Installing Jumper Ducts to Make Bedrooms More Comfortable
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Climate control and comfort in a home depends on much more than the size, power and efficiency of the heating and cooling system. It depends on proper insulation, air sealing and, above all, it depends on the air duct's distribution and adequate balance between return and supply ducts.
Larry Janesky, founder of Dr. Energy Saver, was recently in Central Florida helping a homeowner with a high cooling bills, and uneven temperatures around the house.
The bedrooms in his house had only supply ducts. The only return ducts were located in the common areas. Using state-of-the-art equipment, Larry demonstrates how the lack of return ducts in this home's bedrooms was increasing the positive pressure in the rooms above acceptable levels, consistently pushing air out of the house, and causing unconditioned, hot and humid air from the outside to be sucked into the common areas of the house. The differences in pressure made the air conditioner work harder, without ever making the whole house comfortable.
When homeowners experience similar problems, they tend to mistakenly believe that they need a bigger, and more powerful heating and cooling system. This is why it is a good idea to call in an energy conservation specialist, before you commit to buying an HVAC upgrade.
In this case, for example, just by adding a return duct to each bedroom, Dr. Energy Saver experts brought the pressure levels in the rooms down to normal. The temperatures are now even around the house, comfort has improved and the old air conditioner now works more efficiently.
If you want to save money, energy and make your home more comfortable, call a Dr. Energy Saver dealer in your area!
Been watching HVAC videos all day and that bit about the imbalanced air pressure is genius. Thats the most valuable tip I've heard yet.
It would been beneficial to the viewer (me) had your video included footage of your technician actually cutting and installing the return “Jumper” vents and ductwork in the ceilings
Lots of people will hold your hand. Unfortunately most will charge for satisfaction
Where did you route the jumper ducts to? I wish you had shown that or at least mentioned how you routed the return air from the jumper ducts to the main return that you show at the 1:40 mark of this video...
Good job.
This is such a common situation. Every home I've ever tested has this situation. New, old, add-ons and unfortunately also homes with newly installed/replaced systems. 99% of Homeowners will drive 2-5 extra miles to save 4 cents on gas but don't understand they're paying 25% more a year in heating and cooling their homes, living with nasty air drafts, hot/cold spots and auto opening and suck slamming doors because of this and other issues with their HVAC system.
Then you have the goobs that cut an inch off the bottom of the doors or install a bypass right above the doors or even through the door itself and this eliminates any audible privacy in that room.
Depending upon the room load(s)you can often properly air balance existing or install dampers and balance the system. I've actually run into situations of gross over supply with 2/3 supply registers in a room area then often I replaced a supply grill with a 1 or 2 way register to get mixing and made the furthest supply run a return duct.
Great explanation Larry. I've been in the sheet metal industry for more than 30 years and after seeing my share of shady contractors I always appreciate it when someone such as yourself shows the right way to do something. I agree 100% in regards to adding individual returns to each room and dampering both return and supply air runs. Great video!
This is the best explanation I've seen of this problem. Great job! .
To the last poster about room stratification. The draw from the return will draw from the immediate area around the grille. The supply will push the air (throw) to the other side of the room. The result will be a good mix in the room. It actually breaks the stratification.
lanesairconditioning .
@Bob Smithereens generally, any given room, from the ceiling to the floor will have "stratification of temperature," when the system is idle or off. When a system is designed well, with proper grille placement, the stratification is broken and the air in the room will get mixed well allowing for a higher degree of comfort. Some grilles may not offer a good mixing of interior air because of poor velocity.
I'm glad to see the home owner cleaned up the place before the video!
Fantastic video. I was about to add an air duct to a finished room in my basement and didn't account for return air ducting. Thank god I found this video before I started drywalling my ceiling!
As an HVAC professional who is a Building Performance Analyst, I can tell you that jumper ducts are a very expensive solution to a simple problem. The overlooked, and very obvious problem is that the jumper ducts are always routed through the attic. Every attic is a solar heat collector, a solar oven. The heat in the attic will heat the jumper ducts (regardless of R rating) and will passively heat the home. I have carefully measured the heat gain during the summer and found that a 4˚F gain is a minimum and often I measure an 8˚F gain. All day long, the heat enters the home via convection air circulation when the A/C is off and by forced air when the A/C is on.
