going over this today as I'm working on the basement.

He's going to run the supply's to within 3 foot of the exterior walls with the

circular vents you can spin to adjust.

Returns are in the center support stud wall 6 inches off the floor.

He's running 5 supplys in 1500 sq ft.

I was initially thinking of putting in 2 ceiling fans with 4 supplies

but not so sure I'll need them any thoughts ?

Are ceiling fans a good idea in a basement ( 8' ceiling) ?

I'm not convinced that I'll need so much heat , but rather to just keep the air stirred up.( well insulated).

Wildie

I own two places! One has the heat supply in the ceiling and the other has the heat supply in the floors!
I have found having the supply in the ceiling to be superior!

If the heat comes from the floor, its blown up to the ceiling! If it comes from the ceiling, its blown down to where you want it!
In both cases, the cold air return is at floor level.

I speculate that floor heat registers are a hold-over from the old days, when central heating used gravity move the heat through-out the building!

Ironman3

So it sounds like I will be OK to leave the supply as they are in the ceiling but I need to add a return in the basement bedroom and TV area. Is it acceptable to use flex hose to run down the wall for the return?

Thanks

Big N8

You can just use the stud cavity with nothing in it sealed up to run a return.

There is not hose needed.

Ironman3

That makes sense.

There is currently a run in the basement ceiling for the upstairs returns, can I tap into that? if so how do I do that since the ceiling cavity is not lined up with the wall cavity?

Big N8

I am not sure that could be a question for someone with a bit more xp. But with what little xp I have i would say yes you can tap into a return from another run like that.

hvac122

You could move the wall studs to be lined up. The thing to think about with tying into existing return is possible noise. The people downstairs or up could hear what is going on in other parts of the house. Also depending on how the return is done there could be a sizing issue and the return upstairs may not work as well. We have no idea without seeing it.