Venting hot air to cold air return?

[Iron_Lion]

I have to rearrange my ventilation for winter. I have forced hot air heating and I was thinking about venting my hot air from my tent to the cold air return vent in the corner of the ceiling in the room I use.

Anyone know if this could screw up my heating system in any way?


If I am thinking about how it works correctly, by sending more warm air to the heating system should require less to reheat it and send it back to the rest of the house as heat. Am I correct in this?

 

[Eazytoke]

I'm no HVAC guy but I've been doing this for years and it works great. My furnace rarely runs in the winter. The only thing I do to make sure things are running smooth is to put a paper towel over the return vents upstairs while the furnace is running so I know it's actually drawing air correctly while running. When the furnace isn't running the air comes out of the return vents.

It's great in the winter but the AC sure works overtime in the summer as I don't have the option of pushing the hot air outside.

 

[Iron_Lion]

I'm no HVAC guy but I've been doing this for years and it works great. My furnace rarely runs in the winter. The only thing I do to make sure things are running smooth is to put a paper towel over the return vents upstairs while the furnace is running so I know it's actually drawing air correctly while running. When the furnace isn't running the air comes out of the return vents.

It's great in the winter but the AC sure works overtime in the summer as I don't have the option of pushing the hot air outside.

Thanks for this reply.

Not an issue in the summer since I vent into my attic. In the winter I have to come up with a different set up so I dont melt all the snow off my roof with venting into the attic. Plus this year Im trying to save a few bucks on heating and putting my hot air to good use.

 

[zor]

I have to rearrange my ventilation for winter. I have forced hot air heating and I was thinking about venting my hot air from my tent to the cold air return vent in the corner of the ceiling in the room I use.

Anyone know if this could screw up my heating system in any way?


If I am thinking about how it works correctly, by sending more warm air to the heating system should require less to reheat it and send it back to the rest of the house as heat. Am I correct in this?

Hey iron, there was actually a few threads last year regarding this with no definitive answer. However, I did ask a friend of mine that is an hvac guy if my 6" vortex would screw up my heating system and his answer was no. i'm not so sure hvac would all agree on this either.

It certainly could cause less air to be circulated in other rooms, thereby reducing the efficiency of the unit, however, because your adding heat to the system, your house would be plenty warm

 

[unclefishstick]

shouldnt be a problem unless the thermostat is in that room,been doing the same thing for years,only needed the heater maybe 7 days last winter

 

[Smokin Joe]

I'm an hvac guy and as long as you are dumping it str8 into the return and have a good air filter in the transition. You will not have any troubles and will decrees you heating bill a small amount. Only drw back is if your room is stinky so will your whole house.

 

[Iron_Lion]

shouldnt be a problem unless the thermostat is in that room,been doing the same thing for years,only needed the heater maybe 7 days last winter

This is awesome, I cant wait to see the savings at the end of the year. The T-stat is on another floor so shouldnt be any issues with that.

I'm an hvac guy and as long as you are dumping it str8 into the return and have a good air filter in the transition. You will not have any troubles and will decrees you heating bill a small amount. Only drw back is if your room is stinky so will your whole house.

Thanks man

I keep up on the carbon filter but if I notice any issues Ill be quick to get a new one.

 

[Eazytoke]

shouldnt be a problem unless the thermostat is in that room,been doing the same thing for years,only needed the heater maybe 7 days last winter

I had to move my thermostat upstairs to a different position because my main return vent was right under it. All that hot air rising up over the thermostat was a real pain in the ass!

 

[unclefishstick]

i should point out i live in the desert where it still gets into the 60's for most of the "winter",gets cold at night,but the flower room was running then,and the thermostat was set to something low like 65...

 

[Smokin Joe]

Up stairs is a bad location unless that is where you spend most of your time. Ideal location is about 15 ' from the return on the same level about 5' from the floor. You could also use a remote t-stat censor

 

[Eazytoke]

By upstairs I mean my main level. My room is in the basement.

This thread got me thinking about how nice spring and fall are in the cold states. During the months of Sept, Oct, Nov, March, April, and May I don't have to run either the AC or Furnace except on very rare occasions. And even during the coldest months the furnace only kicks on occasionally but that's to be expected when it's below 0.

 

[Smokin Joe]

By upstairs I mean my main level. My room is in the basement.

This thread got me thinking about how nice spring and fall are in the cold states. During the months of Sept, Oct, Nov, March, April, and May I don't have to run either the AC or Furnace except on very rare occasions. And even during the coldest months the furnace only kicks on occasionally but that's to be expected when it's below 0.