As the A/C air enters the room, the equal amount of air is forced through the jumper ducts and is passively hearted by the attic. That hotter than room temperature air is now spreading through the main hallway and gives a false hot reading to the thermostat and that hot air is drawn into the return duct. The result is the return air is now a few degrees warmer from the jumper ducts, which means the supply air is also a few degrees warmer. Our forefathers knew this 200 years ago. Many homes built 150 years ago had transfer air openings above the doorway of each room. That feature in a home was discontinued when central forced air heat and cooling became more common in new home construction.
Newer homes have vents through the walls above the doors, which allows more airflow, but they also increase noise transmission.
Thanks for this reply Brian… genuine service and common sense intelligence seem to still exist. That being said sir, I have an old two story wood frame (balloon I believe) house that was built back in 1921 and could really use some advice regarding a possible mild extension of the supplied central AC to the relatively small second floor. Condenser/handler combined outside unit that feeds and returns directly into the under crawl space. Rooms needed cooling are directly above, sharing an outside wall. My question is if branching off the proximal aspect of the large supply ducting as it immediately departs the unit outside would allow the “physics” of air movement to and fro, to be relatively plausible? I should add that the returns are pretty substantial and only a short distance down an open stairwell. My idea is to construct an exterior cover of some sorts to conceal the ducting as it travels upwards. This inside corner of the house is shielded from direct sunlight and requires only a 10’ max run. From there I’m considering the wall breach to be at floor level… either a direct horizontal feed or put extra work into breaching the floor void space and have supply vents that match downstairs. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you
When we close our bedrooms and restroom , there is a big gap under the door . Would that serve the same purpose ? Now I’m thinking I need to keep doors open . I always kept them closed thinking it would keep the cool in .
@@964mula Closing the doors blocks air flow. Open doors or install relief vents in the wall above the doors (like they did 100 years ago) The gap under the door lets ou the coolest air in the room and traps the hottest air in the room. Relief vents let the hot air out.
But return air is still pulled from under the door when it's closed. Usually a couple inches or more on new homes.
Had these installed in my Florida home, and it made a world of difference.
All I can do is share my experience. We upgraded our system and added a game room. We had plenty of return (conditioned air) but the room was 2-3 degrees warmer. We added a "jumper duct" and the room runs about 1 degree cooler than the main room in house. Small cost for amazing result. We did the same in the two bedrooms on West side of house with similar results. Main concern of our AC guy was keeping the supply and return air volume balanced to the HVAC system.
Your ac guy didn't do a load value on your home , typically they don't have the knowledge .
Proper load valuation needs some data .
Values of the windows , insulation , basically the entire homes r value and cfm per room adjusting every supply as per requirement with the proper sized return .
Optimum is high low returns in all rooms which makes it far more comfortable as well as more economical
High returns in vaulted ceilings as well
@@ynot6781 Yeah but something like that is out of the question for those of us in manufactured or mobile homes that have zero attic space to run ceiling ducts and vents.
Wow! You just solved my daughters room issues. Thanks!
I lived in newly built apartments in Florida. They had vents above doors in each room. It worked great equalizing pressure between rooms.
Agree...seems to be also a much cheaper solution too
Nice info, kept it simple so even a homeowner could understand ...
Thank you for this video. It really did teach me a lot, now its time to redesign my furnace ducting. This video was very informative.
I have seen some homes, especially in Florida, with vent grates added to the door towards the bottom. Serves as a pass through for when the door is shut. Not ideal but a simple solution. Or as someone else said, cut an inch off of the bottom of the door. Probably a more private solution, but either method will serve the same purpose.
@Tom Garbo I was actually not taught that but I probably should have. I'll teach my boy. You might have saved a life...
Rather than putting a return in each bedroom, wouldn't a pass-thru grill above each bedroom door allow for the exchange of enough air to the main return to balance things out?
That's the question I have
@@slowsti0535 yes, but keep in mind sound transfer….in a bedroom. A small flex duct jumper will have much less.
Hey Doc, and thanks for the video. I'm in south Florida. The only home I saw w return ducts in rooms was in SC. Now I understand the return ducts in the attic; but how did you attach the 3 new return ducts to the return plenum under the unit in the video? Did you go down the inside of a wall and go through the side of the plenum under the unit where it draws the air from?
Wow. Great video. Now I understand what some of my problems are around here. Now to try and fix them
Can u show us on video how to connect these jumper vents in the attic n so on
Great idea I was looking for that.
I need to do this project in my house. Bedroom heat up quite a bit.
