Today's
TECHNOLOGY AND YOU

Answer for cold and hot rooms

Install booster fans for comfort, savings

Q: Dear Jim: It seems like several rooms in my house never get enough heat in the winter or cool air in the summer. Are there any simple, inexpensive methods to get even temperatures throughout our home?

A: From the letters I receive from readers all across the country, your problem of uneven heating and cooling is very common. This can be particularly annoying in the winter because the windows in the chilly rooms tend to sweat excessively and this can actually damage the building materials.

Having uneven temperatures is not only uncomfortable, but it is also costly. Typically, the person in the chilly room adjusts the furnace thermostat higher to make sure the problem rooms feel comfortable. This means that the other rooms in your home are overly heated (or cooled in the summer). This needlessly drives up your utility bills year-round.

Luckily, there are several simple no-cost furnace duct adjustments and low-cost do-it-yourself products to minimize uneven room temperatures. By improving your comfort and allowing you to set your thermostat back to the proper level, these products can pay back their cost in a couple of months. Try the no-cost duct balancing adjustment first. Check the position of the dampers in the ducts leading to the problem rooms. You will see a small handle on the main ducts if they have dampers (not all do). Make sure that the dampers are open.

In the fully-opened position, the adjustment handle is usually aligned with the duct. Wait about four hours for the temperatures to stabilize after an adjustment. If the temperatures are still uneven, slightly close the dampers to the warmest rooms. Don't close them too much or you many adversely affect the furnace efficiency.

If damper balancing does not help, you will benefit from installing a booster fan to force more heated air out into the problem rooms. The easiest design to install is a do-it-yourself automatic register booster fan (Equalizer by Suncourt or EvenAir by Field Controls).

These register fans are designed to fit over the

James Dulley is a mechanical engineer who writes on a wide variety of energy and utility topics. His column appears in a large number of daily newspapers.
Copyright 1999 James Dulley

18 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING FEBRUARY 2000

room hot air outlet register on the floor or wall. There is a small (100 to 250 cfm) fan built into the register that draws more heated (or cooled in the summer) air out into the room. They have attractive, contemporary designs and operate quietly.

When your furnace or heat pump starts, sensitive electronic controls inside the register, detect the warmer air. This triggers the booster fan to start and it draws up to 50 percent more heated air into the room. Most models include an adjustable thermostatic control so, if the room is already warm enough, the fan will not start.

Keeping the doors open to the problem rooms will help, especially if your home lacks enough return air registers. With the doors open, consider installing a simple Air Mover or EntreeAir fan. These types of small fans mount in the upper corner of the door frame and help to circulate air between rooms.

Another effective option is to install a do-it-yourself booster fan inside the ducts leading to the problem rooms. There are many designs to fit standard rectangular or round sheet metal ducts. If you can cut a hole with tin snips, these are simple to install yourself.

These small duct fans use very little electricity, only about 30 watts. Most of them have automatic controls so that they start and stop when your furnace or heat pump blower starts and stops. If you are a real handy person, you can connect it to a room thermostat, too.

Write for (or instantly download - www.dulley.com) Utility Bills Update No. 665 -buyer's guide of automatic register and duct booster fans, filter and decorator registers, deflectors, sizes, features and prices. Please include $3.00 and a business-size SASE. Mail to: Jim Dulley, Illinois Country Living, P.O. Box 3787, Springfield, IL 62708.

FEBRUARY 2000 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING 19