How To Install A Cold Air Return On Second Floor

Air circulation in homes which are older and or in poorly designed newer ones equipped with a central forced air system might be compromised because they do not have an air return port installed on the second floor.

How to install a cold air return on second floor.

Cut holes in the top of the return air duct to match the holes in the panning. This pulls the air across your body. You did bring up an interesting point. The air flows across the ceiling in the hallway towards a larger cold air return that does extend to the basement furnace.

For 1 the furnace fan running all day with the a c on might solve some milder heat trap problems for your second floor. Divide the house into two zones one for each floor. You might also want to try adding a ceiling fan in critical rooms like a second floor bedroom. This allows the air to get into the return air duct.

The return air vent openings need to be on the opposite side of the room so the conditioned air is pulled across the room. Add a small return vent duct to each room on the second floor. So i guess back then cold air return on the 2nd floor wasn t as important. The ducts in this 1800 sq foot home were all installed in the 1970 s.

You do this and i guarantee you that the second floor is going to be much more comfortable year round. Return air duct is connected together using s slips and drive cleats. For 1800 sq foot home including finished basement they put a luxaire 80000 btu 92 high efficiency single stage furnace. In an air conditioning climate the return duct goes near the ceiling to draw off the hot air and cool it down.

At that point you could cut in a large central ceiling return in the hallway of the second floor as centrally located as possible. First building codes in many areas require that the cold air return line gets external insulation and therefore you will need to leave a gap for the insulation around the duct return line. You want to run it so it covers up all the holes you cut in the panning. If you are in the far north or in the southern us the answer is simple.

In a heating climate the return duct goes near the floor to draw off the cold air and heat it up. If the supply ducts are high or in the ceiling then the return air ducts or grills should be low on. The problem comes when you use both heating and air conditioning. It doesn t matter how much you run the air conditioning system during the summer that second floor will always stay much hotter than the first.

Install the square return air duct perpendicular to the joists.