@@Chugwater_Cowboy If there are no return lines, that is the same as leaving a window to the outside slightly open all the time.
easier/cheaper fix would be to put a vent size hole through the wall, block top/bottom and a vent cover both sides. basically direct venting through the wall, for a 2 story you could do a through the floor/ceiling as a alternative. Saves you the cost and time of running new returns
@Daniel Day but, it has a free air return under the unit ... no return ducts in the attic.
And Jumper Ducts go from a grill on one side of a wall to a grill on the other side of a wall to relieve pressure in a room. Generally to prevent doors from slamming shut when the unit is running.
And that air pressure difference is miniscule ! No honest contractor would take your money to fix what is not a problem !
That was super informative! I'm glad I took the time to watch. I feel that I learned a thing or 2. Thanks for the info!
Can u show us how u connect these ducts in the attic .
To avoid running a jumper duct through a hot attic, I installed a grating near the bedroom floor on the wall between the bedroom and hall. On the hall side, I installed a grating at the top of the wall. The space inside the wall between the studs acts as a plenum. This was code legal for return air when I did it. For this to work, you have to ascertain that there's no blocking in the wall. I also leave bedroom doors open during the day.
So that's why that home I was looking at had vents in some of the doors.Thank you
Vents of doors are not good for acoustical control and privacy.
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GREAT solution- THANK YOU! For the last 20 years I have asked every HVAC contractor that's been here for service etc. how to improve the air flow of both heat+cooling into the 2 west-facing bedrooms- always told there's NOTHING that can be done; it just seemed wrong. My guess is they either didn't know how, more likely- they just didn't want to put in the time and effort to fix it retroactively,
Odds are, they either didn't know, or they didn't see enough money in it to do the job. There is always a solution to heating and cooling issues. You just need to figure out what limits you can set moneywise. Many times, they will shy away from something if they can't do it quickly with easy access. If your duct is hard to access, many small companies don't deal with framing or sheetrock repair. If it is accessible from the basement or attic, someone should have been willing to work with you on the issue. If nothing else, I'm surprised someone didn't try to sell you a one room unit for each room. This would have made someone money and they would have been in and out with minimal fuss or mess. I will attach a link to show what I mean. www.homedepot.com/services/mitsubishi-ductless-mini-split-system/ I hope you find a decent HVAC company that will give you a proper solution.
Return ducts won't help if the rooms are hot or cold with the doors open. Only with the doors closed and then will only give you the same as if the doors were open. Return ducts in zoned systems are useful or extremely large houses OR when the bedroom door is closed and THAT causes temp imbalances.
Could this have been solved by creating a door vent grill?
Yes but noise traveling from the bedroom creates another problem.
Try trimming an inch or so from bottom of door
@@craigkennedy9968 Doesn't work in my house.
You can measure the pressure instantly? Great video.
Why don’t installers use return ducts? I do not see them in any homes. Why doesn’t the code enforce this?
Easily done on a Ranch house. Problem being when you install in an older home (Cape Cod) you cant always do that type of return. So you can only get returns in certain locations.
got news for you.a jumper duct is from one room to the next main room.a return like he was showing goes all the way to the return plenum.big difference
Gary Slaughterback well that answers that. It appeared that he installed vents in the ceiling with no duct work to contain the conditioned air. I still don't see the benefit of the air traveling thru a hot attic, over 130°f back to the return. Seems as if it would cause more labor to the unit itself.
@@valerief1231 if the duct is well insulated the return air will be close to ambient temperature of the room returning back to the air handler.
David Ashabranner thats good to know, Thanks!
@@valerief1231 your actual return air going from each room going back to the furnace/ air handler is and should be isolated and only pulling conditioned air from the living space.. this is why it so critical that all duct work whether it be in an attic or crawl space must be sealed and insulated in order to only recycle the indoor ambient for the best indoor air quality.
@@MrTrailerman2 Can I ask what you recommend when the only return you have is at the bottom of the air handler ?
Most of the air actually returns underneath the door. You can feel it if you stand outside your door without shoes.
✌️Yeah positive pressure escapes wherever it can!
I have just started the home buying process and now i know what to look for as a huge positive. For the life of me i could never figure this exact problem out and it has happened in all the houses and apartments i have rented. My only question is, by not having the return air ducts in each room does this help or hurt your electricity bill? Here in Texas our summer bills can get close to 200.00 a month. Also, on a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom home, how much does something like this cost to have installed in ones home? Just a ballpark like thousands to 10 thousands or hundreds to thousands? Thank you so much for teaching me something.
