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stowed_gw

New home HVAC return duct just added...is this proper?

stowed
11 years ago

Hi,

I am new to this forum and this is my first post.

We just completed a new house and moved in last week. We have a pretty high end HVAC system with radiant floor heat (Uponor) for 1st and 2nd floor, Bryant air handler supporting two zones (1st and 2nd floor) and a RenewAire air-to-air exchanger. We noticed that we were not getting much flow from the vents with the air handler going and eventually the unit stopped and kicked off a "pressure" error message.

The HVAC guys came back in and fixed the system (which seems to be working better) but did it in an odd way IMHO. They added a return vent right a the main duct as it enters the air handler just above the filters. This is in the basement which is 5' away from the furnace. Is this proper?

I only noticed because as the system was running I noticed the basement door inside the house getting sucked closed (and slamming) a couple of times. When I went to explore I could feel the pressure on the door when opening it. As I put my hand up to the new return vent on the side of the duct it creates a very strong suction pressure.

I have a few questions and concerns. First, is this a proper way to fix this problem? I'm obviously more than a little annoyed that this seems to be a work-around for an improperly designed system in a new house. Additionally, I am not thrilled with the unit sucking air from the basement and not the house above introducing the potential for other basement gasses including furnace fumes into the house. Finally, it seems like this violates one of the advantages of the air-to-air exchanger which injects the clean outdoor air into the 1st and 2nd floor when most of the new air comes into this via the new duct vent in the basement where no fresh air is circulated.

Any thought or comments are much appreciated.

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