why dont my ac have return vents in the rooms`?

why dont my ac have return vents in the rooms`?i mean there is only one return vent it is downstaires my rooms are upstaires there is no way to add air with out removeiong some so the room probaly wont cool.so i thought perhaps it goes under door but there is only like 1/8 inch crack under door if that.does this cxause probelm?

You can always shave a 1/2" more off the bottom of the door, I did that on one of mine. It helped. An A/C guy can add a return upstairs also if desired.

cool ill have to do that do i use a saw?i am aweful at carpenty

Re: why dont my ac have return vents in the rooms`

Sawing off the bottom of the door is easy to do--but can be hard to do cleanly.

You need a sharp saw blade (crosscut), and you should put masking tape along the cut (especially the "top side" cut) to prevent splintering. You cut down the middle of the masking tape (tape "glues" the wood and paint down while sawing). Then carefully pull the tape back up (try not to peel up wood/paint chips).

Not sure I would recommend doing it--my old house had it done decades ago (for carpet?) and the wide bottom door gaps look funky.

You might simply try turning on the A/C and try to gauge the airflow through the vent (piece of paper or tissue) and see if it changes much with your door open or not. If there is not much difference, it would not be worth doing it. Houses usually have quite a few air leaks in them anyway.

-Bill

Re: why dont my ac have return vents in the rooms`

Also since most all of these doors now are a thin skin setup you can set a strait edge made of a 1x4 and cut along it with a hand saw. That will keep the edge from splintering. Using a utility knife to score the line before sawing will help a lot too.

Having a full return system would add cost to the project which is why its not done. 2 story houses would greatly benefit from having real returns on both floors that could be balanced so that most return air in summer is pulled from the second floor and from the first floor in winter. I helped a friend install some dampers so he could balance his two floors. It made a huge difference in comfort.

Good luck with balancing your cooling!

Chris

Re: why dont my ac have return vents in the rooms`

raggie
just add the computer fan on the ac vent that go into your room.

Many years of dealing with home maintenance projects has taught me a lot.

To avoid paying to cool the whole house, we put window units in each bedroom (and computer room). If possible, we use the window unit instead of the central air.

Upstairs rooms are very difficult to cool by nature. Cool air is denser than hot, which makes it heavier. It takes a lot of pressure to make cool air go up. Without the vents, it is the same as impossible to cool second-floor rooms.

Furthemore, the doors should be kept closed with no leaks at the bottom. Any cool air that might get into your room will collect close to the floor, and escape through the opening at the bottom of the door.

Have you considered putting a window unit in your bedroom?
It would be cheaper than paying someone to run sheet metal.

Chuck

cant have window units do to the rules here.which is silly they dont endorse the rules they already have.i dont need ac but next week ill have a roomate well i have one now but she only stays here every other week she just said she wants to move in ysterday.and she sleeeps days works nights in the er

This might be OT but has some interesting ways to keep cool in the summer and warmer in the winter.

I live in a unique area that has year round moderate climate. It can get to 105 degree hot in the daytime but drop to a cool 60 degrees at night. It is simply a matter of smart energy management to keeping a house a bearable temperature. I bottle up the cool air in the summertime and warm air in the wintertime. Some of the below may not apply.

I have my home so well insulated the AC only turns on, maybe twice a year. The AC turns on late in the afternoon when sun starts setting so it isn't on very long.

Before the house was internally wrapped in an insulating cocoon I cut the bottoms of the doors to circulate the air. The hardest part was hauling and cutting the doors in and out of the house. Now when the AC is on the air does circulate through the house.

Ceiling fans, sky light to pull hot air out and powered attic vents also help keep the upper areas cool.

I also have a couple of passive cooling options working.

Heavy drapes that reach to the floor for the windows prevent unwanted heat or cold from coming in. There is also a flat panel above the drapes to prevent unwanted heat/cold from circulating above my drapes.

Strategically closing off the off-temperature rooms on ill-temperature days will keep the main rooms cooler.

Big trees shading the house help. Deciduous trees in the front drop their leaves in the winter to let the meager winter sunlight on the walls and evergreen trees like my orange and guava trees keep the wind from robbing my house of heat in the winter.

I have thick rows of Juniper bushes in the front and Camellia bushes in the back that hug the house keeping the house cool. My bushes love the sun so the house and the bushes benefit. The low bushes block the angled sunlight reflecting off my lawn and prevent the walls on the house from warming. In the winter the bushes also insulate the house from harsh winds that can "pull" the heat from the walls. None of this is quick planning but it was radical planning when the house was built. The house is well insulated, shaded, and the landscape looks good.

A side note: My neighbor preferred to be cheap and leave his house "stock"; his place looks like a desert with no trees; he has just a lawn. In the summer at 10 am his AC starts up. If it is a hot day my AC might start up around 4 pm when the sun starts going down and it is time to open the windows to let our reliable, cool "Delta" breeze waif through the house to keep cool. "Look at all the energy I'm saving neighbor; this house has been saving energy for 34 years!"

I'd hate to see my neighbor's energy bill.

Mind you the AC units we have are exactly the same GE brand and was installed one day apart with mine being first. He saw the contractor install my AC and had the same contractor install the same AC unit in his place the next day. I know my neighbor's AC unit has a lot more "mileage" than mind does. I have the pretty house and I'm the real cheapskate. That is more money to spend on lights. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Keeping your place generally cool will make area cooling easier.

You'll need something to pull the heat or move the air in the upper areas to keep cool. The easiest and fastest way would be to use a ceiling fan. Ceiling fans just look nice and have a use in a room.

i wish my condo was in the middle im sure that would help cause id have to people on either side im on the end.im not sure how insulated the place is im cant get in attic no laddre yet

Re: why dont my ac have return vents in the rooms`

I guess the old style room fan would work too. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Re: why dont my ac have return vents in the rooms`

Try leaving the blower fan on all of the time to enhance the circulation.

The only thing that really worked for my house in the end, though, was a separate zone for the upstairs and returns in every room.

You might try a portable air conditioner like those made by Sunpentown. The unit sits in the room and can be easily rolled from room to room. A small exhaust hose interfaces to the window.

Re: why dont my ac have return vents in the rooms`

I'm more impressed by anything that both your GE units have lasted 34 years. GE is now owned by Trane, and hopefully our 3 year old unit will easily go another 30.

My sister put ceiling fans in her house. Some of them have dimmers and, thus, incandescent lights -- but they've put in fluorescent everywhere else it was practical, including CF bulbs in the sockets of their non-dimming celling fans.

Re: why dont my ac have return vents in the rooms`

our A/C in our house has return air vents all over the house. Almost all the rooms have them.

New homes I've noticed often aren't built this way and only have a return-air duct in the hallways. The system in our house is much better, clearly, because it doesn't depend upon circulation through the bottoms of closed doors. Our house was built in 1962.