Andrea M A properly installed return air system will save money . Recirculated air means you don’t throw away the energy you have “conditioned the the air with” . When the air doesn’t return it must then be replaced with outside air usually either warmer wetter or colder air “seasonally” that requires additional energy to cool or warm to be comfortable .
The easiest and cheapest way to do the job is to install transfer air grille on the 2 bedroom's doors. Return air escaping from there will be directed to the filter in main return duck.
No, the cheapest and easiest is to cut the bottom of the door to allow for air to pass under it !
The gap under the bedroom door is sufficient relative to the floor covering. If the supply to the room is larger than the gap then it may not be enough. If there is carpet (shag), then the gap is too small. Even if the gap is big enough at the time of construction, be aware that somebody might add a thick floor covering years down the road.
Very professional video. Thank you, this has helped me understand the supply and return theory.
Aelectrician Sebastian
Yeah, i also learned valuable info from Larry in this video.
If you bought into this video, you are gonna have aome problems ! This video does nothing to explain duct sizing, duct systems, or airflow principles. It does however show how shady contractors can use a manometer to scam people into unnecessary work they don't need.
It always amazes me how poorly heating and a/c sytems are designed. I had a duct cleaning business for many years and I've seen it all...crazy! I have an old house with 2 upstairs bedrooms. Each has a supply vent, but there's only one small return on the floor in one of the bedrooms. Talk about hot in the summer! Gonna install a return higher on the wall of each bedroom. Hope it helps!
If the main air return was large enough to support the btu's of the heating and cooling system then adding individual return system is not the cheapest, most cost effective option. Simply adding 'air passthrough" vents on the doors would have done the same job..de-pressurizing the rooms and stabilizing the air circulation. I know because I have done this in my own home..with excellent results at a fraction of the cost of installing new return ducts to each room.
That's a good point. Kind of like where in mobile homes the doors are 2" or so off of the floors to allow circulation underneath them.
My bedroom is significantly warmer than the rest of my house. I’m putting a jumper duct above the door to even out the pressure in the room, but I was thinking about also adding another jumper on the wall between the bedroom and the living room. My thought is that since this is the coldest area of the house it will let cold air in from the living room. Is this a dumb idea? I haven’t seen anything to indicate it would work like I’m thinking, but for some reason it makes sense to me.
My home has return and supply ducts all in the ceiling just like the design in your video. I'm not an HVAC guy but doesn't that just suck the conditioned air back into the unit? For example, in the winter when we need the warm air lower, the return is sucking it up before the warm air has a chance to move lower into our rooms... in the summer, visa versa - the cool air never gets a chance to condition the lower parts of the rooms as it is sucked up into the return. I know you'll probably say use a ceiling fan but it's not efficient. Our unit runs constantly.
+Zteve W - Running constantly can be many things but I'd check the attic ductwork and insulating it better.
"sucking it up before the warm air has a chance to move lover into our rooms... in the summer, visa versa - the cool air never gets a chance to condition the lower parts of the rooms as it is sucked up into the return"
Air does not move like you described. A good example would be light a match and blow it out. Yep that was easy. Now light another one and suck your breath in. It's not as easy and almost impossible. Another example would be concentric duct kits that you see in commercial applications. The supply blow out the sides and the return is in the middle.
I didn't have a match but that also works with a lighter. You're a genius. I guess that's why YOU have a channel and I don't?:-)) Thanks.
thank you for sharing excellent presentation!!!!!
After reading the comments, I think many are a little off base. This video, in my opinion, was a demonstration of how the return air pathways improved à pressurization problem and was not a “how to DIY”. The explanations made perfect sense.
With homes without properly placed return vents, simply removing/cutting off about 1/2" to 1" from the bottom of the door for each "problem" room (so there's more space between the bottom of the door and wood floor/carpet) should be enough. Example, for a 32" wide door you would have an extra 16 to 32 square inches of space/ventilation to work with. It's also a lot quicker (and cheaper) than cutting a hole in the ceiling of each room to install a jumper duct.
The main problem with ceiling jumper ducts, is when it's cold outside. A ceiling jumper duct would allow the heat from the furnace (that is used to keep that particular room warm) to simply exit out of the room and eventually out through the roof vents (when the furnace is running), and cold from the attic to easily enter into each room (when the furnace is off). Not a good thing if your city/state gets cold during the winter season. It would also increase the yearly costs of heating your home.
