Please Help! Extreme temperature differences?
by
Carrie
Hi everyone! We just moved from a one bedroom apartment to a two story townhouse (both rentals in St. Louis). The second story of the house is completely comfortable in these harsh winter temperatures even if I only have the thermostat set down to between 60-65. The first floor, though, is just a huge room that does not retain warmth at all. Even if I crank the heat up (which makes the second floor unbearably hot), the windows and door on the south end of the room suck all of the warmth away. It doesn't help that the only air vents are directly under the windows. I bought some air deflectors, and my mom is going to help me put up shrink wrap on the windows this weekend. My mom has the same problem with her house, but she has a fireplace on the ground floor that helps a little. Is there anything else that I can do? Or do we just need to stay on the second floor all winter? Thanks in advance!
2 answers
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It is common for two level town houses to be warm on the upper levels and cold on the main floor. I assume you do not have a basement? The cold cement floor even with carpet does not help at all. Ideally you need to have a large return duct near the bottom of the stair case to capture the cold are that is dropping down from the higher levels above. Installing plastic over the windows will help. You want the air however to blow down over the windows if possible. This allows the warm air to heat up any cold air that is leaking into the room before it cools the rest of the area down. Paddle fans help to bring the warm air near the ceiling. Also keeping the fan switch to On position also will help. Although will drive the cost of electrical up a bit. This condition is something that is very common with this style home and there is not much more that you can do other then to spend several hundred dollars on a new heating system with corrected ducts and return air plenums.
Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com
on Feb 04, 2014
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Adjusting your dampers, if you can, will help too. If you look at your furnace and look at the duct work coming out of the furnace, are there levers on them? If so then try to adjust them by closing the upstairs halfway and keep the bottom one open. Work with them every couple days until you find the balance. Every fall and every spring I have to adjust my dampers to balance out the temps between 3 floors. the vents are under windows, by doors, or any outside opening because that is where the air comes in and the idea is that the furnace will warm up the air as it comes through which makes the unit more efficient at heating/cooling your home.(I hope this makes sense). Since hot air rises you need to shut down your vents which should have levers on them, shutting down the vents upstairs to force the air to stay downstairs and naturally rise up. Your bedroom for sleeping should be cooler. But first check the dampers because you could actually have one closed down causing this extreme in temps. Give your mom this advice too. Plastic on windows is great and you should also check to make sure your return vents are clean and are not blocked. We moved into a house and found that they had put filters over the returns and they were plugged with dust and fur! Also make sure to change your furnace filter once a month! this is important and you do not need to buy the expensive filters. I hope this information helps.
The Garden Frog with C Renee
on Feb 04, 2014
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