Alright! Found the problem, now I need some guidance. I posted an earlier question about my unit running and cooling, but having little airflow. I have finally found the culprit - now I need some help fixing it.

I was looking at the blower thinking that was the problem, but happened to look past it into the return and the duct has collapsed on the inside (I was under the house earlier and the outside of the duct is fine). I hadn't noticed it before because everytime I checked in there the unit had been off for some time and it had deflated - this morning I had the A/C running and turned it off to look at the blower, so it was almost immediate. The inner plastic lining has been blowing up like a diaphragm, covering the intake from the register. I do not want to try and make a permanent fix myself, but only want a temporary until a professional can fix it.

What can I do to keep the lining from blowing up in the duct? Can I try and poke another hole in it to let the air flow through it? I put a aluminum (paint roller) pole in to try and hold it down, but the force is so strong it still covers the duct. Any ideas fellas?

Thanks

esquire1

I think you are talking about insulation inside medal duct? If any way possible I would just try to rip it out. If you can't reach it from inside unit you may have to remove a section of the duct or go to the spot were it is and cut hole in duct to get it out the put a patch where you opened it up

twindad

Thanks esquire1, actually it is the round flexible duct, so it's just the plastic on the inside of the duct (looks like a black trash bag). The blockage is just inside before it gets to the air handler, so looking through the unit past the blower, it is about seven feet away. I went ahead and took a metal paint roller pole and taped a razorblade and a flashlight on the end. I reached in and cut a few slices in the plastic closest to me (the first hole should have been at least twelve to fifteen feet away from me, seeing where the inflating started). That was enough to release the presure, and deflate the bag. We appear to have a good flow now. Still have a technician coming tomorrow to check some other things, but at least we have air upstairs now.

One more question, is it typical to only have a register in the downstairs in a two story home? Our Hvac guy was surprised there wasn't an air intake upstairs.

esquire1

I would want one up stairs. Glad you got things going. Not to hard to solve problems like these when you just dig in and do it, is it.