In Canada and Europe, home builders are staring to put return vents at both the top and bottom (on the wall) of rooms/living spaces. Doing so allows for better and more efficient return air flow adjustments during the summer and winter months. Example, during winter/cold months, the top vent would be closed (bottom vent open) to help keep warm air in the room (remember, warm air rises).... and during summer months, the top vent would be opened (bottom vent closed) to help keep the room cooler in the summer.
If the home you live in has a wall mounted vent (top or bottom), you might be able to add the opposite vent as well (as long as the wall cavity doesn't have a horizontal block of wood in that space), thus allowing you to adjust return airflow to help make your home more efficient during the summer and winter seasons.
The ducts were jumper ducts, and not ducted to the return plenum on the unit. to help balance the pressure differential between the rooms, an opening was cut into the ceiling of the bedrooms and into the central area of the home. Ducts were attached to each of the boots and grills installed. This allows air flow between the rooms to balance out.
In the business they are not called
" jumper ducts ".
Technically that are referenced as transfer air ducts .
Which in this application the home owner could've simply cut 14 by 8 holes above the bedroom doors , installed grills on each side and accomplished the same outcome . But far cheeper for the homeowner
This is considered old school now. But this really does work.
finally someone talking about the MOST important thing is an AC system, balance and returns , NOT just feed vents, been saying this for 30 years to my friends and family who can get cooling upstairs in older homes. Why don't most HVAC people understand this? Don't they teach basic principles of heat and cold in HVAC school?? AC's are designed to take heat out of the air in homes they do not simply add cool air to homes,
Surely 5 pascals is such a negiable gradiant it could be explained by the downward pressure of a ceiling fan, yes?
No, a ceiling fan is certainly not powerful enough to change the pressure below it by 5 pascals.
I installed screen doors on all my bedrooms. Worked like a charm.
Automatic Slim perfect!!!
Lol
Keeps the bugs out from which direction?
LOL
This may be reaching. But could there be a link between positive pressure in a bedroom and ear, nose and throat problems, or sinus pressure? I would greatly appreciate feedback on this. Thanks. Maybe sucking is more important than blowing.?
#1Lazer gooood question!
Absolutely IMO! We are staying with family while remodeling our house. NO RETURNS in bedrooms here and we need to leave the door partially open at night or the room gets too hot and the pressure is so high that it will shut the door if not open far enough. We both have allergies and I have COPD. Unbearable unless door is open. And we are in NV so the air is very dry making things worse. The new house has transfer ducts!
Im installing a concealed duct mini split system in my attic. Its labeled as a low static unit. Is there a sizing formula for supplies to returns per room?
Would an alternative method to dealing with ductwork , and all of that be putting return vent covers in the bottom of each door front and back making air passage from room to room?
Makes sense to me, I wish someone would post an answer
There are retrofit vent to add under door.
The proper term is transfer grilles. What comes in must be able to get out, otherwise there is no movement. Be it transfer grilles or under cut odors. Doesn’t matter. Supplies should be directed toward the areas of greatest heat loss, such as windows. Returns should be positioned to return the air after the supply air properly mixes with the air in the conditioned space.
Maybe I missed something but why did they not connect the returns together with ductwork, then connect that to the main return? Are they just open holes in the ceiling? Seems like that would let hot air seep into the rooms from the attic
thanks - never knew that before. I have 2 returns in a 6 room house.. guess i'm out of balance too...
Basic rule of thumb , you want to return as much as you supply
For 10 supplies , you want 10 returns .
So many people don't understand this, so good explanation. I call it a double whammy, air goes out air must come in. It costs big money. I wonder how much inches of WC or pascal you'd have by just putting in a large pass thru vent on doors?
Seems to make sense but still looks like the cool air would blow right back into the extra duct. Our pre-fab came with these new ducts and, based on what is claimed to be good, good for us!
Since the name of the video is “jumper ducts” I hope there is ductwork attached to these return grilles to allow the air to transfer from the bedroom space to the corridor space rather than the air going directly to the attic...I would not install a ceiling return with an opening directly to the attic. You’d be cooling the attic and you could Also introduce humidity issues. Are the return grilles ducted to transfer return air from space to space?
They are NOT returning into the attic. That would be STUPID.
Standard design for average room is 3/4" undercut door; that's enough to give decent circulation. 5 Pascals is only 0.02", barely detectable.
I like your simple solution - and I like that you save people with undercut doors from thinking they need to add more ducts when they don't. Gaps under doors is however not ideal for sound transfer. is there a way to block sound but allow return air to flow?
(Sound transfer would also happen, to a lesser extent, thru ducts.)
