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- Feb 12, 2020
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I have posted this in the houserepair forum's hvac section, but I'm wondering if anyone here knows much about hvac systems.
We have a Trane whole house system with an inside air handler/furnace and outside condenser unit. The air handler required minimum 24"x24" intake vent but the monkeys that built this house put in two 21"x21" intake vents in the hallway and in a bedroom alcove. The water heater and HVAC air handler are up on a platform in a little raised closet.
Crappy not to scale sketch
Current situation with vents in different rooms
A single 21x21 intake vent would not be sufficient, but I'm wondering if it would work if I took the vent from the bedroom alcove and moved it next to the other vent in the hallway. Is there any reason to NOT do this?
Does the vent have to be directly underneath the air handler? That is my one concern-- that moving the alcove vent would mean the original hallway vent would get most of the suction as it is directly under the unit but the other one would not be if I moved it over next to the hallway vent.
Proposed idea (suggested by my friend):
I could re-use the metal frame and grille and close up the wall in the bedroom. I also wouldn't have to enter my brother's trash-filled room and nearly hurt myself trying to access the vent in there. My brother never cleans and his room is full of plastic bags and empty plastic bottles & food containers. It's about knee deep in some spots. The bags, bottles, and candy wrappers stick to the vent and block it off quite a bit. Plus there is a dresser sticking out pretty far so there is not much free flowing air in that area.
Pros of moving the vent to hallway would be it would no longer be obstructed and would be much easier to access for filter changes. No more fumbling around in the dark trying to find the little knob that unscrews and then trying to line up the filter properly in the dark (the lights in there don't work and he has blackout curtains).
Cons of moving it would be that it would not be directly under the unit anymore and I'm not sure if it would work as efficiently (although, with it being covered half the time it probably isn't working efficiently now-- I only have to change it once every 2 months bc it's usually blocked off with plastic bags). The hallway one has to be changed 2x per month.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
We have a Trane whole house system with an inside air handler/furnace and outside condenser unit. The air handler required minimum 24"x24" intake vent but the monkeys that built this house put in two 21"x21" intake vents in the hallway and in a bedroom alcove. The water heater and HVAC air handler are up on a platform in a little raised closet.
Crappy not to scale sketch
Current situation with vents in different rooms
A single 21x21 intake vent would not be sufficient, but I'm wondering if it would work if I took the vent from the bedroom alcove and moved it next to the other vent in the hallway. Is there any reason to NOT do this?
Does the vent have to be directly underneath the air handler? That is my one concern-- that moving the alcove vent would mean the original hallway vent would get most of the suction as it is directly under the unit but the other one would not be if I moved it over next to the hallway vent.
Proposed idea (suggested by my friend):
I could re-use the metal frame and grille and close up the wall in the bedroom. I also wouldn't have to enter my brother's trash-filled room and nearly hurt myself trying to access the vent in there. My brother never cleans and his room is full of plastic bags and empty plastic bottles & food containers. It's about knee deep in some spots. The bags, bottles, and candy wrappers stick to the vent and block it off quite a bit. Plus there is a dresser sticking out pretty far so there is not much free flowing air in that area.
Pros of moving the vent to hallway would be it would no longer be obstructed and would be much easier to access for filter changes. No more fumbling around in the dark trying to find the little knob that unscrews and then trying to line up the filter properly in the dark (the lights in there don't work and he has blackout curtains).
Cons of moving it would be that it would not be directly under the unit anymore and I'm not sure if it would work as efficiently (although, with it being covered half the time it probably isn't working efficiently now-- I only have to change it once every 2 months bc it's usually blocked off with plastic bags). The hallway one has to be changed 2x per month.
Any thoughts or suggestions?