Posted by bethanykedwards on January 16, 2007, 2:01 pm
We just bought a house, first house either of us has owned, and we have
no idea where to even start with our problem. I've been researching for
the last hour and a half, and no help. So maybe someone could point us
in the right direction:
The house has a gas, forced hot air furnace, installed in 2001. If I
didn't know it was only five years old, I'd think it was ancient, but
apparently not. The energy use tag suggests it's quite inefficient, but
is partly missing. I don't know what brand it is offhand (something
with a D maybe?), but I assume it's a generic, not high-efficiency,
furnace. The house has new aluminum double-paned windows and the floors
are carpet (bedrooms/living room) and ceramic tile (kitchen/dining
room/bathrooms/laundry room) on concrete slab. We don't have a
basement; the furnace is located in the hall next to the laundry room,
with two bedrooms on each side of it. We have two problems:
a. It's loud. It can be heard throughout the house. It wakes us up
every hour all night long and the cats cry the whole time it's running.
It is impossible to have a conversation in a normal voice in an
adjacent room, even with the door closed.
b. Uneven heat distribution. The thermostat is in a good place, in a
hallway in the center of the house, between the four bedrooms and the
kitchen. The two bedrooms and bathroom nearest the thermostat are quite
comfortable and about the same temperature as the thermostat reading.
The living room/kitchen (at one end of the house) are about 10° colder
than the thermostat reading, and the two bedrooms at the far end of the
hall from the living room are about 10° warmer (a total temperature
variation of 20° throughout the house, meaning it's too cold to watch
TV in the living room at the same time as it's too hot to sleep in our
bedroom but the guest bedrooms are a perfect temperature). The furnace
is located in a closet in the hallway, between the warm rooms and the
comfortable rooms. This happens at all hours of the day and night so
it's not a question of sunlight/lack of sunlight. All the vents in all
the rooms are open and seem to be working fine.
Thus far I know I need to (1) replace the filter (possibly not the
cause of either problem, but needs to be done), (2) take off each of
the vent covers and see if anything is inside, and (3) failing that,
hire a professional (the furnace is probably way overdue for servicing
anyway). And I know that I shouldn't just close the vents to the hot
rooms or Bad Things could happen.
Is there anything I'm forgetting? If I open up the vent covers and
they're filled with dust (quite possible), is it safe to use a vacuum
hose on them? Is it likely that the problem is just that the living
room/kitchen are each about twice the size of the larger (hotter)
bedrooms? But they're also three times the size of the smaller
(comfortable) bedrooms.
Posted by Todd H. on January 16, 2007, 2:25 pm
bethanykedwards@gmail.com writes:
> We just bought a house, first house either of us has owned, and we have
> no idea where to even start with our problem. I've been researching for
> the last hour and a half, and no help. So maybe someone could point us
> in the right direction:
>
> The house has a gas, forced hot air furnace, installed in 2001. If I
> didn't know it was only five years old, I'd think it was ancient, but
> apparently not. The energy use tag suggests it's quite inefficient, but
> is partly missing. I don't know what brand it is offhand (something
> with a D maybe?), but I assume it's a generic, not high-efficiency,
> furnace. The house has new aluminum double-paned windows and the floors
> are carpet (bedrooms/living room) and ceramic tile (kitchen/dining
> room/bathrooms/laundry room) on concrete slab. We don't have a
> basement; the furnace is located in the hall next to the laundry room,
> with two bedrooms on each side of it. We have two problems:
>
> a. It's loud. It can be heard throughout the house. It wakes us up
> every hour all night long and the cats cry the whole time it's running.
> It is impossible to have a conversation in a normal voice in an
> adjacent room, even with the door closed.
That's the fan that's so loud.
> b. Uneven heat distribution. The thermostat is in a good place, in a
> hallway in the center of the house, between the four bedrooms and the
> kitchen. The two bedrooms and bathroom nearest the thermostat are quite
> comfortable and about the same temperature as the thermostat reading.
> The living room/kitchen (at one end of the house) are about 10° colder
> than the thermostat reading, and the two bedrooms at the far end of the
> hall from the living room are about 10° warmer (a total temperature
> variation of 20° throughout the house, meaning it's too cold to watch
> TV in the living room at the same time as it's too hot to sleep in our
> bedroom but the guest bedrooms are a perfect temperature). The furnace
> is located in a closet in the hallway, between the warm rooms and the
> comfortable rooms. This happens at all hours of the day and night so
> it's not a question of sunlight/lack of sunlight. All the vents in all
> the rooms are open and seem to be working fine.
Close vents in the warmer rooms.
> Thus far I know I need to (1) replace the filter (possibly not the
> cause of either problem, but needs to be done), (2) take off each of
> the vent covers and see if anything is inside, and (3) failing that,
> hire a professional (the furnace is probably way overdue for servicing
> anyway). And I know that I shouldn't just close the vents to the hot
> rooms or Bad Things could happen.
Such as?
> Is there anything I'm forgetting? If I open up the vent covers and
> they're filled with dust (quite possible), is it safe to use a vacuum
> hose on them?