@@JonathonNeville Look up "SCIF" design. In general, doors always have some gap at the bottom, and in noise suppression the first 1/8" of gap allows about 50+% of noise transmission, so (in general) you need specialized door design depending on how much transmission loss you require. Don't forget that sound will also go through doors and walls. In offices, often the wall structure extends only a couple inches above the ceiling, allowing crosstalk noise. As soon as you say the magic words "noise control" you buy into a buncha considerations. Most residential apps don't warrant such concern. However, an air transfer duct across a wall, grilles in the adjacent ceilings, at least two elbows, and consider using ductboard (allows noise to escape sideways, out of the duct, so it doesn't go room to room), all provide attenuation. Few consider it worth doing. In many residential structures, such a pathway doesn't exist. That's why master bedrooms are at the other end of the house from the kids.
@@dogface6040 Thanks. SCIF - Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities - pronounced "skiff", used for secure conversations about sensitive information. Cool.
I googled: scif sound residential ducts OR airflow. A couple promising results (not yet opened):
-- soundproofcow.com/soundproofing-101/how-to-soundproof-a-home-2/how-to-soundproof-hvac-systems/
-- cambridgesound.com/dynasoundpro-sound-masking/
I also wondered if the technology behind noise-cancelling headphones could be applicable.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_noise_control mentions the technology is used in cars to reduce road noise, but makes no mention of use in houses / offices or buildings of any type.
I'll update later.
@@JonathonNeville It's been a decade since I updated on noise cancelling. The problem was always that Ncan depends on generating a counter-wave to the sound, and making the receiving ear the point of coincidence of the two waves. Move your head, and the ear no longer catches the cancellation effect. I could use Ncan in my car, so maybe I'll check it out!
Everything you said is spot on correct. I worked in commercial test and balance for a number of years and we were constantly fighting pressure differences because of closed doors or poor design. I see the problem in almost every office and home. Design engineers are supposed to take air flow into consideration. In commercial talk we call them transfer grilles if they are not ducted. Even undercutting the doors will not completely solve the problem. If you stand in front of a supply grille in a bedroom and have someone close the door you will see a marked reduction in air. If you crack the door a little and hold a piece of toilet paper in the opening you will see air blowing it trying to get out. Pressured air has to go somewhere. It will either push out through any crack or opening or it will suck in. Some of the more modern homes that are tightly built can be a problem with room pressures. Older homes are usually more porous and can cause a lot of loss of conditioned air. You are paying for the lost air believe it or not. I hope the dorks, fools, idiots and know-it-alls who are making the stupid uneducated comments on this blog will eventually figure it out. Some of them are blissfully happy with their stupid comments and will never get it. Like Gump's mother said," stupid is as stupid does".
My question is: Wouldn't the air return that is so close to the supply vent inhibit the air from circulating through the room and just pull the air directly from supply vent? Seems like to work more effectively that the new return would have to be the furthest from the supply vent. Example would be air return located over the door and the supply vent at the furthest position from the door.
Returns should always be installed in the opposite corner/area of the room that the AC air ends up in and if at all possible furthest from the door.
excellent video and seems like a very common problems (noise return duct I guess is an indication). Esp. this takes more of an effect when door is closed! (folks in that room have to know what this is about - or would have NO idea on noisy return duct)
Is that a ceiling fan that you placed up there? Or just a normal vent? Does the air just get invented to the attic?
I wonder how effective it would be if you could plan an upper and lower return vent in a room, one to be closed/blocked and the other open, swapping on a seasonal basis.
That would be very effective for removing warm air in summer from the ceiling and removing cold air from the floor in winter, but if you live somewhere that uses both AC and heat both about 50/50 I would focus more on removing heat from each room because electronics and people already heat up each room.
Trim the bottom of the doors off about 2 inches. Especially with the air source at the ceiling.
Mobile homes do it this way to eliminate need of a return system.
Also mini split systems if your replacing a system is a good solution. Heating and cooling the air directly in the room rather than moving cooled or heated air around through ductwork.
I like the mini-split system idea, I think o need to research that. Our home is super weird with the HVAC system. It's horrible, and we need to do something besides cut holes in the ceiling. Thanks for the idea!
