PP_
New Member
Hi All,
I am located in Nashville, TN. Mine is a common problem mostly seen with
a little older homes "second floor is hot and uncomfortable in summer",
even with A/C running in full blast.
My home:
Is a 1 1/2 level home (split level). Almost 1700 sq.ft. AC is 3 ton, with a trunk and branch
duct that connects to 10 registers in the downstair rooms, and three registers to the second floor rooms. This is shown in my first figure, with supply ducts (plain) and the return duct as crossed.
There is only one return grille 18" x 25", with a 16" duct that runs almost 30 feet to
the air handler. In the second figure, I have tried to show you the location of the
return grille. It is on the ceiling of the stairs, almost a central location. There are no return
grilles in any other locations, unfortunately.
My problem:
My second floor rooms are uncomfortably hot.
I thought I would do a little research and gather the options that I have on what could be done.
One thing I realized is that the hot air in the second floor rooms is
stagnant, not able to reach the return grill. The location of the return grill is on the
ceiling of the stairs (see my second drawing), almost 5 1/2 feet below the second floor ceiling.
My question is if I add grills into the rooms on second floor to 8" flex, connect them
to a 12" flex and bring it a feet below the return grill, would this help.
Since it is hot air in the second floor, it wouldn't move down towards the return, correct?
To push the hot air through the duct, could I use a inline fan? If I am
using an inline fan, where would you recommend the position of inline fan? Other options??
Kindly comment on what options I have to resolve my situation. I might have
missed out details, let me know and I could provide them.
Thank you for your time, and for sending in your comments!
I am located in Nashville, TN. Mine is a common problem mostly seen with
a little older homes "second floor is hot and uncomfortable in summer",
even with A/C running in full blast.
My home:
Is a 1 1/2 level home (split level). Almost 1700 sq.ft. AC is 3 ton, with a trunk and branch
duct that connects to 10 registers in the downstair rooms, and three registers to the second floor rooms. This is shown in my first figure, with supply ducts (plain) and the return duct as crossed.
There is only one return grille 18" x 25", with a 16" duct that runs almost 30 feet to
the air handler. In the second figure, I have tried to show you the location of the
return grille. It is on the ceiling of the stairs, almost a central location. There are no return
grilles in any other locations, unfortunately.
My problem:
My second floor rooms are uncomfortably hot.
I thought I would do a little research and gather the options that I have on what could be done.
One thing I realized is that the hot air in the second floor rooms is
stagnant, not able to reach the return grill. The location of the return grill is on the
ceiling of the stairs (see my second drawing), almost 5 1/2 feet below the second floor ceiling.
My question is if I add grills into the rooms on second floor to 8" flex, connect them
to a 12" flex and bring it a feet below the return grill, would this help.
Since it is hot air in the second floor, it wouldn't move down towards the return, correct?
To push the hot air through the duct, could I use a inline fan? If I am
using an inline fan, where would you recommend the position of inline fan? Other options??
Kindly comment on what options I have to resolve my situation. I might have
missed out details, let me know and I could provide them.
Thank you for your time, and for sending in your comments!