Yes, it's fine.
> Is it likely that the problem is just that the living room/kitchen
> are each about twice the size of the larger (hotter) bedrooms? But
> they're also three times the size of the smaller (comfortable)
> bedrooms.
Possibly.
It's equally possible you have an oversized furnace though.
The pro you bring in to service the unit may also be able to determine
if the motor's speed is adjustable and if you might be able to get
away with a lower motor speed while still falling within the heat rise
spec.
You might also inquire about the applicability of this device that can
circulate air on a lower speed setting while the furnace is not
running:
http://www.fanhandler.com/
Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/
Posted by trader4 on January 16, 2007, 3:30 pm
Since you haven't had it serviced since you bought the house, I'd get
it done now. That should reveal why it's so noisy. It's possible the
fan is unbalanced or something is loose and vibrating.
You can vacuum the vents. And you can close off some of the outlet
vents in the rooms that are too hot. That will help redirect some of
the hot air to where it's needed. But an inspection may also reveal
that the way the system was installed, it is way unbalanced or some
ducting has come loose. It's unusual for it to be both 10 degrees
too hot in one place and 10 too cold in another. That is a big
difference, especially in heating mode.
The main issue to be concerned with closing off vents is that you don't
want to close off too many, which will restrict the airflow too much.
If you close off too many, you can run into trouble, more so in AC mode
though, where it can cause the evaporator to freeze.
Posted by Speedy Jim on January 16, 2007, 3:32 pm
bethanykedwards@gmail.com wrote:
> We just bought a house, first house either of us has owned, and we have
> no idea where to even start with our problem. I've been researching for
> the last hour and a half, and no help. So maybe someone could point us
> in the right direction:
>
> The house has a gas, forced hot air furnace, installed in 2001. If I
> didn't know it was only five years old, I'd think it was ancient, but
> apparently not. The energy use tag suggests it's quite inefficient, but
> is partly missing. I don't know what brand it is offhand (something
> with a D maybe?), but I assume it's a generic, not high-efficiency,
> furnace. The house has new aluminum double-paned windows and the floors
> are carpet (bedrooms/living room) and ceramic tile (kitchen/dining
> room/bathrooms/laundry room) on concrete slab. We don't have a
> basement; the furnace is located in the hall next to the laundry room,
> with two bedrooms on each side of it. We have two problems:
>
> a. It's loud. It can be heard throughout the house. It wakes us up
> every hour all night long and the cats cry the whole time it's running.
> It is impossible to have a conversation in a normal voice in an
> adjacent room, even with the door closed.
<SNIP>
I agree with Todd; this thing may be waaaay oversized
or fan running too fast.
But that's just a wild guess from afar.
Far too many variables to speculate.
*IF* you can find an honest and willing tech to look at it,
he can advise on the best approach.
In the meantime, may I ask, why on earth are you running
it at night? Shut it off completely or at least set the
'stat down by 5 degrees at night to permit some sleep AND
save energy. If the bedroom is that uncomfortable,
buy an electric blanket.
Jim
Posted by bethanykedwards on January 16, 2007, 7:06 pm
Why am I running it at night? Where on Earth can one get away with
turning off a furnace all night in the dead of winter? ;)
It's about 10°F at night here (I should add this is causing a 4-6 week
delay in getting furnace techs out). If I don't keep the heat running
at a decent temperature, the pipes will freeze (not to mention the
cats). We set it to 60° at night so that the kitchen is at 50° and
the bedroom at 70°. It runs every hour for about 15-20 minutes.
B
Speedy Jim wrote:
> <SNIP>
> I agree with Todd; this thing may be waaaay oversized
> or fan running too fast.
> But that's just a wild guess from afar.
> Far too many variables to speculate.
> *IF* you can find an honest and willing tech to look at it,
> he can advise on the best approach.
> In the meantime, may I ask, why on earth are you running
> it at night? Shut it off completely or at least set the
> 'stat down by 5 degrees at night to permit some sleep AND
> save energy. If the bedroom is that uncomfortable,
> buy an electric blanket.
>
> Jim
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> no idea where to even start with our problem. I've been researching for
> the last hour and a half, and no help. So maybe someone could point us
> in the right direction:
>
> The house has a gas, forced hot air furnace, installed in 2001. If I
> didn't know it was only five years old, I'd think it was ancient, but
> apparently not. The energy use tag suggests it's quite inefficient, but
> is partly missing. I don't know what brand it is offhand (something
> with a D maybe?), but I assume it's a generic, not high-efficiency,
> furnace. The house has new aluminum double-paned windows and the floors
> are carpet (bedrooms/living room) and ceramic tile (kitchen/dining
> room/bathrooms/laundry room) on concrete slab. We don't have a
> basement; the furnace is located in the hall next to the laundry room,
> with two bedrooms on each side of it. We have two problems:
>
> a. It's loud. It can be heard throughout the house. It wakes us up
> every hour all night long and the cats cry the whole time it's running.
> It is impossible to have a conversation in a normal voice in an
> adjacent room, even with the door closed.