Tips for heating main floor and bsmt

[RobertHepper]

Does anyone have any tips if renters are complaining about poor inconsistent heating? The bsmt tenants seem to get it the worst with the hot air rising up to main floor. If main floor tenants turn up the heat (they have thermostat control), they are getting too hot. The house is run on forced air.



Does anyone have any tips with adjusting vents or leaving furnace fan on or anything else? I am also considering installing a gas fireplace for the basement tenants though at $1000-$2000 is it really worth it?



Cheers



Robert.

 

[FayWong]

QUOTE (ZOO99 @ Mar 6 2008, 10:19 PM) Does anyone have any tips if renters are complaining about poor inconsistent heating? The bsmt tenants seem to get it the worst with the hot air rising up to main floor. If main floor tenants turn up the heat (they have thermostat control), they are getting too hot. The house is run on forced air.
Does anyone have any tips with adjusting vents or leaving furnace fan on or anything else? I am also considering installing a gas fireplace for the basement tenants though at $1000-$2000 is it really worth it?
Cheers
Robert. I have been dealing with this same problem in 3 places. In 2 of the houses the basements were cold because of no or inadequate cold air returns. My contractor was able to put cold air returns in one, and while not toasty, it is much better. He is in the process of trying this solution on the second, we will have to wait and see. But on the third the problem was a faulty thermostat it had to be put at the maximum or the furnace didn`t turn on at all. Have a contractor come and look a general contractor, or a heating contractor. Just be sure it is someone you trust and don`t have to worry about him trying to sell you a furnace. Best of Luck

 

[markl]

We had a problem in one of our basement suites we couldn`t get it up to the right temp for legal status. I put a oil filled radiator in and no problem. They can control the temp on the rad I think it cost around $170 and probably adds about $10 per month to the hydro bill in the winter months.

best thing about oil filled rads is they stay warm so they are not constantly draining energy like a baseboard heater.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

 

[samwei]

QUOTE (markl @ Mar 7 2008, 08:13 AM)
We had a problem in one of our basement suites we couldn't get it up to the right temp for legal status. I put a oil filled radiator in and no problem. They can control the temp on the rad I think it cost around $170 and probably adds about $10 per month to the hydro bill in the winter months.



best thing about oil filled rads is they stay warm so they are not constantly draining energy like a baseboard heater.



Hope this helps.



Regards,




Hi Mark, thanks for the tip. Where can I buy one of these oil filled radiators? Can i get one at Costco?



sam

 

[markl]

We got ours at CDN Tire. You can pick them up at any hardware store. I am unsure about Costco as I do not have a membership there and therefore have no idea what they have there

Regards,

 

[RobertHepper]

Hi Mark and Fay



Thanks for the posts.



I am researching cold air returns and oil filled radiators.



Question for Fay; Are cold air returns just holes with grills?



Question for Mark; how big of an area can the oil filled radiator heat?



Cheers



Robert.

 

[MichaelLawson]

I had exactly the opposite problem where the basement tenant`s were too hot and the upstairs tenants were too cold. I investigated having the registers balanced, meaning a technician would come in and measure the air flow from each register then balance the flow based on the size of the room. The cost was approximately $15 per register, but it sounded pretty hoaky because they were merely adjusting the dampers on the registers themselves as opposed to installing a proper damper in the duct-work. So if anyone bumped the register after it was adjusted, you would be back to the same problem.

I was about to call in a contractor to install a proper damper on each of the branches of duct (near the furnace) where one branch goes to the upper floor and another goes to the basement suite, so I could adjust the flow properly. However, I discovered that 2 of my registers upstairs, had been carpeted over (underlay and all!) when I had the carpets replaced. So after I cut away the carpet and allowed the hot air to flow properly, the problem was lessened and the tenants were okay with it.

I still believe that balancing the heating system you already have (i.e. the furnace) is the best route to take. However, the difficulty is finding a contractor who will do it.

 

[FayWong]

QUOTE (ZOO99 @ Mar 10 2008, 11:47 PM) I am researching cold air returns and oil filled radiators.
Question for Fay; Are cold air returns just holes with grills?Almost.They are holes, with grills that are connected to the furnace through duct work. They allow the cooled air access to return to the furnace.They Keep the air moving. Remember grade school physics hot air rises, cold air falls. If the cold at floor level isn`t pulled back into the furnace then the warm air has no place to go except up into the main floor. It can be tricky to do this after the suite is built, but usually someplace can be found to put one. In my daughter`s house, cold air returns had to be put a ceiling level as the duct work for this had never been brought to the floor before the walls were boarded. That is the worst way to do it.The lower the better. But even then it made a big difference.

 

[delray]

QUOTE (markl @ Mar 7 2008, 10:13 AM)
We had a problem in one of our basement suites we couldn't get it up to the right temp for legal status. I put a oil filled radiator in and no problem. They can control the temp on the rad I think it cost around $170 and probably adds about $10 per month to the hydro bill in the winter months.



best thing about oil filled rads is they stay warm so they are not constantly draining energy like a baseboard heater.



Hope this helps.



Regards,




This sounds like a great solution! How do you replace the oil in the radiador - do you need to have oil heat in the rest of the building?