Air duct problem. One vent doesn't work.

[wafer]

Hello, I am hopeful that someone in here can point me in the right direction or help.

My house is about 9 or 10 years old. One of the vents in a bedroom gets no air from it. Forced Air system. Gas Furnance (carrier) in Garage. Room is directly above the furnance (vent is on other side of room though).

I was going to get my Air Ducts cleaned out someone said I should do that about every 10 years and I see the ads from Sears and other places to clean out the vents. So I thought this is a good time to fix that vent that has no air coming from it. But I found out that most places that I called either 1. do not fix this or 2. said they would look at it but wouldn't get more specific and mentioned some extra charge of like $85 to go in the crawl or something.

I have already checked right under the vent grate to see if it is attached there (and it is). I put a fish tape down the vent and it seemed to go about 10 feet or so then got hung up.

By the way, there is another room adjacent to this one with the broken vent and it works fine. Same size room and everything. Vent is in similiar place in the room. this room is on the 2nd floor (2 story house) and as I said furnance is under this room basically.

I think I need a camera to find where the vent came seperated but I have called around here (seattle) and no one seems to have one. I was thinking about sticking my own camera down there or buying a wireless mini spy camera on ebay to try to find where the thing is broken? or Clogged?

I had a guy look at it who knows more than I do and I believe he said it was a "flex shaft" or something a one piece system.

Does anyone have any idea on how to go about fixing this?

Any responses are appreciated. And if anyone knows and individual or company in Seattle who might be able to fix this (I Think they need a camera). Please let me know!

Thanks for reading this post.

~Jason

>>>No email addys in posts. Thanks.<<<

[Edited by jrbenny on 11-05-2006 at 08:42 PM]

[coolmen]

I would first count and mark all runs in basement and to where they go through out house.find the run that feed that problem room and se if damper is closed or disconnected at duct. if all is fine thier then go to garage and cut sheet rock on the ceiling close to where it would travel down the wall to basement. this most likely would where it is disconnected.
good luck

[hankmcneil]

I suggest you do a search for "duct cleaning" @ epa.org before you waste your $$.

[t527ed]

if you can't find a duct cleaning co with a camera try some of the drain cleaning companies. many of them around here have them.

[wafer]

Ahhh ok so duct cleaning is not worth it? Any advice on when I should clean the ducts? The house is about 9 years old. They seem pretty clean to me when I stuck my hand down there trying to figure out why this vent shaft is not working.

And for the first reply, the house has no "basement" it's just a 2 story house with a crawl space. Would a picture help someone troubleshoot where I should start cutting?

The furnance is located in the back of the garage (ie. the nose of the cars). Then directly above the cars (2 car garage) there are 2 bedrooms. One bedroom the vent works fine. The other one the vent gets no air, nothing through it. The vents are all the way on the other side of where the furnance is. (ie. the rear bumper of the cars). That's about how long the run is I believe? The length of the room which is about 15 feet.

What about sticking a camera down there? Does anyone even use cameras anymore? Plumbers or something? I see these pics for the air duct cleaners and they show the inside of a air duct that is all corroded and nasty looking. I need one of those cameras on a snake line (fish tape?). I was thinking of rigging something up but I don't want to lose my digital camera in the duct.

I'm in Seattle you would think someone around here would have a camera. What's a fair price to pay for someone to come out and put a camera in the vent shaft? Any ideas?

Thanks for responses so far though...

~Jason

[hankmcneil]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by wafer
[B]Ahhh ok so duct cleaning is not worth it? Any advice on when I should clean the ducts?


Wafer,
Read what the EPA says - in MOST cases the short answer is NEVER!

[seatonheating]

Hey Wafer, are you afraid of crawl spaces? Put some coveralls on and get down there, just bring a bright light with you.

If you don't want to do it, Email me and I can help you out, I'm in Seattle.

Email in credentials.

[Moris]

Yah... Sometime that problem occur when vent doesn't work , in that case you don't worry and follow some instruction that have defined the manual..


---------------------------
Do not put links in posts. You dug up a 4-year old post to advertise with?

[Tech23]

How long have you lived in the house, has it always had no airflow coming out of it. If so, then it may be that this particular duct run was taken off the main trunk in a bad airflow spot.

Call a contactor that knows about airflow problems and how to fix them...ask them if they own and use an airflow balometer. You won't get this fixed for free...but with the right contractor, it will be worth the charge.

PS. duct cleaning will not fix this issue.

[Stamas]

Tech, look at the post date.

[Tech23]

Tech, look at the post date.

yeah, sorry...realized that after I posted.:oops: