Posted: 8/17/2010 8:15:46 AM EDT
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at one time my garage was used as an office and has heat/cooling vents that i just blocked off with plastic film.
my question is: if i disconnected those vents from the garage and dumped them into my basement, would this cause any HVAC issues? |
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It would depend on a few things, the most important being the return air duct(s). Any space where forced air ducts are run to also needs to have sufficient return air capacity to keep things equalized.
At the very least, you'd need to make sure that the return vents/ducts were rerouted to the basement when you route the supply ducts down there. Additionally, blocking of ducts and making them a "dead-end-run" in any HVAC system is usually not a good idea. It can cause air burbling and turbulence inside the duct system which can greatly cut down on efficiency in air distribution. |
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the heat/blower unit is in the basement as well as the duct works and the return air vent is on the first floor. the line i want to reroute is at the end of the duct lines.
would there be enough air leakage through the return and ducts in the basement to offset the extra air blowing into the basement if i route a line there? or should i cut a hole vent hole into the return line going to the upstairs? |
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There's no return duct running to the garage/old office? That's odd. Maybe that duct was run as an afterthought by a previous owner?
You could always just try dumping the supply into the basement, but it may create an imbalance. If it doesn't work, you could always cap it off where it splits off. That would be better than what you have now. With a supply duct dumping into the basement, that is going to take a good bit of the total cooling capacity away from the main floor living space. Remember, cold air is heavier and a lot of that cold air is never going to make it to the main floor if you're dumping it in the basement. What I'm saying is, even if overall return air capacity is fine, you may end up with temperature inconsistencies. It probably won't be much of an issue in the winter though. |