Question about upstairs system

[545GAlady]

Our local HVAC company is a Lennox and Amana dealer and they are the same ones who installed our new AC unit. We were quoted on the GMVC8 furnace and I know that pricing is not allowed here but all I'm gonna say is that it was the same price as the Lennox, but we went with the Lennox because of quietness.

I would probably be in it for the efficiency because it won't put much wear and tear on the unit. But then comfort will be the issue.

[54regcab]

If you would have done DF upstairs I doubt the gas would have ever kicked on. If the gas isn't going to kick on there wouldn't be much point in having the furnace at all. Electric strips would have been fine for the rare times the HP couldn't handle the load.

Rheem/Ruud is fine by me, it's what I have in my own home (actually is Thermalzone, which is made by Rheem/Ruud). Wanted something better than the builder grade, but didn't want to spend a lot more. For us, spending the extra $$$ for the Lennox/Trane/other top brands wasn't worth it. Price to performance with Thermalzone met our needs. Being in the business I was looking for certain internal construction features, and I could care less about the label on the outside of the box.

Good choice going for the Lennox over the GMVC8, especially at the same price point. IMHO the Lennox is a much better built unit.

[545GAlady]

If you would have done DF upstairs I doubt the gas would have ever kicked on. If the gas isn't going to kick on there wouldn't be much point in having the furnace at all. Electric strips would have been fine for the rare times the HP couldn't handle the load.

Rheem/Ruud is fine by me, it's what I have in my own home (actually is Thermalzone, which is made by Rheem/Ruud). Wanted something better than the builder grade, but didn't want to spend a lot more. For us, spending the extra $$$ for the Lennox/Trane/other top brands wasn't worth it. Price to performance with Thermalzone met our needs. Being in the business I was looking for certain internal construction features, and I could care less about the label on the outside of the box.

Good choice going for the Lennox over the GMVC8, especially at the same price point. IMHO the Lennox is a much better built unit.

Thanks for the info. So obviously going with a heat pump would have been probably a better idea.

We had Rheem at our old house and the units worked fine as far as I can remember. Of course any brand will work properly as long as it's installed and sized properly.

I do agree that the Lennox is a better built unit than the Goodman and you can just tell by looking at both units.

We are having our basement system inspected this upcoming Tuesday and I will ask the tech about the upstairs system and see if a heat pump will be more ideal. Thanks for all of the advice.

[545GAlady]

I was also wondering if the size of the supplies and returns could be the effect. I doubt this would be the cause but I don't really know. Could this be?

[54regcab]

If ductwork is wrong it can cause all kinds of problems.

[545GAlady]

If ductwork is wrong it can cause all kinds of problems.

There's one supply in each bedroom and they are all 8 inch. Same with the size of the returns in the bedrooms.

[54regcab]

There's one supply in each bedroom and they are all 8 inch. Same with the size of the returns in the bedrooms.

I doubt that would be causing the short cycling. It could lead to uneven room temperatures.

[545GAlady]

I doubt that would be causing the short cycling. It could lead to uneven room temperatures.

I would agree that it wouldn't be the cause of the short cycling. So you are saying that having a return in every room could cause uneven room temperatures?

[54regcab]

Improperly sized ductwork would cause uneven room temperatures. If a certain room is always not getting enough heat/cool then you could have a ductwork issue. Return or supply could be undersized or oversized.

[545GAlady]

Improperly sized ductwork would cause uneven room temperatures. If a certain room is always not getting enough heat/cool then you could have a ductwork issue. Return or supply could be undersized or oversized.

I get the idea now, thanks. I'm starting to think that the main reason why the temperatures are unbalanced is because the room with the high ceilings (my daughter's bedroom) faces the sun the majority of the day which warms the room up. That creates the issue of the other two bedrooms having cooler temperatures because their ceilings are 8 ft and they don't get sunlight for a long period of the day. I'll talk to the tech about it on Tuesday when he comes.

[545GAlady]

I do believe that the ductwork is sized properly. I also think that zoning won't be a good idea because there's only three bedrooms upstairs and I wouldn't be able to afford it.

[54regcab]

Be careful on the sunny room. It will usually be warmer than the rest unless zoning is implemented. Cutting airflow in winter to cool the room off would make it hotter in summer. Our master bedroom we like it cooler year round. A simple manual damper in the attic is what I used. Open fully by summer, open about 1/2 way in winter. "redneck zone control" if you will

Location of the return helps, but it's normally determined when the house it built. Low returns help in rooms that are cold all the time, high returns help in rooms that are hot all the time. I considered installing a high return to our master bedroom, but the damper valve was easier to install.

[545GAlady]

Be careful on the sunny room. It will usually be warmer than the rest unless zoning is implemented. Cutting airflow in winter to cool the room off would make it hotter in summer. Our master bedroom we like it cooler year round. A simple manual damper in the attic is what I used. Open fully by summer, open about 1/2 way in winter. "redneck zone control" if you will

Location of the return helps, but it's normally determined when the house it built. Low returns help in rooms that are cold all the time, high returns help in rooms that are hot all the time. I considered installing a high return to our master bedroom, but the damper valve was easier to install.

A manual damper could work. I will still ask the tech how much the cost would be if we separated the room with high ceilings into a separate zone from the rest of the upstairs, but just having a manual damper or the "redneck zone control" would be much simpler and much much cheaper.

All of the returns are located in the ceiling since the furnace is installed in the attic. Our basement system is different with the supplies in the ceiling and the returns on the lower wall.

[54regcab]

The redneck zone control won't be as precise, will require some manual fine tuning on your part, and will require a trip to the attic to change it once a season. If you can live with those shortfalls, do it the easy way A 2 zone control will be more complicated but offer more control.

[545GAlady]

Update.... I talked to the tech yesterday when he was here about zoning and the price was too high. I'm starting to think that since my daughter is off to college next year, my son could just move his bedroom to her room or to the basement. Pretty much that means that we will say no to zoning or adding a manual damper and have my son go ahead and move to the basement if he wants to! Or he can just dress in more layers while in his current room! Thanks for all of the advice anyways.