Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing - Advice, Discussion and Tips from ARS®/Rescue Rooter®. Welcome to the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect, your online resource center for information, answers and interactive advice about air conditioning, heating, plumbing and drain maintenance. As part of our commitment to providing exceptional service, we created the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect to be a useful tool with many helpful ways to find what you need.
I have the heat running in my home. The bedroom level is very warm and the main floor is much colder. I can't figure out how to adjust the open/close of the vents on the main unit in the basement. I have the upper floor on "open" and the other two on "close." Please help.
I assume you have a two story home with a basement, and a furnace as your heating system. With this configuration, sometimes you will need to partially close the dampers going to the upper floor, and have the lower floor open and the basement partially closed. However, often the basement and main dampers are both going to different parts of both the basement and main floor and are not separated from each other. You are trying to force the hot air to the lower levels, since it may want to rise naturally to the top. Each home is unique, and the best method is to adjust to what works for the heating season. Mark the position of the damper handle on the outside of the duct with permanent marker, labeling it heat. When you it’s time for the cooling season, adjust again, which often means mostly closing the basement, partially opening the main floor, and totally opening the upstairs. When you arrive at what works well for your house, then mark and label that position. At the time of the recommended annual furnace maintenance, you can ask the service technician to assist you in determining a good starting position for the dampers. I suggest you contact a professional HVAC contractor, such as the ARS/Rescue Rooter branch in Manassas, VA at (888) 261-6579.
Have a question you need answered by our experts? Click the above button, then type your question in the form provided. Watch for your question, along with an answer from one of our experts, to be posted to the blog. You can also click on the profiles below to learn more about our experts.
Joey Dooley I'm 39 years old and married to the most wonderful person in the world. I have a 13 year old son. I love to spend time at the shooting range.
Bruce Bates I've lived in 10 different states and worked in more than 30 different ARS/Rescue Rooter locations in my career.
To search the entire site for specific information, type in the key word, words or phrase you are looking for and click go.
To view topics and general information about specific categories, click on a category below to view information relating to that subject.