Cold air return makes condo very cold

[magda60016]

Hi, sorry for not using any tech terms but I need some help.
Have an electric furnace in a condo with a grilled air return in my living room, furnace is outside- in a tiny bricked room on my balcony with some holes in the bricks so it gets really cold (we had -8F 2 days ago). I keep a loose styro around it- someone told me it will insulate better. When I put a thermomether next to a grill- it shows 35F so it gets cold in my house very quickly. My electric bill will be outrages! I read somewhere that I can't just cover the vent so is there anything I can do?
Thank you for any help...

[jwiehagen76]

You should have a service tech come survey your system. No you should not block any return air path back to the system. System needs as much air back as it sends out. There is always improvements to be made but you will need some one to take a look.

[superheatrman]

Reduce air infiltration to furnace and ductwork in outdoor mech. room. sealing and insulating ductwork and equipment doors..

[cem-bsee]

any ductwork which runs within space which is not conditioned should be insulated -- the more the better --

however, ALL open flame appliances need oxygen to burn the fuel.
so,
be sure not to block off that source of air;
but,
that is a separate system than that of the ducts to circulate conditioned air.

[heaterman]

No real reason for combustion air in the equipment room if there is no combustion. If your HVAC and hot water tank are in the same balcony room and they are both electric, tighten up the room and make sure the ducts are insulated.

[DanW13]

could be that your supply air is as warm/hot as it probably should be which will make the reutrn air to the furnace even colder than it needs to be, therefore you need to seal up your enclosure like the guys suggested and insulate more on the interior side of the enclosure, and also seal up the return air intake to the furnace so it is only sucking in the cold air from the living space and not both exterior and interior air.