Can i ask you a question i live in a home that has floor vents central heat and air paid out the ying yang for it it is always hot like 89 in summer and constantly getting air fixed but i do have vents in every room at top of house but we closed them off because when open it is so hot because of ten roof and attic was wondering if we should open them or what is the purpose of them when there has never been anything but floor air there was a fireplace when i was first buying but i had it removed so i just figured it was for them
I hope those new returns are filter grilles... all the dust from the other rooms will bypass the filter at the main return and make your evap coil filthy since they are probably all on flex lines that tie directly into a return plenum
so you'll get "balanced" air return but get to breath in all your dirt and dust over and over again.
i have been an HVAC contractor for many years
where did you tie the jumper ducts into? Was it the main return duct? (like the one you showed in the hallway)? thanks for the video.
Yes, Excellent question ! This scam video doesn't account for that
Of course having sufficient return is critical but in houses with finished basements where the intakes are run thru or under the floor it is quite expensive to run new returns. Our current 2 storey house only had 1 return. We managed to add 2 more but doing so in the 2 bedrooms is not cheap at all but could be done I suppose by using the utility shaft that runs to the 3rd floor Running the return duct in the basement would be quite tricky with much removal/replacement of drywall ceiling.
I kind of new at hvac but I was wondering what kind of meter you were using in this video
Are those returns ducted to anything?
Those jumper ducts are just to depressurize the rooms
You should really have a hi and low return. Due to the fact that cold air is heavier than hot air and you want the supply and return to work together in circulating the air properly.
therealmillerman this property is in Florida. I think they are more concerned about returning hot ceiling air to be air conditioned than cold air on the floor
I just had a new system installed in my home that wasn't designed for AC so it uses the existing floor vents. 2 story home, the bottom floor is great, the upstairs has 2 rooms that are much warmer. I called the company and said I think I need some returns added to the 2 warmer rooms. They said it wouldn't work but they would love to sell me a mini-split system for another $7k. I'm not a happy camper right now.
I assume the 'jumper duct' connects thru the attic in some way back to the return????
Actually, a jumper duct only goes from one side of a wall to another. This video is a scam. Jumper ducts are used to relieve pressure on rooms with either a poorly designed duct system or in a commercial building where airtight doors prevent proper airflow, or have insufficient returns to a section that has an airtight door isolating it.
This video implies individual room returns, but the closet unit clearly has no room to tie those ducts into it.
The minute pressure difference that he tells you his manometer is reading equals something like .02 inches water column. No honest contractor will take your money to waste his time dealing with such a miniscule improvement.
Also, what he isn't saying is that those ducts going into your attic will have some heat gain, decreasing the performance of your system, and increasing your energy consumption ($$$), ever si slightly, but more of a difference than his fix for that (qoute)issue(unqoute).
So are you saying all duct work is usually improperly installed to allow efficient air transfer to happen?
Why not show pressure after adding return duck from the room that you measured 5.3 in the video?
Can we add a return through the drywall over the door into the hall versus running a new return in the attic?
Excellent tutorial..Thanks for posting.
So is that return duct venting directly into the attic or is it truly returning the air to the AHU?
taunter2 thats what I want to know also ? but I guess he isn't going to tell all his tricks?
@@vikingson9000 I think it's just a duct going from one room, behind a door, to the hallway where the return is located so the pressure has a way to balance. It's like having a door open, even when the room door is closed. It's another path for the air to go, to get back to the return.
@@jt5747 OK that makes sense then .Thank you for clearing that up for me, much appreciated !
@@jt5747 jumper ducts go from a grill on one side of a wall to a grill on the other side to relieve pressure and keep doors from slamming closed when the unit is running
Video is a scam
@@vikingson9000 believing this video is the trick
Jumper ducts go from a grill on one side of a wall to a grill on the other to prevent doors from slamming shut when the unit is running
But ducts in the attic can have heat gain, especially in Florida !
I recently acquired a 2 story building that has an elderly tenant on the first floor. I discovered her unit is heating the hallway/stairs common area. Code does not require these be heated and I would like to relieve her this burden but I don't know where to begin. I am guessing I would somehow find the duct work by opening up the wall in her utility closet and then somehow closing or removing the duct. Then I thought about what you said about pressure if it woudl be too high in her home thn
Heartening to hear someone care about a tenant's costs. Thank you. Hope you found a good solution.
How is it a return if it just releases the hot air into the attic and the ac unit sucks the air from the common room? Why not just open a window then? I have the same problem in my house and looking for a solution. My rooms are sealed shut with pressure. Can I just crack a window or does the excess air have to go back to the ac unit?
QUESTION 🙋♂️: Where are the return ducts routed to? Into the attic? Or are they run from each room and released into a hallway somewhere?
