LESLIE: Connie in Tennessee is calling in with a heating question. Tell us what’s going on at your money pit.
CONNIE: Well, I am having problems with my heat and from one end to the other, it – they’re cooler in one end and warmer in the other end. And sometimes – I’ve got one vent in my king-size bedroom. It’s on the far end and then the one in the middle is not blowing out as much air as the other one.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Mm-hmm. Alright. A couple of things to check here, Connie. First of all, heating systems sometimes have dampers in them; these are like doors that open or close the ducts. You need to make sure that all the dampers are open and that means that the little handles on, they’ll be parallel to the ductwork.
Secondly, there is a device called a duct booster. I’m assuming that the heating system – the rooms that are farthest away from the heating systems are probably the ones where you have the most problem with flow. There’s a device called a duct booster which is basically like a fan that goes on the room side of the end of the duct and it pulls more air through it and helps improve the airflow and speed it up. It’s pretty inexpensive; you know, maybe $50 or $75. It plugs into a wall outlet and it sits flush in with the duct and that can actually make a pretty big difference.
And thirdly, you need to check where your return register is inside the home and make sure that there is airflow that comes under the doors of the house, especially when the doors are closed. You need about a one-inch gap underneath. Those three things all together will solve this problem.
Connie, thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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