My family room (most used room in house) is about 6 deg F colder in the winter then the rest of the house. The room is on a cement slab. The rest of the house is over a basement. The gas forced air furnace is located in the basement. The furnace seems to be large enough for the house because it never runs constantly. There is one short 8" duct running to the family room with three register in sequence running off the duct. It would be difficult to run another duct. I want to get more heat to the room and am looking for suggestions. Here is what I was looking at:
1) Adding a duct fan to push out more heated air into the room.
Concerns: The fan would have to be located very close to the furnace and this may "unbalance" the heating system.
2) If you place your hand above the registers, the air never feels that really hot. I was thinking about placing a insulated flexible duct inside the 8" duct so the air wouldn't lose heat.
Concerns: Less volume of air would get to the room resulting in a colder room.
3) Do both 1 and 2.
Any suggestions would help! Thanks.
COMMUNITY FORUM
I had a house in Chicago with a slab foundation. The highs in the 20s and lows under 10 but 6 inches of snow would melt away from the edge of the slab. Guess where all the heat came from? I dug down (yes a LOT of work to do a whole foundation) and glued special foamboards to the foundation. I had to add flashing above and coat the foam with a stucco/plaster/mortar material. Snow stopped melting so I wasn't losing as much heat. Checking insulation manufacturers' websites should help you track down an insulation that can be used on the outside of foundations.
In my current house, a lot of cold seems to come in the sliding door. Nothing like 10s and 20s outside to show you the air leaks. I put up some heat shrink plastic until spring. That's helped.
Some people swear by using the ceiling fan to blow air up so as to recirculate the heated air.
Have you checked for toys, dirt or other obstructions? My house in Chicago had dirt & gravel from construction down in the vents.
In my current house, a lot of cold seems to come in the sliding door. Nothing like 10s and 20s outside to show you the air leaks. I put up some heat shrink plastic until spring. That's helped.
Some people swear by using the ceiling fan to blow air up so as to recirculate the heated air.
Have you checked for toys, dirt or other obstructions? My house in Chicago had dirt & gravel from construction down in the vents.