You have to connect return ducts in attic like the supply which means you have to go in attic to change filter instead of main filter return grill and ducts in attic are almost doubled better under cut doors 3/4 inch or return transfer grills
I wish you could figure out my house to make it comfortable in the winter!
Excellent explanation, thank you!
I think if they got of half their crap that would relieve some air flow issues.
Why not discuss the gap under the bedroom door?
Wouldn't it be sufficient to have an inch gap?
Who wants a full inch gap under the door?
@@RandomNumber141 Maybe 3/4?
Ok , let's start off with the inferior duct system in the home .
The supplies are mounted incorrectly in the middle of the room .
Supply air is to be on the load walls , the outside unconditioned walls . The return air should yes be in each room however they should be high low installed in the walls and tied directly into the proper sized return air duct .
In the summer you would open the upper returns to pull the hot air off the ceiling and the cool air up off the floor into the living space . In the winter the reverse , close the top return grill which allows you to now pull the cold air off the floor and the hot air you just spent money heating off the ceiling and into the living space .
The return in the bedroom is to close to the supply , optimum would be the supply at window and return by the door . Which he could've done , he could've used the existing supply hole for the return and cut a proper supply in the ceiling close to the outside wall .
Yep it's more money but more efficient .
Since this is a cheep fix video , the home owner can go by some 14 by 8 grills at home depot , and cut transfer grills above their doorway trim .
Simply cut a hole through the drywall and mount a grill on both sides , now the air can be transferred into the hallway where the central return is .
If you have four bedrooms it's going to take 8 grills , some screws....supplied with grill , a philips screwdriver , drywall saw , about 80 bucks and two hours of your time and basically accomplish the exact same thing .
Cheeper yet is undercut the doors
So do you put ducts going back to the unit? I'm looking for a vid to show how ducts are installed, split to rooms, and extend ducts. I have a duct in my kitchen, literally above the return on the floor, pointless right? Also, I wonder how much money I can actually save if I replace my 40-year old unit?
Can you do a video on how to insulate the attic? i heard there is a machine to rent that you spray insulation.
What is the point of a HVAC if you send your ceiling inlet directly to a ceiling outlet. Most cost effective DIY would be to trim 1/2" off the bootom of the bedroom doors or a door vent. Also, where do your new returns (jumper ducts) go to?
Considering adding an additional jumper vent and register to my master bedroom. Currently, there is no return in the bedroom. Should I install both a supply register and a return to the master? If I add a return, does that duct work install to the main supply duct?
How can i tell if my hiuse had to much positive pressure? Yhe problem i have is my house to be too humid all the time . I recently replaced the unit is it true that the gap under my door acts as return air?
We had returns put in every bedroom, but we kept the central return in the hallway (the returns feed into the central return box. Should that be removed or the envelop made smaller to ensure the air is pulled from the bedrooms?
One Pascal is 0.000145 psi, which is negligible for any of the “pressurization” issues described.
Very good
How to I direct the air vents in a long room if the vent is on a corner? Straight down to the floor or at an angle?
Can you please name all the types of climates again?
LOL,you talkin about the Hawaiian Islands?
I've never in my life seen a return duct in a room. One way only in all the rooms, and one big intake in the common area.
It would seem you need to keep your return ducts as far away from your conditioned air ducts as possible. Also if you have an older home and generally the conditioned air duct isn't installed in the center of a window or between a set of windows you would be advised to move the conditioned air duct if possible. Yes you run into the issue with filling a hole and whatever texture is on the ceiling.
You can also use an adjustable return air vent (with the room door closed) and measure the temperature of the room and restrict the return air flow to achieve the best lower air temp.
Restricting airflow not 'good ' approach
My house is on a slab where no central AC was installed before we moved in. We recently had central installed but are having trouble figuring out the return air as there were no returns at all. It’s very frustrating.
The video is labeled installing jumper ducts but no one watched him "Install" jumper ducts. The only thing they saw was a register vent cut into the ceiling. For the ones that don't know, He simply cut roughly a 10x10 register inside the bedroom and a 10x10 register in the hallway and conected the two with duct work to allow the Main return in the house to pull air out of those rooms while the doors were closed. The same thing can be achieved by cutting about 1 1/2 inches off the bottom of the door, Cutting a fancy register in the bottom of the door or above the door. To test this, turn on your Airhandler and crack your bedroom door, hold your hand up to the crack and feel the pressure of the air being drawn. The above methods does the same with the door closed. I hope my comment helped someone understand this poorely made video that left some people scratching their head.