yellowroom

I'm after some hints and tips for dealing with my HVAC.

I can cope with cool temperatures, grew up in the north of England in a house without central heating. However, I don't tolerate drafts very well. This becomes a problem when your entire heating system is dependent on moving air about in a house which is quite open plan by British standards, with no doors between rooms.

Last winter I found myself snuggling under throws on the sofa, which I never did in my gas centrally heated mid-Victorian terrace house in the UK. The thermostat/room temperatures are the same as id have in my UK house.

I'm wearing plenty of layers, the room temperature is currently 21C (70F) and I'm cold because I can feel a draft howling past my ankles and my hands are freezing while typing this out. As far as I can make out the drafts are not due to the windows or external doors.

I've tried turning up the thermostat but then I end up in the odd situation of being stuffy and shivery at the same time. I've set my upstairs temperature to be the same as downstairs - it was cooler upstairs during the early evening, but then I'd have massive convection currents adding to the problem as the colder air sank down the stairs and the hot air from the lounge rushed upstairs.

Some of the vents seem to be putting out hotter air than others. I can't adjust them - I've either got air coming from them or not. Would I be correct in thinking that balancing the air flow between the vents is a job for a heating engineer?

so, has anyone else come across similar issues and have you any suggestions to improve matters that don't involve me sitting under a blanket like an old lady for half the year?

Bob

Clean or replace filters.

If you don't want heat in some areas, you can just cover the vent, there's usually a level to do it.

Get a fan, ceiling fan on reverse, to spread the heat, especially upstairs.

Get those draft excluding sock things and put them in the middle of windows, even if you don't think you've got a draft from the windows, they still tend to be one in the middle, unless you've got single large windows. Also tends to be a draft at the top and bottom and in some windows, the frames themselves are loose in the wall, so seal those up with sealant.

Thick curtains?

Good luck....it could just be a ghost

Duncan Roberts

Yes, but it needs to be done at the furnace end so usually means significant work.

Mummy in the foothills

We made draft excluders for the exterior doors and that helps a bit. Other than that I have to make sure to leave the bedroom doors open as they get really warm and the living space not warm enough. I also close the door of the hall bathroom as it has a sky light window and all the heat seems to shoot up there.
It takes a while but you get used to which doors to open or close. The houses here don't seem to hold the warmth like our UK one did.
I have known some people who line the curtains with light colored fleece fabric for insulation.

Lion in Winter

Add a humidifier or three. Apart from the fact that forced air makes interiors incredibly dry for skin, hair, noses, etc., using small, simple humidifiers seems to help distribute the heat more evenly somehow and the whole place feels warmer and more comfortable even with the thermostat set lower (and hence less air blowing around). I have no idea why this is, having grown up in freezing cold damp houses in England, but that's what I've found here.

GeoffM

Bob has a point - if the windows aren't double/triple insulated then they have a cold surface in a warm room which means air starts to circulate, not necessarily in the way you want it to.

We had one overly warm bedroom in the house, compared to the others (this was in summer, so the opposite). We eventually found that closing another vent nearby in a lesser used room cooled the bedroom a lot better. Maybe play with the vents and see if it improves things anywhere.

lansbury

We have an open plan house and forced air hearing. Certainly don't feel drafts or for that matter any indication when the heating is on. Sounds to me like the system is moving to greater volume of air, and the fan in the system is moving the air to fast.

Giantaxe

That really depends on the location and accessibility of the furnace and the ductwork. Usually, each line has an individual damper that can be adjusted to control air flow. In my system, some are easily accessible, some aren't. I'd certainly suggest the Op investigate their system for this. Additionally, a couple of other things to check are whether the ducts have sufficient insulation and whether there are holes where air is escaping. Again, accessibility to the ductwork is key here.

