Air Duct Vents - Summer vs. Winter

Although we had our heating company guy actually draw a little schematic directly on our equipment near the vent opening and closing handles so we would know when to close/open the vents depending on the season, does anyone know how we can distribute the heat more in the basement without overheating the top floor (Southern Walk townhomes)? My father-in-law is staying with us and recuperating from bypass surgery, and we need to keep the guest room in the basement warmer (in lieu of purchasing a space heater).

 

Keep the basement vents open all the way and the first floor vents closed about halfway. That way it will take the furnace longer to heat the first floor while the basement keeps getting full heat.

 

Good idea.
You might want to shop around for a space heater anyway, so that it is not constantly running and blowing to heat the chilly basement. It could dry out the air. Old folks dont handle that dryness as easily as us younguns.

 

SK8R brings up a good point overall - your house will FEEL warmer if you keep the humidity up. Winters here are VERY dry - when your house dries out it doesn't feel as warm.

Lots of options for humidity - from having an automatic humidifier added to your HVAC unit to hanging up clothes to dry. I know it's made a big difference in our place.

My hubby put in a self-install humidifier on our HVAC several years ago. We turn it off around March and back on in early December (by shutting the water on and off). These also have a humidistat to keep the humidity where you want it.

You can also just buy a room humidifier or larger multi-room ones. One word of caution - if you use one with ultrasonic transponder thingy...you know, a mister thing (like the crazy "fountains" you can get now)....it will deposit white dust on everything in your house. Actually, it's the minerals in the water that end up everywhere. Instead, use a humidifier that has a filter/wick and that won't happen (or use only distilled water in your ultrasonic type - expensive alternative).

Be sure to buy extra filters/wick and change them about evern 4-6 weeks - change immediately if you detect any mold growth (bad for you! Bad Bad).

You may find you can turn your thermostat down a few degrees, if you keep the humidity up above about 40-50% (I hope I'm right on those numbers).


Dawne