Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Home HVAC Question

I readily admit this might be a "yea, you don't want to do that" situation but the only way I'm gonna learn is if I ask.

but I have a utility room and a storage room that is partitioned off by itself in a house I'm renovating. A garage and a common wall separates them from the rest of the house. The furnace/blower is in the utility room along with a washer and dryer, the storage room is ideal for converting into a home office.

I don't have any heating/cooling going to them, so I'm thinking maybe the easiest solution is to add a small adjustable wall vent to the , I don't know what its called, the supply trunk?

is this a horrible idea? I really don't want get up in the attic and run an extension to the room even though I know thats the right way to do it. That would at least heat/cool the two rooms that are maybe 180 sq feet in total

That just might be a way to inspect and clean the A coil without tearing it apart. Plugged a coils are no fun.

It's called a plenum.

Use a commercial grade register (the kind with an apposed blade damper) not some Home Depot residential register that has a parallel blade damper. The opposed blade damper will allow you to control the volume more exactly to match the caring load. And as "Reloader said" it is the supply plenum you are installing the register on.

If you want to get fancy you can put a commercial (high quality) motorized damper on the plenum and control it with a thermostat, but that gets a little expensive and takes some engineering time to work out the details, which can be done with a little online research. Me I would just manually adjust the damper when it was too hot or to cold and forget the complication of the thermostat control.

It's certainly a creative idea.

I believe swifty is right...that patched area looks to be an access hatch to your A/C evaporator coil. You probably should not mess with that.

Move your arrow up two feet to the angled portion of the supply plenum and you "might" explore that option.....at least there you are just in a hollow box.

Enter at your own risk.....

The patched area is from a duct cleaning. It would be better to not come off the plenum. Depending on where the evaporator coil is located in the plenum opening a hole there could cause issues with AC operation.

I found this but I'm not sure I'm talking apples to apples here

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2 yr. ago
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ikeepeatingandeating
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Adding supply vent to plenum for basement?
Hey experts. I have a newly renovated walk-out basement space. The furnace is in a closet in the living space, and I'm looking to add a supply vent to the room. The furnace has a plenum that extends to the ceiling trunk line, which is 12' up (it's a tall basement!).

I had an HVAC subcontractor out and he suggested running a supply vent horizontally, directly out of the plenum a few feet up from the furnace, ie. before the plenum meets the trunk line. Add a damper and adjust to taste.

Does this seem reasonable? I've never seen takeoffs so close to a furnace before, and my misguided internet research suggests it may cause pressurization issues affecting the rest of the runs. The alternative is to tie into the main floor vents though the ceiling, which, at 12', I feel won't heat the space sufficiently.


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u/TheBOHICAexperiment avatar
TheBOHICAexperiment
•
2 yr. ago
It's absolutely fine to do that. Done it a thousand times. I've never had pressurization issues. Of course you're robbing air thats been dedicated to other runs so your cfm's might change slightly to each of them but only marginally at best.


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2 yr. ago
Yes, that's normal.

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alright I"ll get up in the attic, maybe there is a line I can tap into and just run it from the ceiling without much effort

I can't tell for sure without a better picture, but by looking at where the lineset runs, that kinda looks like a counterflow system. If it is, the area you're considering connecting to would be the return side, not supply.

that would definitely be bad

Can you move the ladder and take a pic from floor to ceiling?

I think the unit is a down flow. It looks like the refrigerant line is going down behind the ladder leg. If it is, you are tapping into the return air. Rather than to just cut a hole some where, you need to know what you have first. Duct work is sized to control air flow to each area the same. Larger duct work to larger room area. The duct work changes sizes after a run comes off to control CFM (cubic feet of air per minute). Buy just cutting a hole in the trunk line you are stealing air from the rest of the runs.

Yep, I'm almost convinced it's a counterflow/down flow. The only thing throwing me off is the absence of a filter on the ductwork above the furnace.

Your are right, the filter is just above the ladder where the writing is

Damn I am glad I asked before I did anything

Where’s the grill if there’s a filter..?

It would be one of the 16x25x2" inch thick filter that is inserted horizontally behind an access door. I believe.

You might have a filter grill upstairs. If it is you change filters by lifting up grill and changing 16 x 25 x 1 inch filter.

I gotta see this filter right above that ladder. I’m betting OP is more confused now.

BTW, have you considered a return AND a supply ?

Easy button.... a small one room mini split unit or if it's an outside wall just install a window mount type unit.... that way you only need to cool it if you are actually in there.... I have a mud/laundry room and when I had my new system cut in I decided to NOT have that room conditioned..... kind of a waste pumping cold air into a room with a damn clothes dryer heating it back up.

the filter slides in horizontally by opening a flap on the right side of the furnace. You can't see the flap facing it but the filter is right below the Apollo sticker (Apollo is a local HVAC company that installed it)