Jerseygirl

At first I found the forced air heating very drafty...give it time...you will get used to it. Rightly or wrongly I had a heating guy to adjust the vents so most of the heat/AC is directed at the rooms we use. Forced heat has its advantage and disadvantages...it it noisy compared to radiators but you don't get the occasional knocking sound and the heat is much quicker. You also don't have worry of water leakages...a burst pipe while we were way over Christmas and NY resulted in almost the whole house being gutted.

yellowroom

Thanks very much for the feedback guys.

All the windows are double glazed sashes, and the vast majority have curtains or blinds at them. I've done the "hold a tissue" test near them and they seem fine. I'm also renting, which means that I have limited options to go rummaging round the furnace and redirect the air flows to certain vents.

Filters are the good quality ones changed every couple of months, and I've closed off the vents in the bedroom I don't use with magnetic covers. I was reluctant to fiddle too much with the vents as I don't know too much about how the system works and didn't want to put strain on the main fans pushing the air through a smaller number of vents (as per lansbury's comment).

After I posted last night I did some experimenting - I wacked up the thermostat downstairs which made my bedroom upstairs colder. This is because all the hot air from downstairs rose up to the landing where the upstairs thermostat sits. That thought it was nice and toasty and no reason to turn on heating up there.... Opening the bedroom door to try and get the hot air in meant that all that cold air rushed back downstairs....

Thats a good idea, I've just checked my humidity at it's at 35%, so rather on the low side. Explains why my skin is getting all flaky and horrible too...

Thanks to those who also said that they found forced air systems take a bit of getting used to - I know that an element of this is "princess and the pea" and me being oversensitive! But I do miss having a radiant heat source and also being able to adjust each room individually using the radiator thermostat valves.

I shall continue to experiment further with doors open & shut and thermostat settings, and I will invest in a couple of humidifiers - for the lounge and bedroom. Oh well, I came to the USA for the experience and adventure, it turns out some experiences are closer to home than I imagined!

Sheepdip

We had the same thing with the master bedroom - too hot with heating on and too cold with the a/c. But playing around with the registers certainly helped 'balance' some areas. Doesn't help when they design houses with huge ceiling heights in the lounge (ours is double storey) where the thermostat is but standard height ceilings in other rooms.

We do also use fans a lot - reverse direction in the winter and normal in the summer which helps too.

And as others have said - it does take getting used to!

Bluegrass Lass

You could also do an energy audit - that's what I think they're called. I watch some of the DIY shows, and they use a thermal camera to see where hot/cold spots are. That could tell you if you're losing heat at windows, electrical outlets, or due to bad insulation around ductwork. Could be worth doing if you expect to be in this house for awhile.

Bink

Also, make sure that your fan is set to auto on the A/C rather than permanently on. Otherwise it continually creates a flow of air unnecessarily.

jeffreyhy

Bad location for the upstairs thermostat. It may not be possible if you're a renter, but see if there's a way to move that upstairs thermostat to the bedroom of your choice. My upstairs thermostat is in the master bedroom. I also set the upstairs thermostat to a couple of degrees cooler than downstairs, recognizing that warm air is going to rise and tend to keep the upstairs warmer than the downstairs. You might try doing just the opposite - set the upstairs thermostat a degree or two higher than downstairs - given the location of your upstairs thermostat. The upstairs hall will get overly warm, but the bedrooms will be where you want them and there will be no cold air to sink.

Opening the bedroom doors may intially set up a large air current, but after a while leaving them open should result in a better temperature distribution that will reduce the initial drafts. Along the same line, is your thermostat set to run the furnace blowers only when the burners are firing or continuously? I disagree with Bink - I run my blowers continuously, summer and winter, even though it adds a few dollars to the electric bill. It provides a better, more constant, temperature balance throughout the house with the air circulating continuously than when the air circulates only when the burners are firing or the A/C is running.

Regards, JEff

Bink

The reason I suggest that is that the OP stated that it's not so much the temp as the draft. Having it set to auto will prevent a constant flow of air