What about bringing the heat down with a slow-running ceiling fan?

The first place I rented had 10ft ceiling in the kitchen. Changing the light bulbs were so much fun. Anyway, it had a ceiling fan and that helped a lot.

Ceiing fan and reconnect the auxiliary.

We have three ceiling fans: one in master bedroom, one in family room and one in the office. All three are running constantly. And so is the AC fan. Unfortunately the numbers that I gave you were for when the fans are running.

This post was edited by trent1960 on Sat, Feb 8, 14 at 22:43

I would attempt to get either the supplies or returns close to the floor. Maybe making one main duct going down into the crawl and then branching out to the rooms and boxing it in. The best would be to keep the conditioned air out of the crawl if there is a area that connects all of the rooms together box it to there and make vents into each room from it?

Duct sealing and home sealing are next on the list.

Thanks for all the replies. When the air near the ceiling is around 85 degrees, as far as the heat pump is concerned it is heating the house to 85 degrees. I think we have stratification and air distribution design problems.

When the air near the ceiling is around 85 degrees, as far as the heat pump is concerned it is heating the house to 85 degrees. Your HVAC system should be responding to the temp reading at the thermostat, not at the ceiling ... is the thermostat mounted at/near ceiling height?

I have 9' ceilings in some areas, 10' in others (living room and master bedroom). Don't have any problem maintaining the target 70ðF even at outdoor temps in the upper 20ðFs. I do keep a floor fan running in the living room, blowing past the thermostat toward the MBR.

You might consider adding a gas fireplace. I use ours to heat the main living room/dining kitchen with 14 and 9 foot ceilings and can easily get the heat in the seventies- even when it is very cold outside. I also use ceiling fans set to reverse on low.
The thermostat heat pump is set at 57 and I rarely turn it higher, preferring the fireplace- it's cheaper and I use electric blankets at night or a ceramic portable heater to warm where I am sitting for long periods.

Tangent questions: Why was the place constructed with ten foot ceilings? What was the original climate control?

Is the floor well-insulated and air-sealed? If not, that might be the best path to comfort.

Are the ceiling fans rated large enough for the rooms?