I had two companies come out to give me a quote about my issue of cold basement and bad airflow to 2 second floor rooms. I have been heavily pushing the duct booster idea for the 2 rooms.
Company 1: They sent out a sales person. First thing he said is the set the main ECM blower to run continuously. He said the duct booster would be too noisy. They stopped installing them due to customer complaints (but I found some models that had quiet reviews). He gave me a quote for a very expensive minisplit system.
He suggested a simple baseboard heater for the cold summer basement issue. But i'm not a big fan of heating and cooling different parts of the house at the same time. He pointed out that the return for the basement was on the ceiling, and not near the floor like it used to be (it was moved when the wall it used to be on was removed during a previous renovation). I think this may have made the problem slightly worse, but not sure.
Company 2: They sent an actual technician. He said the same thing about setting the fan to "On", but this was pretty much the only viable solution. I questioned how this would help the basement because all the supplies are closed, and the return is still open. I brought up the duct booster fans several times, and even showed him a schematic I made, but he said they were just a "band-aid fix", which I already know, but it's the only thing that can be done with fully concealed duct-work. He said "the ones rated at 300cfm really only move around 70cfm through a 6 inch duct, which is like nothing."
He knew nothing of areoseal, and said that insulating more ONLY around the unit would cause issues of the ductwork sweating and dripping through the ceiling in the summer (should I beleave this?). He said the basement return being on the ceiling and not the floor was no issue, especially for a basement, the exact opposite. I asked about closing off the extra basement registers, and he suggested stuffing bags full of insulation into the branch ducts and then sticking magnetic covers over the registers, or covering with drywall.
I asked about testing static pressure, and he said it's not necessary, probably around .3 (not sure where he got that number), and I could close a few more registers and the ECM blower would compensate with a higher speed. I mentioned my basement idea of bring in outdoor summer air to warm it, and he said they have commercial units for that, but they are expensive.
I just feel like duct boosters are some kind of hidden secret, I seen seen lots of DIY installs that worked great! But I want mine installed by a professional. Here is the schematic I made. If the pressure switch is closed, indicating that the main system is running, the thermostat for THAT ROOM can decide if the duct booster should be on high, low, or off. Providing a certain level of "zoning".
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Thank you for any comments
Company 1: They sent out a sales person. First thing he said is the set the main ECM blower to run continuously. He said the duct booster would be too noisy. They stopped installing them due to customer complaints (but I found some models that had quiet reviews). He gave me a quote for a very expensive minisplit system.
He suggested a simple baseboard heater for the cold summer basement issue. But i'm not a big fan of heating and cooling different parts of the house at the same time. He pointed out that the return for the basement was on the ceiling, and not near the floor like it used to be (it was moved when the wall it used to be on was removed during a previous renovation). I think this may have made the problem slightly worse, but not sure.
Company 2: They sent an actual technician. He said the same thing about setting the fan to "On", but this was pretty much the only viable solution. I questioned how this would help the basement because all the supplies are closed, and the return is still open. I brought up the duct booster fans several times, and even showed him a schematic I made, but he said they were just a "band-aid fix", which I already know, but it's the only thing that can be done with fully concealed duct-work. He said "the ones rated at 300cfm really only move around 70cfm through a 6 inch duct, which is like nothing."
He knew nothing of areoseal, and said that insulating more ONLY around the unit would cause issues of the ductwork sweating and dripping through the ceiling in the summer (should I beleave this?). He said the basement return being on the ceiling and not the floor was no issue, especially for a basement, the exact opposite. I asked about closing off the extra basement registers, and he suggested stuffing bags full of insulation into the branch ducts and then sticking magnetic covers over the registers, or covering with drywall.
I asked about testing static pressure, and he said it's not necessary, probably around .3 (not sure where he got that number), and I could close a few more registers and the ECM blower would compensate with a higher speed. I mentioned my basement idea of bring in outdoor summer air to warm it, and he said they have commercial units for that, but they are expensive.
I just feel like duct boosters are some kind of hidden secret, I seen seen lots of DIY installs that worked great! But I want mine installed by a professional. Here is the schematic I made. If the pressure switch is closed, indicating that the main system is running, the thermostat for THAT ROOM can decide if the duct booster should be on high, low, or off. Providing a certain level of "zoning".
Thank you for any comments