Sounds like you have a well built house

 

[walt cunningham]

is it more efficient to vent into the attic when using central air? on smaller grows in the past i always just placed the fan and filter outside the flower room. on my last setup of 2k, i vented to the attic, had the fan and filter up there, you could barely notice a sound. i was going for as stealth as possible so i went without an ac for the grow and just used my central air. worked fine but in the summer it never shut off and upped my power bill a few hundred each month. i was wondering if it would be better for my air conditioner's life to vent into attic, or let collect it in the main return. when i would shut the door to that room, you could feel the air pulling in the room, so the fan was pulling harder than the return.

 

[Smokin Joe]

is it more efficient to vent into the attic when using central air? on smaller grows in the past i always just placed the fan and filter outside the flower room. on my last setup of 2k, i vented to the attic, had the fan and filter up there, you could barely notice a sound. i was going for as stealth as possible so i went without an ac for the grow and just used my central air. worked fine but in the summer it never shut off and upped my power bill a few hundred each month. i was wondering if it would be better for my air conditioner's life to vent into attic, or let collect it in the main return. when i would shut the door to that room, you could feel the air pulling in the room, so the fan was pulling harder than the return.

When running the a'c in summer you should not add hot air to the return. It will cause to unit to work over time to cool the air across the evaporator. That is the part of the unit that cools the air. So vent to the attic is you best option and seal of the room so it will not draw air from the rest of the house.

 

[walt cunningham]

ok thanks.
if i sealed off that room, where would it pull the air in from, the air vents? would that make it suck more of the cold air from the central air? i know it was sucking in alot of the cold air from the rest of my house, but it was really stealth. i had family stay in the bedroom next to it many times and nobody knew anything.
i have a portable 8000 btu ac that was given to me, so im going to try and put the exhaust going to the attic, and put the filter and fan back in the room. im also cranking back down to 1000. nothing's set in stone though

 

[Smokin Joe]

If you have a portable unit I would shut off the vent in that room. And yes sucking air out of the room and dumping in the attic will cause more air to flow to the room and rob flow from the rest of the system

 

[walt cunningham]

thank you for the help

what are your thoughts on the people that come and clean out the vents. i see coupons everywhere for the whole house for X amount. do they actually clean much out or is it a scam? i hate people coming in my house and i'm sure they try and upsell me to some other crap.
i'm going to get my ac serviced soon as well. i have to keep her running strong!

 

[Smokin Joe]

Walt if your vents are in the floor they get all sorts of junk in them that restrict air flow. If in the ceiling it is not as bad unless your filters are not very good. Even a light coating of dust in the pipe can cause a restriction. The blades on the blower fan can get covered with dust from a less than adequate filter is used. That will cause the fan motor to over heat and shorten the life of the blower motor. So if you have vents in the floor and the house is over 10 years old or if lots of dust then yes the duct cleaning service can help you out. Also most of them inspect your duct system for problems such as leaks and torn insulation. An energy audit on your home is a good idea to find problems with the duct system and other infiltration leaks. If you have someone clean your duct system and they start off trying to sell you things you can pm me with any questions before you have the work done and I will try to help you decide if you need it or not. Hope I have givin you the answer you were looking for. If not pm me and I will try and help you out.

 

[walt cunningham]

thanks a fortune. i'm going to add you to my friends list, you have been extremely helpful.
the vents are all in the ceiling. the house is 25 years old. i've been here since late 2007. the owner had allergy problems, but i think moved out around 2005 and started renting it out. its got an air purification system, im not sure what it does but its a small powered box with some wires going in the part of the AC in the garage. sorry for my ignorance on part names. that unit was installed in 1996, so its a bit newer than my compressor.
i've been using the best filters, i think the filtrete 1900 or whatever the top one is. but before me, who knows.

 

[Iron_Lion]

Gala, great info posted here.

So rearranged my ventilation last night.

One thing I noticed before I hooked the exhaust to my cold air return was that with my previous set up of tent in a room venting into the attic is that the pressure from my fan was ripping cold air thru my return vent, which Im thinking could have had a very negative effect on my heating system. Im thinking with the suction in the room it was probably causing so return air from my second floor to properly get back to the heating system.

Gala, after your last post I went thru and vacuumed out my floor vents, I sent the vacuum hose in as far as it would reach and I couldn't believe how much crap had accumulated in my ducts