My home was built in 2007 and the builder installed a Comfortmaker furnace and air conditioning unit (single unit). The house itself is 2452 sq ft with the upstairs having a little bit more square footage than downstairs due to a built-in garage. I'm having a lot of trouble trying to achieve comfortable temperatures for both upstairs and downstairs at the same time. The thermostat is located downstairs, near the center of the house, just below the downstairs air return (there is also an air return upstairs). Currently, the thermostat is set to 72 downstairs. And that feels perfectly fine. The problem is upstairs is always too warm.
I called up the company who originally installed the equipment in my house and asked them about the problem. Their solution was to either A. Adjust the 2 downstairs air ducts coming off of the furnace to about 50% to force more air upstairs than downstairs (There are 4 ducts coming off of the furnace - two for upstairs and two for downstairs.) or B. Pay them to zone the system upstairs and downstairs.
Even with their advice of backing off the downstairs baffles in summer to get more cold air upstairs, I'm still not able to regulate the temperature as much as I'd like. On the North end of the house where the Master bedroom is (upstairs), the temperature is around 73-74 - which I'm fine with. But on the South end of the house, the bedrooms are typically 75-77 degrees. There are computers in the bedrooms on the South end (one used as an office for me and one as a bedroom / office for a renter). When the computers get turned on the temperature generally stays at either 77 or 79 degrees in these rooms.
My concern about sticking with the baffles solution is whether this is good for the equipment given the increased duct back pressure and whether this increased pressure will wear out the equipment prematurely and / or increase utility bills. Conversely, I'm concerned about their suggestion of zoning the system given that it's single stage and I've heard that to zone a system properly you really need more than a single stage system.
I don't want to set the downstairs temp any colder as my guests complain about the temp being too cold and want blankets. But I want my renter to be able to fall asleep at night as well.
My questions are:
1. Are my concerns about increased utility bills / premature equipment failure by adjusting the downstairs air duct baffles well founded or needless worry?
2. Should I consider zoning the A/C system that I have? Or just save money for a new system?
3. Presuming the only solution is to pay for a complete gutting of my HVAC, please describe what the ideal setup should look like. Single outdoor A/C unit zoned, dual outdoor A/C units - one up one down, both, larger ducts to the South end bedrooms? or what?
NOTE: I have to reverse the baffles in winter or I have the opposite problem.
Trouble Getting Temperatures Comfortable Upstairs and Downstairs
I called up the company who originally installed the equipment in my house and asked them about the problem. Their solution was to either A. Adjust the 2 downstairs air ducts coming off of the furnace to about 50% to force more air upstairs than downstairs (There are 4 ducts coming off of the furnace - two for upstairs and two for downstairs.) or B. Pay them to zone the system upstairs and downstairs.
Even with their advice of backing off the downstairs baffles in summer to get more cold air upstairs, I'm still not able to regulate the temperature as much as I'd like. On the North end of the house where the Master bedroom is (upstairs), the temperature is around 73-74 - which I'm fine with. But on the South end of the house, the bedrooms are typically 75-77 degrees. There are computers in the bedrooms on the South end (one used as an office for me and one as a bedroom / office for a renter). When the computers get turned on the temperature generally stays at either 77 or 79 degrees in these rooms.
My concern about sticking with the baffles solution is whether this is good for the equipment given the increased duct back pressure and whether this increased pressure will wear out the equipment prematurely and / or increase utility bills. Conversely, I'm concerned about their suggestion of zoning the system given that it's single stage and I've heard that to zone a system properly you really need more than a single stage system.
I don't want to set the downstairs temp any colder as my guests complain about the temp being too cold and want blankets. But I want my renter to be able to fall asleep at night as well.
My questions are:
1. Are my concerns about increased utility bills / premature equipment failure by adjusting the downstairs air duct baffles well founded or needless worry?
2. Should I consider zoning the A/C system that I have? Or just save money for a new system?
3. Presuming the only solution is to pay for a complete gutting of my HVAC, please describe what the ideal setup should look like. Single outdoor A/C unit zoned, dual outdoor A/C units - one up one down, both, larger ducts to the South end bedrooms? or what?
NOTE: I have to reverse the baffles in winter or I have the opposite problem.
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